Updated March 21 to include new awardees.
Eleven Harvard Medical School researchers have received awards from the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation.
Five have been named Damon Runyon fellows.
Three have been named to the inaugural class of Damon Runyon–St. Jude Pediatric Cancer Research Fellows, focused on cancers that affect children and teens.
Two have been named recipients of the 2024 Damon Runyon–Rachleff Innovation Award for their unconventional ideas in cancer research.
One has received the Damon Runyon–Dale F. Frey Award for Breakthrough Scientists.
Encouraging new researchers
The four-year Damon Runyon Fellowship encourages promising young scientists to pursue careers in cancer research by providing them with independent funding to investigate cancer causes, mechanisms, therapies, and prevention. Each fellow receives funding for four years, for a total of $300,000.
The fellows from HMS are:
- Kheewoong Baek, HMS research fellow in biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, with his sponsor, Eric Fischer, HMS professor of biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology at Dana-Farber. Baek aims to establish a formula for the design of “molecular glue” that could provide a way to target cancer-causing proteins that lack a binding site for drugs.
- Brooke Huisman, research fellow in immunology in the Blavatnik Institute at HMS, with her sponsors Diane Mathis and Christophe Benoist, each a Morton Grove-Rasmussen Professor of Immunohematology at HMS. Huisman’s research focuses on understanding the development of thymic mimetic cells: cells that mimic other tissues and assist T cells in developing tolerance to diverse cell types. This work may lead to new treatments that manipulate mimetic cells to induce antitumor responses.
- Jordan Jastrab, HMS research fellow in medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, with his sponsor, Jonathan Kagan, the HMS Marian R. Neutra, PhD Professor of Pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital. Jastrab seeks to understand how immune signals are transmitted across the membranes of phagosomes — compartments within immune cells that can contain bacteria. Jastrab’s work aims to elucidate how pathways could be manipulated to prevent the growth of colorectal cancers and enhance antitumor immunity.
- Shreoshi Sengupta, research fellow in genetics in the Blavatnik Institute at HMS, with her sponsor, Carla Kim, BCH Professor of Pediatrics in the Field of Regenerative Medicine at Boston Children’s and professor of genetics at HMS. Sengupta plans to identify patterns of gene expression in tumor cells, endothelial cells (blood vessel-forming cells), and immune cells over time to understand how these cells engage in cross talk, promoting tumor formation. She also plans to examine cell-cell interactions in early-stage lung cancer using organoids, artificially grown miniature organs.
- James Taggart, postdoctoral fellow in systems biology in the Blavatnik Institute at HMS, with his sponsors Allon Klein, associate professor of systems biology at HMS, and Johan Paulsson, professor of systems biology at HMS. Taggart will combine cutting-edge microfluidic technologies with methods for controlled gene repression to systematically identify mechanisms that allow bacterial cells to tolerate inhibition of genes critical for cellular growth. This work will guide target selection for future antibiotic development and reveal mechanisms that help sensitize bacteria to existing drugs.
Tackling pediatric cancers
The new Damon Runyon–St. Jude Pediatric Cancer Research fellowships support innovative projects in basic or translational research that have potential to significantly improve the diagnosis or treatment of one or more pediatric cancers.
Each fellowship provides funding for four years, totaling $300,000.
“The inaugural class of Damon Runyon–St. Jude Pediatric Cancer Research Fellows will focus on some of the most difficult-to-treat cancers affecting pediatric patients,” said Yung Lie, president and CEO of the foundation.
The fellows from HMS are:
- April Apfelbaum, HMS research fellow in pediatrics at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, with her sponsors Pratiti Bandopadhayay, HMS assistant professor of pediatrics at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Boston Children’s Hospital, and Keith Ligon, HMS associate professor of pathology at Dana-Farber and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Apfelbaum investigates critical genes in FGFR1-altered pediatric brain cancers called gliomas. She aims to understand the biological mechanisms driving this type of brain cancer with the hope of uncovering new drug targets.
- Costanza Lo Cascio, HMS research fellow in pediatrics at Dana-Farber, with her sponsor Mariella Filbin, HMS associate professor of pediatrics at Dana-Farber and Boston Children’s. Lo Cascio studies how cancers known as diffuse midline gliomas survive radiation therapy by exploiting intercellular interactions with the normal neurons that surround them. She hopes to make radiation therapy an effective treatment for these tumors.
- James Morrow, HMS clinical fellow in pediatrics at Dana-Farber, with his sponsor Bradley Bernstein, HMS professor of cell biology and pathology at Dana-Farber. Morrow focuses on understanding how bone development can go awry and give rise to the most common bone tumor, osteosarcoma, which primarily affects children and adolescents. Morrow hopes this improved understanding will lead to new treatment approaches.
Supporting innovative research
The 2024 Damon Runyon–Rachleff Innovation Award provides funding to early-career researchers with so-called high-risk, high-reward ideas that could lead to major changes in cancer prevention, diagnosis, or treatment but who don’t have enough preliminary data to obtain traditional funding.
Awardees receive initial grants of $400,000 over two years, with the opportunity to receive two additional years of funding.
The two awardees from HMS are:
- Humsa Venkatesh, HMS assistant professor of neurology at Brigham and Women’s, plans to explore how the nervous system contributes to brain cancer progression. Venkatesh hopes that classical and systems neuroscience approaches will provide a comprehensive understanding of malignant neural network interactions and point to new treatment strategies.
- Srinivas Viswanathan, HMS assistant professor of medicine at Dana-Farber, will explore whether genetic alterations to the X chromosome in cancer contribute to differences in cancer incidence or cancer development between males and females.
New breakthroughs
Rachel S. Greenberg, research fellow in cell biology in the Blavatnik Institute at HMS, has received the Damon Runyon–Dale F. Frey Award for Breakthrough Scientists for her project, “The function of interoceptive circuits in reproduction and cancer.”
The award recognizes current Damon Runyon fellows whom the foundation considers most likely to make paradigm-shifting breakthroughs that transform the way we prevent, diagnose, and treat cancer.
Greenberg is investigating how interoceptive neurons — neurons that help an organism sense, interpret, and regulate its internal state — monitor the female reproductive tract and modulate essential physiologies in its changing hormonal and biological states. Her research on the typical functions of reproductive neurons and on the neuronal contribution to tumor progression could suggest new strategies for treating gynecological cancers.
Adapted from Damon Runyon Foundation press materials.
