Foundation funds 11 new research projects
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEW YORK, December 2, 2025
The Lung Cancer Research Foundation® (LCRF) awarded its annual 2025 Scientific Grant Program awards, funding another $1.65 million in new research. This year’s grant cycle includes 11 awards in the following areas: LCRF Leading-Edge Grant in Lung Cancer, LCRF Research Grant on Prevention and Early Detection in Lung Cancer, LCRF Research Grants on Overcoming Resistance in Lung Cancer, and LCRF Minority Career Development Award (CDA) for Lung Cancer.
Earlier this year, LCRF awarded the American Lung Cancer Screening Initiative (ALCSI) a grant to conduct its “Plus One” screening initiative and research study, funded a three-year project in collaboration with the Israeli Cancer Research Fund, and announced two research grants focused on innovative strategies to advance the understanding and management of lung cancers harboring HER2 mutations and/or other HER2 alterations in collaboration with Bayer Pharmaceuticals.
LCRF awards grants for projects that demonstrate profound promise to make a sustained and lasting impact on lung cancer research and outcomes. Support from LCRF’s generous donors and fundraisers made these grant awards possible.
“Our Scientific Advisory Board and Research Advocates reviewed hundreds of submissions, and we’re excited to support the work of these grantees,” said Colleen Conner Ziegler, Chair of LCRF’s Board of Directors. “Keeping patients’ voices at the forefront of the research process is of utmost importance to LCRF and is evident in the projects that were selected for funding.”
“Each year, we are presented with many ideas that have the potential to change how we approach lung cancer prevention, detection and treatment,” said Kathryn O’Donnell, PhD, chair of LCRF’s Scientific Advisory Board and Associate Professor, Molecular Biology, UT Southwestern Medical Center. “At LCRF, we’re committed to funding the most innovative research projects that will have a positive impact on the lives of people living with lung cancer.”
Through its Leading-Edge Research Grant in Lung Cancer, LCRF funds innovative research focused on the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and cure of lung cancer. This year, LCRF will be funding four projects through this mechanism.
LCRF’s Research Grant on Prevention and Early Detection in Lung Cancer is presented to four investigators whose project facilitates or advances the understanding and characterization of pre-neoplasia or approaches for early detection in non-small cell and small cell lung cancer.
The LCRF Research Grants on Overcoming Resistance in Lung Cancer are presented to two recipients whose projects focus on combating therapeutic resistance.
LCRF’s Minority Career Development Award for Lung Cancer, supported in part by a grant from the LRE Foundation, is a two-year funding initiative aimed at advancing early-stage researchers from underrepresented groups and enhancing their representation in the lung cancer research workforce.
LCRF recognizes exemplary projects through its Joan H. Schiller, MD Award for Scientific Merit in honor of the contributions to LCRF made by Dr. Schiller in her roles as co-founder, scientific advisory board member and board member, as well as her innumerable contributions to the lung cancer community as a clinician, researcher and advocate. This award is presented to the investigator whose proposal was selected for outstanding overall merit by the Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Board. This year’s recipient is Lu Wang, PhD of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, whose project is titled Therapeutic targeting of ASXL3 protein stability in small cell lung cancer.
“This LCRF Leading-Edge Research Grant will enable my laboratory to investigate how cancer-specific transcriptional programming is driven by dysregulated transcription factors and epigenetic regulators,” remarked Dr. Wang. “Our goal is to leverage these findings to develop new personalized therapeutic strategies targeting transcriptional dysregulation in lung cancer.”
LCRF 2025 Research Grant Awardees
Leading Edge Grant Program
Lu Wang, PhD
Northwestern University Feinberg College of Medicine
Therapeutic targeting of ASXL3 protein stability in small cell lung cancer
Joan H. Schiller, MD Award for Scientific Merit
Timothy Martin, PhD
University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville
Defining how UFMylation pathway inhibition enhances anti-lung tumor immunity
Patricia Pereira, PhD
Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis
Antibody click for lung cancer therapy
John Prensner, MD, PhD
University of Michigan
Microproteins as novel disease targets in squamous cell lung cancer
Research Grant on Prevention and Early Detection in Lung Cancer
David Adler, MD, MPH
University of Rochester
Increasing Lung Cancer Screening Uptake Among Emergency Department Patients
Crispin Hiley, MD, PhD
University College, London
Determinants of immune age and immune surveillance for early detection
Nicholas Juul, MD
Stanford University School of Medicine
Identifying biomarkers of precancerous copy number alteration in normal alveolar epithelium
Hilary Robbins, PhD
International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)
Lung cancer risk assessment for people who never smoked
Research Grant on Overcoming Resistance in Lung Cancer
Ximeng Liu, PhD
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Deciphering response and resistance mechanisms to firmonertinib in NSCLC patients with EGFR PACC mutations
Dongsung Kim, PhD
Ohio State University
A novel targeted therapeutic strategy for KRAS inhibitor resistant lung cancers
Minority Career Development Award (CDA)
Nelson LaMarche, PhD
Yale University
Defining clinically targetable drivers of pathogenic myeloid cell development for NSCLC immunotherapy
For more information about LCRF and the Scientific Grant Program, visit LCRF.org/Research.
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About the Lung Cancer Research Foundation
The Lung Cancer Research Foundation® (LCRF) is the leading nonprofit organization focused on funding innovative, high-reward research with the potential to extend survival and improve quality of life for people with lung cancer. LCRF’s mission is to improve lung cancer outcomes by funding research for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and cure of lung cancer. To date, LCRF has funded 442 research grants, totaling nearly $51 million, the highest amount provided by a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding lung cancer research. For more information about the LCRF grant program and funding opportunities, visit LCRF.org/research.
Contact:
Sheila Sullivan
Sr. Director, Marketing and Communications
ssullivan@lcrf.org