NEW YORK — The Gray Foundation said today that it has awarded $25 million in funding to seven multi-institute teams conducting research related to the prediction, prevention, and treatment of BRCA-related cancers.
The teams will receive up to $5 million each for their projects, which include ones focusing on the validation of liquid biopsy assays for the early detection of cancer in high-risk BRCA mutation carriers; tracking and preventing breast cancer in BRCA mutation carriers; identifying and targeting post-transcriptionally modified neoantigens in BRCA mutant tumors; and researching the relationship between the local microbiome and host immune system in breast cancer.
Other funded projects are investigating the determinants of immune activity and molecular features in BRCA mutation carriers; examining the pathogenesis of early BRCA-associated cancer for risk prediction and disease prevention; and dissecting BRCA-mediated tumor suppression pathways.
Scientists leading the research are from Weill Cornell Medicine, the Cleveland Clinic, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Other participating institutes include the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Wellcome Sanger Institute, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, the University of Cambridge, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, the University of British Columbia, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Stanford University, QIMR Berghofer, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Case Western Reserve University.