The American Cancer Society Institutional Research Grants (ACS-IRG) are designed to support the early development of junior faculty conducting cancer research by providing pilot funds to obtain preliminary results that will enable them to compete successfully for national research grants.
About the Program
The program solicits innovative pilot projects in clinical, basic, or translational cancer-related research that offer significant potential for reducing the incidence, mortality, and morbidity of cancer and/or improving quality of life. ACS initiatives also focus on the fields of cancer prevention and cancer control and eliminating cancer disparities. Pilot projects will operate with $40,000 (directs) for one year, with a written progress report expected at the 12-month mark detailing outcomes from the research project and how the funds were used. The ACS-IRG award will provide funding for up to 4 junior faculty members, including one specifically for an underrepresented minority investigator.
The National Science Foundation reports that certain racial and ethnic groups are underrepresented at many career stages in health-related sciences, namely, African Americans (or Blacks), American Indians and Alaska Natives, Hispanics (or Latinos), Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders. Collectively, these groups are known as underrepresented minorities in science.
Eligibility Criteria
Applicants should be Assistant Professors (or equivalent) with faculty appointments of six years or less, who are eligible to apply for independent national competitive (peer-reviewed) research grants, but who currently do not hold such funding. Postdoctoral/clinical fellows, professors or associate professors are not eligible. Applicants are not required to be United States (U.S.) citizens but must hold a visa that will allow him or her to remain in the U.S. long enough to complete the IRG pilot project.
ACS-IRG awardees will be mentored by a Winship Executive Committee faculty member who has expertise in the mentee’s area of research. Mentors will meet on a regular schedule with the mentee to develop an individual mentoring plan, to review scientific progress and research direction, to provide guidance in the preparation of manuscripts and subsequent grant applications, and to provide guidance in career development activities. As part of their professional development, ACS-IRG awardees will be invited to serve on the ACS-IRG Local Review Committee after the conclusion of their award, where they will be work with an Executive Committee member to review ACS-IRG proposals.
The application process is now open. Letters of Intent are due on or before October 20, 2023 and should be uploaded as a single pdf document to intranet.winship.emory.edu/pilotgrant.
Key Dates
- Letter of Intent (LOI): Friday, October 20, 2023
- Selection for Full Proposal: Monday, October 23, 2023
- Full Application Receipt Date: Monday, November 20, 2023
- Pilot Project Start Date: January 1, 2024
Please direct any questions you have regarding this funding opportunity to Venus Henriques (venus.henriques@emory.edu).
ACS-IRG Award Recipients
2024
Jinbing Bai, PhD, RN
Assistant Professor, Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing
Emory University
Testing the Feasibility of a Transportation for Cancer Care Navigation Tool (TRACT) in Solid Tumors Patients Receiving Radiotherapy
Eric Miller, PhD
Instructor, Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology
Emory University School of Medicine
Next-Generation Chemotherapy: Enhancing Safety and Efficacy in the Treatment of Metastatic Colorectal Cancer
Andrea Moffitt, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology
Emory University School of Medicine
Integration of Single Cell Sequencing with Whole Genome Sequencing for the Interpretation of Leukemia-Associated Mutations
Janghee Woo, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology
Emory University School of Medicine
Unraveling the Role of Clonal Hematopoiesis in Driving Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer
2023
Tomas Garzon-Muvdi, MD, MSc
Assistant Professor, Department of Neurosurgery
Emory University School of Medicine
WNK2 as a regulator of stem cell biology in glioblastoma
Jessica Konen, PhD
Instructor, Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology
Emory University School of Medicine
Dissecting the immunosuppressive mechanisms of the ATX/LPA axis in NSCLC
Sarwish Rafiq, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology
Emory University School of Medicine
Engineering TIL to secrete immune checkpoint inhibitors for Melanoma
Rakesh Shiradkar, PhD
Assistant Professor, Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University
Development of a population-specific Artificial Intelligence (AI) based nomogram using MRI and clinical variables for risk stratification of African American men with prostate cancer
2022
Ahmet Coskun, PhD
Assistant Professor and the Bernie-Marcus Early-Career Professor
Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering
Georgia Tech School of Engineering and Emory University School of Medicine
Spatial Lipid Immunometabolism of Stem Cell-like T-cells for Novel NSCLC Immunotherapies
Tamara Miller, MD
Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics
Emory University School of Medicine
Implementation of Algorithms to Improve Adverse Event Capture and Reporting in Pediatric Oncology
Jiahan Zhang, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology
Emory University School of Medicine
Knowledge-based trade-off prediction model for radiotherapy treatment planning
Curtis Henry, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics
Emory University School of Medicine
Molecular Force Probes to Predict Efficacy of T-cell Based Cancer Immunotherapies
2020
Byron Au-Yeung, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine
Using T Cell Receptor signal strength to generate more potent chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells
Kimberly Hoang, MD
Assistant Professor, Department of Neurosurgery
Ultrasound-guided Microbots for Non-Linear Trajectories in Brain Tumor Surgery
Andrey Ivanov, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology
Structural basis for MKK3-mediated MYC activation
Aparna Kesarwala, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology
Characterizing the Metabolic Balance of Lung Cancer
Zhen Tian, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology
An Artificial Intelligence Driven Virtual Planner for Gamma Knife Radiosurgery
2019
Erik Dreaden PhD
Assistant Professor, Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering and Department of Pediatrics
Targeting Cancer Immune Evasion via Bispecific T-Cell Engaging Cytoldne (Biteokine) Therapy
Jean Koff, MD
Instructor, Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology
Proposal Title: Characterization of the Tumor Microenvironment in Post-Transplant Lymphoproliferative Disorder
Dan Yan, PhD
Instructor, Department of Pediatrics
A new drug combination approach for EGFR-mutated Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer resistant to osimertinib
Robert Schnepp, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics
Uncovering the Contribution of Musashi 2 to Neuroblastoma Aggression
Brent Weinberg, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences
Whole-Brain Spectroscopic MRI for Improved Biopsy and Management of Non-Enhancing Lower Grade Gliomas
2018
Curtis Henry, PhD
Assistant Professor, Pediatrics
Delineating how Obesity-induced Chronic Inflammation Impacts Leukemogenesis and Therapeutic Responses
Lingtao Jin, PhD
Associate Scientist, Hematology and Medical Oncology
The functional role of AGGF1 in taxol resistant cancer
Katherine Minson, MD
Assistant Professor, Pediatrics
The Role of Nuclear Localized MERTK in Acute Myeloid Leukemia
Brian Olson, PhD
Instructor, Hematology and Medical Oncology
BET inhibition as a novel strategy to enhance immunotherapy in Rb-deficient prostate cancer
Janice Withycombe, PhD, RN, MN, CCRP
Assistant Professor, Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing
Patient Reported Outcomes and Associated Metabolomic Profiles in Children Undergoing Cancer Therapy
2017
Karen Effinger, MD
Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics
Emory University School of Medicine
Improving Physical Function and Fitness in Pediatric Sarcoma Patients: A Feasibility Study
Vikas Gupta, MD, PhD
Instructor, Department of Hematology & Medical Oncology
Emory University School of Medicine
B Cell Markers Predict Response to Venetoclax in Multiple Myeloma
Bernardo Mainou, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics
Emory University School of Medicine
Development of Designed Combinatorial Viral Oncolytic Therapeutics Against Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
Soma Sengupta, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor, Departments of Hematology & Medical Oncology, Neurology
Emory University School of Medicine
Targeting medulloblastoma with benzodiazapines delivered using tunable biodegradable hydrogels
2016
Bradley Carthon, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology
Emory University School of Medicine
Role of the PD-1 and PDL-1/2 Axis in Papillary Renal Cell Carcinoma
Jun Fan, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology
Emory University School of Medicine
Targeting ACATI to treat human leukemia
Yonggang Ke, PhD
Assistant Professor, Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering
Georgia Tech University
Systematic study on therapeutic siRNA delivery for cancer treatment using DNA nanotechnology
Jessica Wells, PhD, RN
Assistant Professor
Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, Emory University
Exploring the Anal Microbiome and anal Cancer Risk in HIV-infected and Uninfected Women
2015
Sarah Blake, PhD, MA
Assistant Research Professor, Department of Health Policy and Management
Rollins School of Public Health of Emory University
Transitions to Care for Older Women Seeking Cancer Screening Services in Safety Net Settings in Georgia
Jennifer Felger, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Emory University School of Medicine
Inflammation-Induced Alterations in Neurocircuitry During Breast Cancer Treatment
Mohammad Khan, MD, PhD, DABR
Assistant Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology
Emory University School of Medicine
Enhancing Post Radiotherapy Abscopal Effects By Combining Immunotherapy and Radiotherapy
Kate Yeager, PhD, RN, MS
Research Assistant Professor
Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, Emory University
Caregivers Influence on Adherence to Cancer Pain Treatment for AA Cancer Patients