LOS ANGELES, Oct. 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) today announced the Class of 2022 Young Investigator Award recipients totaling $7.2 million in funding for innovative prostate cancer research. PCF Young Investigator Awards are intended to identify a cohort of future research leaders who will keep the field of prostate cancer research vibrant with new ideas and offer career and project support for early career physicians and scientists who are committed to advancing the prostate cancer field. Thirty-four PCF Young Investigator Awards totaling $7.2 million were granted to the promising next generation of cancer researchers. PCF Young Investigator Awards – Class of 2022
2022 Todd Boehly-PCF Young Investigator Award
Principal Investigator: Vipul Bhatia, PhD, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center Mentors: John K. Lee, MD, PhD; Peter Nelson, MD
Project Title: Development of Next-Generation STEAP1 Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cell Therapies to Combat Antigen Escape and T Cell Dysfunction 2022 CRIS Cancer Foundation, Eustace Wolfington and Larry Leeds-PCF Young Investigator Award Mentors: Claire Fletcher, PhD; Ian Mills, PhD
2022 Michael & Lori Milken-PCF Young Investigator Award
Principal Investigator: Renu Eapen, MBBS, FRACS (Urology), Peter MacCallum Cancer Center Mentors: Michael Hofman, MBBS; Declan Murphy, MC, BCh, BaO, FRCS Urol, FRACS; Paul Neeson, PhD 2022 Foundation Medicine-PCF Young Investigator Award
Principal Investigator: Nicolette Fonseca, PhD
Mentors: Alexander Wyatt, D.Phil; Kim Chi, MD
Project Title: Developing a Novel ctDNA-Based Approach to Patient Risk Stratification and Treatment Selection in mCRPC: A Large Population-Based Cohort Study
ZERO, John & Amy Phelan, and Alec & Kelly Gores-PCF VAlor Young Investigator Award
Principal Investigator: Jun Gong, MD, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Mentors: Stephen Freedland, MD; Edwin Posadas, MD
2022 Todd Boehly-PCF Young Investigator Award
Mentor: Paul Boutros, PhD, MBA
Project Title: Associating Germline Variants with Prostate Tumour Evolution and Lethality 2022 Ronald & Victoria Simms-PCF Young Investigator Award
Principal Investigator: Ashley E. Holly, PhD, MBA, Cleveland Clinic
Mentors: Nima Sharifi, MD; Matthew Vander Heiden, MD, PhD
Project Title: Elucidating Metabolic Health for Prostate Cancer Patients through Dietary Intervention (DINE Study) 2022 James Coulter-PCF Young Investigator Award
Mentors: Jeremy Squire, PhD; Alina Basnet, MD
Project Title: Single-Center Retrospective Clinical Study of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-Based Protein Assessment of Three Tumor Suppressor Genes ("Triple-TSG") for Improved Risk Stratification and Treatment Management of Advanced Prostate Cancer 2022 Michael & Lori Milken-PCF Young Investigator Award
Mentors: Jun Luo, PhD; Tamara Lotan, MD; William Isaacs, PhD
Project Title: Functional and Treatment Implications of a Rare Germline HOXB13 Variant Affecting Risk of Lethal Prostate Cancer in Patients of African Ancestry 2022 Wild Dunes MGA-PCF Young Investigator Award
Mentors: Christina Dieli-Conwright, PhD, MPH; Alicia Morgans, MD, MPH; Timothy Rebbeck, PhD
Project Title: Exercise for Tumor Suppressive Impact in Black Patients with Prostate Cancer on Active Surveillance: The RE-MOVE Trial 2022 Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine-PCF Young Investigator Award
Mentors: Gyorgy Petrovics, PhD; William Douglas Figg Sr., PharmD
2022 Tony & Sage Robbins-PCF Young Investigator Award
Mentors: Michael Shen, PhD; Christopher Barbieri, MD, PhD; Alberto Ciccia, PhD
Project Title: Investigating the Role of Androgen Signaling in Promoting Genomic Instability in Prostate Cancer 2022 Ronald & Victoria Simms-PCF Valor Young Investigator Award
Mentors: Andrew Goldstein, PhD; Matthew Rettig, MD; Isla Garraway, MD, PhD
Project Title: Using a Novel 3D Platform to Develop Metabolism-based Prostate Cancer Therapies 2022 Eustace Wolfington-PCF Young Investigator Award
Principal Investigator: Jacob Orme, MD, PhD, Mayo Clinic
Mentors: Alan Bryce, MD; Sean Park, MD, PhD; Haojie Huang, PhD
2022 Robert Kraft, Adam Cohn, and Igor Tulchinsky-PCF Young Investigator Award
Principal Investigator: Ryan Park, MD, Harvard: Massachusetts General Hospital
Mentors: Nir Hacohen, PhD; Anthony D'Amico, MD, PhD
2022 Joel Holsinger-PCF Young Investigator Award
Mentors: Martin Sanda, MD; Ashesh Jani, MD; Arthur Stillman, MD, PhD
Project Title: Biomarker-Based Approaches to Understand and Predict Cardiovascular Toxicity from Androgen Deprivation Therapy in Patients with Prostate Cancer 2022 National Cancer Institute-PCF Young Investigator Award Mentors: Peter Pinto, MD; Adam Sowalsky, PhD
Project Title: Identifying Tumor Microenvironmental Factors Associated with Oncologic Response to Irreversible Electroporation Focal Therapy for Prostate Cancer 2022 John Black Charitable Foundation-PCF Young Investigator Award
Mentors: Noel Clarke, ChM; Nicholas James, PhD, MBBS; Gerhardt Attard, PhD, MBBS 2022 Steve & Andrea Wynn-PCF Young Investigator Award
Mentors: Samuel Denmeade, MD; Edward Pearce, PhD
Project Title: Expanded Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells Underpin Resistance to Bipolar Androgen Therapy in Patients with Advanced Prostate Cancer 2022 Igor Tulchinsky, Robert Taubman and Richard Sandler-PCF VAlor Young Investigator Award
Principal Investigator: Martin Schoen, MD, MPH, Saint Louis Veterans Affairs Medical Center Mentors: Kristen Sanfilippo, MD, MPH; Bruce Montgomery, MD; Ruth Etzioni, PhD
2022 Michael & Tricia Berns-PCF Young Investigator Award
Principal Investigator: Laura Sena, MD, PhD
Mentors: Samuel Denmeade, MD; Erika Pearce, PhD
Project Title: Understanding Metabolic Differentiation of Prostate Cancer by Bipolar Androgen Therapy 2022 Point Biopharma-PCF VAlor Young Investigator Award
Principal Investigator: Marina Sharifi, MD, PhD
Mentors: Joshua Lang, MD; Shuang Zhao, MD, MSc; Brett Carver, MD Project Title: Interrogating the Intersection of PSMA and PI3K Pathway Signaling as a Novel Combination Approach in Treatment Resistant Prostate Cancer 2022 Todd Boehly-PCF Young Investigator Award
Mentors: Felix Feng, MD; David Quigley, PhD
2022 John Tyson-PCF Young Investigator Award
Mentors: Christopher Logothethis, MD; Sumit Subudhi, MD, PhD
Project Title: Bispecific Immunotherapy Strategies to Overcome the Immunosuppressive Prostate Tumor Microenvironment 2022 Sage & Tony Minella-PCF Young Investigator Award
Mentor: Rohit Bose, MD, PhD
2022 Nelson & Claudia Peltz-PCF Young Investigator Award
Mentors: Todd Morgan, MD; Felix Feng, MD; Daniel Lin, MD
Project Title: Leveraging Artificial Intelligence for Optimization of Active Surveillance and Genetic Testing in Patients with Localized Prostate Cancer 2022 John & Daria Barry-PCF VAlor Young Investigator Award
Mentors: Bruce Montgomery, MD; Heather Cheng, MD, PhD
Project Title: Cascade Genetic Testing in Prostate Cancer: Evaluating and Overcoming Barriers 2022 John Black Charitable Foundation-PCF Young Investigator Award
Mentors: Mark Emberton, MD; Emek Demir, PhD
Project Title: Immune Topology as a Predictor of Prostate Cancer Outcome in Imaging-Based Cohorts 2022 Ms. Lucy Shostak & Dr. Elliot Abramowitz-PCF Young Investigator Award
Mentor: Joshi Alumkal, MD
2022 CRIS Cancer Foundation and Clay Hamlin-PCF Young Investigator Award Mentor: Matthias Eiber, MD
2022 Silas Chou-PCF Young Investigator Award
Principal Investigator: Lanbo Xiao, PhD
Mentor: Arul Chinnaiyan, MD, PhD
2022 John Miller-PCF Young Investigator Award
Mentors: Sarki Abdulkadir, MD, PhD; Navdeep Chandel, PhD
2022 Ms. Lucy Shostak-PCF Young Investigator Award
Principal Investigator: Xiaolin Zhu, MD, PhD
Mentors: Felix Feng, MD; Rahul Aggarwal, MD; David Quigley, PhD
2022 William C. & Gina B. Carithers-PCF Young Investigator Award
Mentors: Jeffrey Miller, MD; Emmanuel Antonarakis, MD; Martin Felices, PhD
The Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) is the world's leading philanthropic organization dedicated to funding life-saving prostate cancer research. Founded in 1993 by Mike Milken, PCF has been responsible for raising close to $1 billion in support of cutting-edge research by more than 2,200 research projects at 245 leading cancer centers in 28 countries around the world. Since PCF's inception, and through its efforts, patients around the world are living longer, suffering fewer complications, and enjoying better quality of life. PCF is committed to creating a global public square for prostate cancer, in service to our mission of ending death and suffering from the disease. Learn more at pcf.org.