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.

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

Principal Investigator: Dimitrios Doultsinos, PhD,  University of Oxford    
Mentors: Claire Fletcher, PhD; Ian Mills, PhD
Project Title: Exploring Synthetic Lethality of Targeting miR346-Unfolded Protein Response Dependent DNA Damage Response Mechanisms in Treatment-Resistant Prostate Cancer

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
Project Title: The Clinical and Immune Landscape Changes in Response to Upfront Lutetium PSMA Therapy in Patients with High-Risk Localized Prostate Cancer

Principal Investigator: Nicolette Fonseca, PhD, University of British Columbia
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

Principal Investigator: Jun Gong, MD, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center         
Mentors: Stephen Freedland, MD; Edwin Posadas, MD
Project Title: A Nationwide VA Study on Systemic Treatment Patterns in Black Patients with Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer

Principal Investigator: Roni Haas, PhD, University of California, Los Angeles       
Mentor: Paul Boutros, PhD, MBA     
Project Title: Associating Germline Variants with Prostate Tumour Evolution and Lethality

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)

Principal Investigator: Tamara Jamaspishvili, MD, PhD, State University of New York Upstate Medical University       
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

Principal Investigator: Mayuko Kanayama, MD, PhD, Johns Hopkins University   
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

Principal Investigator: Dong-Woo Kang, PhD, Harvard: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute     
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

Principal Investigator: Indu Kohaar, PhD, Center for Prostate Disease Research, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences; Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine
Mentors: Gyorgy Petrovics, PhD; William Douglas Figg Sr., PharmD
Project Title: Genetic Determinants of Aggressive Prostate Cancer in African American Patients

Principal Investigator: Weiping Li, PhD, Columbia University Medical Center 
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

Principal Investigator: Neil Lin, PhD, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)           
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

Principal Investigator: Jacob Orme, MD, PhD, Mayo Clinic
Mentors: Alan Bryce, MD; Sean Park, MD, PhD; Haojie Huang, PhD
Project Title: Overcoming NRG-1-Mediated Resistance in CRPC

Principal Investigator: Ryan Park, MD, Harvard: Massachusetts General Hospital
Mentors: Nir Hacohen, PhD; Anthony D'Amico, MD, PhD
Project Title: Modulating T cell State to Prevent Radiation-Induced Lymphopenia and Enhance Anti-Tumor Immunity

Principal Investigator: Sagar Patel, MD, Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University   
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

Principal Investigator: Michael Rothberg, MD, National Cancer Institute (NCI)
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

Principal Investigator: Ashwin Sachdeva, MBBS, PhD, University of Manchester  
Mentors: Noel Clarke, ChM; Nicholas James, PhD, MBBS; Gerhardt Attard, PhD, MBBS
Project Title: Mitigating Toxicity of Novel AR-Targeted Therapies in Advanced Prostate Cancer

Principal Investigator: David Sanin, PhD, Johns Hopkins University
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

Principal Investigator: Martin Schoen, MD, MPH, Saint Louis Veterans Affairs Medical Center  
Mentors: Kristen Sanfilippo, MD, MPH; Bruce Montgomery, MD; Ruth Etzioni, PhD
Project Title: Outcomes of Metastatic Hormone Sensitive Prostate Cancer in Veterans: Facilitating Personalized Medicine

Principal Investigator: Laura Sena, MD, PhD, Johns Hopkins University    
Mentors: Samuel Denmeade, MD; Erika Pearce, PhD
Project Title: Understanding Metabolic Differentiation of Prostate Cancer by Bipolar Androgen Therapy

Principal Investigator: Marina Sharifi, MD, PhD, University of Wisconsin 
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

Principal Investigator: Raunak Shrestha, PhD, University of California, San Francisco      
Mentors: Felix Feng, MD; David Quigley, PhD
Project Title: Investigating Chromatin Reprogramming to Overcome Treatment Resistance in Advanced Prostate Cancer

Principal Investigator: Bilal A. Siddiqui, MD, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center        
Mentors: Christopher Logothethis, MD; Sumit Subudhi, MD, PhD
Project Title: Bispecific Immunotherapy Strategies to Overcome the Immunosuppressive Prostate Tumor Microenvironment 

Principal Investigator: Woogwang Sim, PhD, University of California, San Francisco
Mentor: Rohit Bose, MD, PhD
Project Title: PTEN/P53 Altered Prostate Cancer has Unique Role for Tumor Associated Macrophages upon Apalutamide Resistance

Principal Investigator: Udit Singhal, MD, University of Michigan  
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

Principal Investigator: Alexandra Sokolova, MD, Oregon Health & Science University     
Mentors: Bruce Montgomery, MD; Heather Cheng, MD, PhD
Project Title: Cascade Genetic Testing in Prostate Cancer: Evaluating and Overcoming Barriers

Principal Investigator: Vasilis Stavrinides, MD, PhD, University College London   
Mentors: Mark Emberton, MD; Emek Demir, PhD
Project Title: Immune Topology as a Predictor of Prostate Cancer Outcome in Imaging-Based Cohorts

Principal Investigator: William Storck, PhD, University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center
Mentor: Joshi Alumkal, MD  
Project Title: Development of a Rational Co-Targeting Approach to Block Neuroendocrine Prostate Cancer Cell Survival

Principal Investigator: Alexander Wurzer, PhD, Technical University of Munich  
Mentor: Matthias Eiber, MD
Project Title: Investigating Radiohybrid PSMA-Ligands for Targeted Alpha Therapy, with the Aim to Improve Targeted Alpha Therapy of Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer

Principal Investigator: Lanbo Xiao, PhD, University of Michigan
Mentor: Arul Chinnaiyan, MD, PhD  
Project Title: Targeting SWI/SNF Chromatin Remodeling Complex to Combat Castrate-Resistant Prostate Cancer

Principal Investigator: Young Yoo, PhD, Northwestern University  
Mentors: Sarki Abdulkadir, MD, PhD; Navdeep Chandel, PhD
Project Title: Targeting Metabolic Adaptation to Treat TP53-mutated Lethal Prostate Cancer

Principal Investigator: Xiaolin Zhu, MD, PhD, University of California, San Francisco       
Mentors: Felix Feng, MD; Rahul Aggarwal, MD; David Quigley, PhD
Project Title: Investigating SSTR1 as a Novel Therapeutic Target for Acquired Resistance to Androgen Receptor Signaling Inhibitors in Advanced Prostate Cancer

Principal Investigator: Nicholas Zorko, MD, PhD, University of Minnesota / Masonic Cancer Center      
Mentors: Jeffrey Miller, MD; Emmanuel Antonarakis, MD; Martin Felices, PhD
Project Title: Multiplex Engineered CAR iNK Cells Targeting B7-H3 to Treat Metastatic Castration Resistant Prostate Cancers

About the Prostate Cancer Foundation
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.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Staci L. Vernick
Prostate Cancer Foundation
svernick@pcf.org
press@pcf.org
610-812-6092

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SOURCE Prostate Cancer Foundation