News

Collaborative grant funds research on the effects of air pollution and climate change in lung cancer

NEW YORK, NY (January 12, 2026) – The Lung Cancer Research Foundation (LCRF) and Oncology Advocates United for Climate and Health – International (OUCH-I) announce today that their collaborative research program, titled OUCH-International and LCRF Research Grant Program on the Effects of Air Pollution and Climate Change on Carcinogenesis and Lung Cancer Prevalence, is now accepting proposals. The two organizations are partnering to fund projects that examine the impact of environmental pollution and climate change on lung cancer risk, diagnosis, treatment and outcomes; along with innovative strategies to mitigate these effects. With support from AstraZeneca, the selected project will receive a $200,000 award over a two-year period.

Air pollution causes many health hazards, can contribute to the development of lung cancer, and can worsen its prognosis. Increasing evidence indicates that air pollution is a major cause of lung cancer, and the number of estimated lung cancer deaths attributable to air pollution has increased by nearly 30% since 2007, as smoking has decreased and air pollution has increased (Turner MC et al, CA Cancer J Clin, 2020). The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified outdoor air pollution and particulate matter (PM) with a diameter of less than 2.5 microns (1 inch = 25,400 microns) as a cause of lung cancer (Straif K et al, IARC Press, 2013; Loomis D et al, Lancet Oncol, 2013; GBD 2019 Risk Factors Collaborators, Lancet, 2020). Data now show that exposure to pollution—whether from industrial sources or wildfires—increases the risk of lung cancer in both smokers and non-smokers (Hill et al, Nature, 2023). Globally, outdoor (ambient) air pollution is regarded as the second most important cause of lung cancer mortality, and indoor air pollution is considered the seventh most important cause (GBD 2019 Risk Factors Collaborators, Lancet, 2020).

“Recognizing that exposure to air pollution is the second-largest risk factor for lung cancer should be central to discussions within the lung cancer community,” says Joan Schiller, MD, Founder of OUCH-International and long-time member of LCRF’s Board of Directors. “By funding research to better understand the effects of air pollution on the development of lung cancer, we hopefully will enable more effective risk recognition, screening, and education among patients and healthcare professionals.”

“Despite declining rates of tobacco use, the incidence of lung cancer in people with no known risk factors, especially in young women, is on the rise,” remarked Antoinette Wozniak, MD, FASCO, LCRF Chief Scientific Officer. “The more we understand about all major risk factors driving lung cancer, the better equipped we will be to diagnose earlier or even prevent lung cancer from developing.”

Submissions to the Request for Proposals will be accepted until midnight on June 2, 2026. All applications will be subject to rigorous review by LCRF’s Scientific Advisory Board and OUCH-International. More details about the Request for Proposal, along with eligibility, requirements, and deadlines can be found at LCRF.org/FundingOpportunities.

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About the Lung Cancer Research Foundation (LCRF)
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 450 research grants, totaling nearly $53 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.

About Oncology Advocates United for Climate and Health – International (OUCH-I)
OUCH is the only non-profit, nonpartisan volunteer cancer organization focused on mitigating the effects of climate change on cancer care. Our mission is to advance awareness, actions, and policies that mitigate the effects of climate change on cancer care, and our pillars include advocacy, education and outreach research, cancer care delivery, sustainability, and resilience, and climate justice and health equity. Our members include oncology health care professionals (e.g. MDs, PhDs, RNs, pharmacists, social workers, researchers, patient advocates) who are interested in mitigating the effects of climate change on cancer. We currently have over 150 members representing 27 states and 23 different countries, including six oncology professional societies.

Contact:

LUNG CANCER RESEARCH FOUNDATION
Sheila Sullivan
Sr. Director, Marketing & Communications
ssullivan@lcrf.org

OUCH – INTERNATIONAL
Joan H. Schiller, MD
(608) 469-6992
joanhschiller@gmail.com
ouchforclimate.org

Lung cancer research grant mechanisms open for submission

NEW YORK, NY (January 12, 2026) – The Lung Cancer Research Foundation (LCRF) announced today that its 2026 funding opportunities are officially open for applications.

Despite being the leading cause of cancer death for men and women worldwide, lung cancer research remains critically underfunded. LCRF was founded to address critical gaps in lung cancer research funding, a mission made more essential as resources for research remain unstable. By partnering with like-minded individuals and organizations, LCRF’s research investment through these grant mechanisms will help to sustain the progress made to date and maintain momentum in lung cancer discovery.

LCRF’s primary funding mechanisms are designed to advance its mission of supporting researchers committed to addressing critical challenges in lung cancer by improving early detection, deepening understanding of lung cancer biology, exploring mechanisms of drug resistance and strategies to overcome it, and developing innovative treatment approaches.

LCRF’s Research Grant on Prevention and Early Detection in Lung Cancer is focused on identifying, characterizing, and developing approaches and techniques that will allow early detection and/or prevention of lung cancer and gaining insight into pre-neoplastic processes in the lungs. When detected at an early stage, the prognosis is better for most patients. Given the significance of and need for early detection of lung cancer and advancements in molecular screening, this mechanism supports research projects that facilitate prevention or approaches for early detection of lung cancer. The goal is to detect lung cancer at the earliest stages and subsequently increase survival and survivorship.

The LCRF Leading Edge Research Grant, seeks to fund innovative projects across the full spectrum of basic, translational, clinical, epidemiological, health services, disparities, and social determinants of health research to help close the research funding gap and improve outcomes for people with a lung cancer diagnosis. This funding mechanism seeks novel ideas, approaches, methods, and techniques that promise to have a profound impact on people living with lung cancer and their treatment teams.

The LCRF Research Grant on Overcoming Resistance in Lung Cancer will support research projects with an emphasis on characterizing, identifying, treating, overcoming, or preventing resistance to therapies in lung tumor cells, tissues, mouse models, or patients. In the last 10 to 15 years, there have been accelerated clinical trials and FDA approvals of several targeted therapies and immunotherapies for lung cancer. Despite these advances, drug resistance limits the therapeutic potential of these treatments. There is an urgent need to understand the mechanisms of drug resistance and to develop ways to overcome and prevent resistance. This grant mechanism will focus on furthering the understanding of the development, prevention, and therapy of resistance by supporting projects that seek to identify, characterize, treat or prevent resistance to lung cancer therapies and increase survival.

“The opening of LCRF’s Requests for Proposals marks the beginning of a new year and brings with it a renewed sense of hope,” says Kathryn O’Donnell, PhD, Chair of LCRF’s Scientific Advisory Board, Associate Professor, Molecular Biology at UT Southwestern Medical Center. “Each year, we receive proposals with groundbreaking ideas that seek cutting-edge solutions to the complexities of lung cancer, and with them, hope for improved outcomes for people living with lung cancer. The LCRF Scientific Advisory Board looks forward to reviewing these proposals.”

“As a person with lung cancer, I am impressed and inspired by the proposals we receive from talented investigators,” remarks Colleen Conner Ziegler, lung cancer survivor and LCRF board chair. “Being able to see scientific advancements in their earliest stages and being a part of moving them forward for the lung cancer community is an incredibly rewarding experience.”

Each of these funding mechanisms will award $150,000 over two years for selected projects, and all mechanisms will be reviewed through a two-step process: Letters of Intent will be accepted until midnight on March 10, 2026; if selected, investigators will then be chosen to submit full proposals following a rigorous scientific review. More details about each of the Requests for Proposal, along with eligibility, requirements, and deadlines can be found at LCRF.org/Funding.

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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 450 research grants, totaling nearly $53 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

From Rare Mutation to FDA Approval for NTRK-Positive Lung Cancer

By Dhru Deb, PhD
Senior Director, Research and Administration, LCRF

NTRK gene fusions are rare oncogenic drivers, occurring in only a small fraction of lung tumors, and their rarity meant they were often overlooked in drug development. Unlike more common drivers such as EGFR or ALK, there were no targeted therapies specifically designed for patients with NTRK-driven lung cancers, leaving clinicians with limited options beyond conventional chemotherapy and making research both scientifically challenging and financially risky.

In this situation, the Lung Cancer Research Foundation (LCRF) made a prescient bet. By mediating intentions of visionary donors, in 2012 and again in 2015, LCRF awarded Young Investigator grants to Dr. Alexander Drilon, supporting his early work on rare oncogenic drivers like NTRK fusions—at a time when few believed such uncommon alterations could yield viable therapies.

When I reached out, reflecting on this partnership, Alex shared, “We really appreciate the work you are doing with LCRF as well and look forward to continuing to partner.”

That support helped generate the foundational evidence showing NTRK fusions were rare but highly actionable drivers of cancer.

Building on this early work, Dr. Drilon began leading the NAVIGATE clinical trial (NCT02576431) in 2015, testing larotrectinib, a selective TRK inhibitor, in patients with NTRK-driven tumors regardless of cancer type. For NTRK-positive lung cancer patients, the results were encouraging, with many experiencing rapid and durable responses.

As progress continued, attention turned to resistance. In 2021, Dr. Drilon and Dr. Emiliano Cocco identified a new resistance mechanism publishing their findings in prestigious Nature Medicine. As Dr. Cocco noted, “Lung cancer doesn’t stand still and neither can we.”

LCRF sustained its commitment in 2022 by funding Dr. Cocco’s ongoing work to refine treatment strategies.

The impact of this long-term investment became clear in 2025, when NAVIGATE demonstrated clear clinical benefit and the FDA fully approved larotrectinib for NTRK-positive tumors, following its accelerated approval in 2018—the first targeted therapy for this rare driver. What began as a high-risk idea ultimately reshaped care for an underserved group of lung cancer patients, showing how early funding can ensure that even patients with rare cancers are not left behind.

This article originally appeared on LinkedIn.

Foundation funds five new research projects, bringing 2025 total to $5.2 million

NEW YORK, January 6, 2026 — The Lung Cancer Research Foundation® (LCRF) recently awarded five new research grants in the following areas: three LCRF Leading-Edge Research Awards, one LCRF Research Grant on Overcoming Resistance in Lung Cancer Award, and one LCRF Minority Career Development Award (CDA) for Lung Cancer. These awards are in addition to the 14 research awards announced in early December 2025.

Also in 2025, 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. Additionally, AstraZeneca partnered with LCRF to fund three awards focused on prevention and early detection.

“AstraZeneca shares LCRF’s commitment to improving survival of people with a lung cancer diagnosis,” remarked Nabil Chebab, US Medical Head, Lung Cancer, AstraZeneca. “We are delighted to collaborate on projects focused on prevention and early detection.”

LCRF funds projects that demonstrate profound promise to make a sustained and lasting impact on lung cancer research and outcomes. The strength of LCRF’s research program is underscored by the trust, generosity, and vision of its partners, fundraisers, and donors.

“LCRF is grateful to everyone who has made this grant cycle the largest in its history – 21 grant awards for more than $5 million,” said Aubrey Rhodes, LCRF’s Executive Director. “Ensuring that lung cancer research maintains momentum in an uncertain funding environment is of utmost importance. LCRF is committed to filling the funding gap. Working toward improving survival for people with lung cancer is our priority.”

“It is gratifying to be able to fund even more innovative projects,” said Kathryn O’Donnell, PhD, chair of LCRF’s Scientific Advisory Board and Associate Professor, Molecular Biology, UT Southwestern Medical Center. “With this year’s grants, LCRF’s total active research portfolio supports more than $21 million in lung cancer research projects. More funding for research means greater opportunities to uncover advances that will have a positive impact for patients.”

LCRF’s Leading-Edge Research Grant in Lung Cancer funds innovative research focused on the diagnosis, treatment, and cure of lung cancer. The LCRF Research Grant on Overcoming Resistance in Lung Cancer is awarded to projects focused on combating therapeutic resistance.

LCRF’s Minority Career Development Award for Lung Cancer is a two-year funding initiative aimed at advancing early-stage researchers from underfunded groups and enhancing their contribution to the lung cancer research workforce.

Additional LCRF 2025 Research Grant Awardees

Leading Edge Grant Program

Riyue Bao, PhD
University of Pittsburgh
Radiomics to decipher patient and organ heterogeneity in response to immunotherapies in non-small cell lung cancer

Radiomics is emerging as a non-invasive biomarker to predict the efficacy of anti-PD1/PDL1 therapy across cancers and patients with increased organ-level metastasis heterogeneity are more likely to progress. This study aims to develop machine-learning and artificial-intelligence models to distinguish disease control from progression with organ specificity in patients with non-small cell lung cancer. By linking these findings to tumor biology, the resulting data will not only shed light on the mechanisms underlying variations in response to immunotherapies but will also provide essential advancement in the non-invasive biomarker development investigating therapy resistance.

Joseph Chan, MD, PhD
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer CenterUniversity of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville
Biomarkers of response and toxicity to tarlatamab in patients with metastatic small cell lung cancer

Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is an aggressive and deadly form of lung cancer with limited treatment options and poor long-term survival. However, a newly approved drug represents a promising advance. Although it has shown encouraging early results, one side effect is cytokine release syndrome (CRS)—a potentially serious immune reaction that can cause fever, low blood pressure, and difficulty breathing. The goal of this study is to utilize new technologies in tandem with advanced computer modeling to improve how to predict which patients will benefit from this treatment and who is at higher risk for CRS. The study has two main aims: (1) Predicting who responds to the drug, and (2) Identifying who is at risk for CRS in order to develop a new framework for personalizing treatment, making it more effective and safer, allowing patients to receive treatment more conveniently, avoid dangerous side effects, and ultimately, live longer.

Tom Cunningham, PhD
University of Cincinnati
Understanding the dependency of RAS-driven lung adenocarcinomas on PRPS enzyme remodeling

Alterations in cellular metabolism are a well-established hallmark of lung cancers driven by the oncogene KRAS. Although much is known about how this occurs, we still lack clinically effective therapies targeting these processes. This study aims to leverage a novel metabolic vulnerability as a safe starting point in order to systematically dismantle the metabolic resiliency of KRAS-driven lung adenocarcinomas, will nominate a path for the development of effective, but less toxic, targeted therapies, and address key questions in basic lung cancer biology at a broad biochemical level. It will deliver new knowledge regarding the mechanisms oncogenic KRAS employs to deregulate gene expression and metabolism, and it will supply new diagnostic assays and therapeutic tools that can translate to the clinic to help patients with lung cancer.

Research Grant on Overcoming Resistance in Lung Cancer

Chendi Li, PhD
Massachusetts General Hospital
Enhancing anti-tumor chemokines in KRAS G12C inhibitor-resistant non-small cell lung cancer

Over the past few years, treatment options for patients with the KRAS-mutant non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have expanded to include immunotherapies and targeted KRAS inhibitors. These agents, while effective in some patients, do not induce deep or durable responses in the majority of patients. This has prompted clinical trials combining KRAS inhibitors with immunotherapies. Early results look promising, with response rates greater than either agent alone. However, 25–40% of patients still do not respond to the combination. Thus, there remains an urgent need to understand why these treatments fail in order to develop new strategies with enhanced efficacy to benefit a greater number of patients. This project seeks to understand mechanisms underlying the failure of some tumors to respond to combined KRAS and PD-L1/PD-1 inhibition. By identifying the transcriptional regulators of chemokines that recruit T cells and turn immune “cold” tumors “hot”, this work will provide a foundation for future efforts to design therapeutic strategies to promote immune cell infiltration.

Minority Career Development Award (CDA)

Juliana Cazarin de Menezes, PhD
University of Rochester
The role of BMAL1 and circadian disruption in modulating tumor immunity and immunotherapy response in lung adenocarcinoma

Our body runs on a natural 24-hour cycle known as the circadian rhythm, which regulates many important functions, such as sleep, metabolism, and the immune system. Interestingly, recent research has shown that these internal clocks also affect how well cancer treatments work, especially a type of immunotherapy called immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), which help the immune system attack tumors. In people with lung cancer, ICI treatments given in the morning are up to four times more effective than those given later in the day. The main question is why timed immunotherapy might not work in some patients, and what factors might cause it to not work. In lung cancer, the circadian rhythm in the cancer cells is often altered or completely absent. Ultimately, this research could help improve outcomes for lung cancer patients by optimizing the timing of immunotherapy and identifying new markers to guide treatment. If successful, our findings may lead to more personalized and effective approaches to cancer care, taking into account not only the genetic makeup of the tumor but also the biological clock that governs the immune system.

For more information about LCRF and the Scientific Grant Program, visit LCRF.org/Research.

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Contact:
Sheila Sullivan
Sr. Director, Marketing and Communications
ssullivan@LCRF.org

Early Research Funding and Recent FDA Approval of Immunotherapy for Small Cell Lung Cancer

By Dhru Deb, PhD
Senior Director, Research and Administration, LCRF

Every so often in cancer research, you experience a moment where everything clicks: years of individual projects, grants, and hypotheses suddenly line up and reveal a bigger story. I felt that recently while tracing the path from the Lung Cancer Research Foundation‘s early investments in small cell lung cancer (SCLC) to the FDA approval of durvalumab in 2024.

And the more I dug in, the clearer it became. This breakthrough didn’t appear out of thin air. It grew directly out of the seeds planted more than a decade ago.

Back in 2013, LCRF funded Dr. Anna Farago at Mass General to build genetically engineered mouse models of SCLC that would later become essential for testing new therapies. In 2014, LCRF supported Dr. Christine Hann at Johns Hopkins as she explored how combining targeted therapies might weaken SCLC’s defenses. These were early ideas, ahead of the immunotherapy wave.

Then came a series of grants from 2014 to 2017 focused on the PD-1/PD-L1 immune axis. At the time, this space was still emerging, especially for SCLC. But those LCRF-funded projects and investigators helped create the basic scientific understanding needed for immunotherapy to be considered for this disease.

Fast-forward to 2018, when the ADRIATIC trial launched and those early threads came together: both Anna Farago and Christine Hann were investigators on this trial. And the therapy being tested was durvalumab, an anti-PD-L1 drug.

In 2021, LCRF funded new research projects focused on figuring out how to improve durvalumab’s effectiveness in SCLC.

Then came the turning point. In 2024, the New England Journal of Medicine published results showing that durvalumab significantly improved both overall survival and progression-free survival for people with limited-stage SCLC. Months later, the FDA approved durvalumab for these patients—a truly meaningful progress in this space in decades. Looking back at the timeline, so many of the people, technologies, and ideas behind this advance could be traced to early LCRF support.

But the story doesn’t end there.

As of December 2025, Christine Hann, who is still at the forefront of SCLC research, is now involved with a new clinical trial (NCT06287775) led by Dr. Charlie Rudin, at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. This trial is testing durvalumab combined with ladademstat, an epigenetic therapy, and it’s actively recruiting patients. It seeks to build on the success of PD-L1 inhibition by pairing immunotherapy with epigenetic modulation.

When I spoke to Charlie about the progress so far, he summed it up perfectly:

“Very exciting progress. Much more to do still!”

And he’s right. The durvalumab approval was a milestone, but it’s also a launching point.

This is just another example of the journey of scientific breakthrough. Breakthroughs like this don’t happen because of one big discovery. They happen because, over many years, visionary donors and research partners help LCRF bet early on smart researchers with bold ideas. That impact is felt deeply by people living with lung cancer—as Maida Harris Mangiameli, small cell lung cancer survivor and research advocate, echoed my sentiment:

“LCRF is very important to those of us with lung cancer.”

When we connect the dots, we see a clear, steady line from those early grants to the treatment options patients are relying on today — and hopeful for tomorrow.

This article originally appeared on LinkedIn.

From Early Research to New Treatments for Patients with ROS1-positive Lung Cancer

By Dhru Deb, PhD
Senior Director, Research and Administration, LCRF

One of my favorite parts of my work at the Lung Cancer Research Foundation (LCRF) is connecting the dots — between groundbreaking research and the real impact it has on people living with lung cancer.

Earlier this summer, the FDA approved Taletrectinib (Ibtrozi, Nuvation Bio Inc.), a kinase inhibitor for adults with locally advanced or metastatic ROS1-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

One of the toughest challenges with earlier therapies has been disease progression, especially when the cancer spreads to the brain. Taletrectinib has shown strong response rates and durable efficacy, including the ability to cross into the central nervous system and help patients with brain metastases.

What’s remarkable is how far back the story goes. Thirteen years ago, LCRF recognized the urgent need to explore targeted treatments for ROS1-positive lung cancer. Donors who believe in scientific progress helped to fund the study “Targeted Therapy Approaches to Lung Cancers Harboring ROS1 Gene Rearrangements,” led by Dr. Alice Shaw at Massachusetts General Hospital. Her work laid the foundation for the first-in-human study of Taletrectinib in the U.S. in 2020.

When I reached out to congratulate Dr. Shaw, she said:

“It’s incredibly exciting that ROS1 patients have so many treatment options.”

Moments like this remind me why our mission matters so deeply. The approval of Taletrectinib reflects the long-term impact of LCRF’s early investments in innovative research and the power of visionary donors.

And this is just one of many promising advancements still to come.

This article originally appeared on LinkedIn.

Three grants awarded for projects focused on HER2-driven lung cancer

NEW YORK, NY (December 9, 2025) – The Lung Cancer Research Foundation (LCRF), in collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim, has granted two-year $250,000 awards to three early career investigators for projects that address novel approaches for the treatment of HER2-mutated lung cancer.

The 2025 LCRF | Boehringer Ingelheim Early Investigator Award on Innovative Approaches Toward the Treatment of HER2-Driven Lung Cancer is awarded to projects that focus on the science behind HER2 mutations as oncogenic drivers of malignancy and/or the development of novel therapeutic approaches for patients with tumors harboring HER2 mutations.

“There is a critical need to define how HER2 alterations drive cancer progression and contribute to both response and resistance,” said LCRF’s Chief Scientific Officer, Antoinette Wozniak, MD. “We are hopeful that these projects will yield discoveries that directly improve care for patients with HER2-altered tumors.”

“We’re proud to support early career scientists follow the spark of an idea that can lead to tomorrow’s breakthrough. Embracing the power of partnership with LCRF and celebrating a diversity of minds brings us closer to meaningful advances in medicines for patients — congratulations to all recipients of this award!” said Bjoern Rueter, U.S. Vice President, Clinical Development and Medical Affairs.

This is one of two funding mechanisms supported by Boehringer Ingelheim in collaboration with LCRF designed to address HER2 mutations in lung cancer. As with all grants selected, these projects underwent rigorous review by LCRF’s Scientific Advisory Board.

The recipients of the 2025 LCRF | Boehringer Ingelheim Early Investigator Award on Innovative Approaches Toward the Treatment of HER2-Driven Lung Cancer are:

Pinar Özden Eser, PhD
Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
Identifying actionable targets to improve response to therapy among patients with HER2-driven NSCLC

Elizabeth Brunk, PhD
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Linking Structural DNA Variation to Therapeutic Response and Resistance in HER2-Mutated NSCLC

Paul Stockhammer, MD, PhD
Yale University
Molecular determinants of tumor growth and therapeutic response in ERBB2-mutant lung cancer

In 2025, LCRF funded 19 projects totaling $4.45 million, more than any other funding year in its history, thanks to the generosity, commitment and vision of its donors, fundraisers and partners.

“Funding investigators early in their careers is often the catalyst to keeping scientists focused on advancing their best science,” says Kathryn O’Donnell, PhD, LCRF Scientific Advisory Board chair. “With the current uncertainties of federal funding, including the elimination of the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program’s lung cancer program, funding from organizations like LCRF becomes even more important in maintaining momentum in lung cancer research.”

To learn more about LCRF funded research and its grants program, visit LCRF.org/research.

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About the Lung Cancer Research Foundation (LCRF)
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 445 research grants, totaling nearly $53 million, the highest amount provided by a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding lung cancer research. For more information, visit LCRF.org.

Contact:
Sheila Sullivan
Sr. Director, Marketing & Communications, LCRF
ssullivan@LCRF.org

About Boehringer Ingelheim in Oncology 
We have a clear aspiration – to transform the lives of people with cancer by delivering meaningful advances, with the ultimate goal of curing a range of cancers. Boehringer Ingelheim’s generational commitment to driving scientific innovation is reflected by the company’s robust pipeline of cancer cell-directed and immuno-oncology investigational therapies, as well as the smart combination of these approaches. Boehringer’s ambition in oncology is to take a diligent and broad approach, creating a collaborative research network to tap into a diversity of minds, which is vital in addressing some of the most challenging, but potentially most impactful, areas of cancer research. Simply put, for Boehringer Ingelheim, cancer care is personal, today and for generations. Read more at Cancer | Boehringer Ingelheim US

Contact:
Emily Bard
Boehringer Ingelheim US
Associate Director, Public Relations
emily.bard@boehringer-ingelheim.com

Balazs Halmos, MD, MS; Lyudmila Bazhenova, MD; and our moderator, Isabel Preeshagul, DO, MBS talked about the exciting research breakthroughs of 2025 and what they’re looking forward to seeing in 2026.

Watch the recording below.

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.”