2024 Career Development and Early Detection Research Grants Announced

WOODBURY, NY, April 11, 2024 – The Lustgarten Foundation, in collaboration with the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), has announced the 2024 recipients of the Lustgarten-AACR Career Development Awards for Pancreatic Cancer Research, in Honor of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and John Robert Lewis. These grants were awarded to Tracy W. Liu, PhD, West Virginia University, and Christina G. Towers, PhD, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, respectively. Additionally, in collaboration with Swim Across America, the Lustgarten Foundation-Swim Across America-AACR Pancreatic Cancer Early Detection Research Grant has been awarded to Renato Ostuni, PhD, Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele. These awards exemplify Lustgarten’s commitment to creatively solving the complexities of this devastating disease.

The Lustgarten Foundation-AACR Career Development Awards aim to reduce the gap in funding received by early-career women and underrepresented minority scientists who conduct research that could contribute to a better understanding and treatment of pancreatic cancer. Recipients are awarded a three-year, $300,000 grant for meritorious basic, translational, clinical, or population sciences research. 

2024 Lustgarten Foundation-AACR Career Development Award for Pancreatic Cancer Research, in Honor of Ruth Bader Ginsburg recipient, Tracy W. Liu, PhD, is an assistant professor at the West Virginia University School of Medicine in Morgantown, WV. Her project is titled “Expanding immunotherapy in pancreatic cancer by targeting myeloperoxidase.”

2024 Lustgarten Foundation-AACR Career Development Award for Pancreatic Cancer Research, in Honor of John Robert Lewis recipient, Christina G. Towers, PhD, is an assistant professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, CA. Her project is titled “Metastasis-Initiating Cells in Pancreatic Cancer.”

The Lustgarten Foundation-Swim Across America-AACR Pancreatic Cancer Early Detection Research Grant represents a joint effort to support innovative research to advance efforts toward the early detection and interception of pancreatic cancer. Recipients are awarded a three-year, $300,000 grant for projects in other areas of cancer or biomedical research that have promising ideas and approaches that can be applied to pancreatic cancer research.

2024 Lustgarten Foundation-Swim Across America-AACR Pancreatic Cancer Early Detection Research Grant recipient, Renato Ostuni, PhD, is an associate professor at Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy. His project is titled “Targeting the PGE2-IL-1b axis for PDAC diagnosis and early treatment.”