Kuni Foundation Awards
Congratulations to the Department of Medicine faculty members who received awards from the Kuni Foundation’s Discovery Grant program to support early-stage adult oncology research in developing promising new treatments.
New drug candidates to target cell cycle proteins in HPV-negative squamous cell carcinoma
Dr. Bruce Clurman, professor (Hematology and Oncology) will use a three-year $1,050,000 Kuni Foundation grant to develop a multi-lab approach to search for better therapies for HPV-negative head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), a type of head and neck cancer that is particularly resistant to treatment. Clurman holds the Rosput Reynolds Endowed Chair.
Enriching tumor-fighting T cells in renal cell carcinoma
Dr. Edus Houston (Hootie) Warren, professor (Hematology and Oncology) will use his three-year, $1,050,000 Kuni Foundation grant to determine whether a particular type of T cell that can specifically recognize and attack RCC tumors can be identified in patient tumors and then expanded in a laboratory setting while retaining its disease-fighting characteristics.
At a time when research funding has become significantly harder to secure, the Kuni Foundation has reaffirmed its commitment to provide funding for high-risk, high-reward cancer research projects that could lead to innovative therapies for rare, underfunded or difficult-to-treat diseases.
Based in Vancouver, Washington, the Kuni Foundation provides grants to support Pacific Northwest-based cancer researchers looking to identify new approaches to cancer treatment or to bring new advances to clinical care. Discovery Grants, with a maximum value of $1,050,000, support a specific research project for up to three years.
A total of eight grants went to Fred Hutch Cancer Center/University of Washington researchers and Department of Medicine faculty are also collaborators on several projects (Philip Greenberg, Sara Hurvitz, Peter Nelson, and Scott Tykodi).