Funded Research

Advancing the Best Science to Transform Pancreatic Cancer into a Curable Disease

Pancreatic cancer represents only 3% of all cancers diagnosed in the United States each year, yet it is the third-leading cause of cancer related deaths and is poised to become the second by 2030. Thanks to Lustgarten’s role as a driving force in every major advancement in pancreatic cancer research, the five-year survival rate for all stages combined has reached an unprecedented high of 13%. But that is not enough, this rate significantly lags behind all other major cancers. That’s why we continue to pursue what matters most: changing, extending, and saving patients’ lives through our relentless focus on funding the boldest, most innovative studies. We are committed to ushering in a new era in pancreatic cancer research, accelerating progress and improving survival so everyone impacted by pancreatic cancer can experience more hope for the future, more time with their loved ones, and less fear.

LABS Program

A Translational Convergence Program to Develop Targeted Immunotherapy for Pancreatic Cancer Patients at Johns Hopkins

  • Elizabeth Jaffee, MD
    Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
    Baltimore, MD
  • Start Date: 05/01/24
  • Projected End Date: 04/30/29
  • Grant Amount: $5,000,000.00

The Lustgarten Foundation Dedicated Laboratory for Pancreatic Cancer Early Detection and Cancer Genetics at Johns Hopkins

  • Bert Vogelstein, MD
    Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
    Baltimore, MD
  • Start Date: 01/01/24
  • Projected End Date: 12/31/28
  • Grant Amount: $5,000,000.00

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute-Lustgarten Foundation Dedicated Laboratory: Enabling Precision Detection and Therapy for Pancreatic Cancer

  • Brian Wolpin, MD, MPH
    Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
    Boston, MA
  • Start Date: 10/01/23
  • Projected End Date: 09/30/28
  • Grant Amount: $4,999,917.00

Investigating Pancreatic Cancer Evolution and Immunology

  • Tyler Jacks, PhD
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology – MIT
    Cambridge, MA
  • Start Date: 08/01/23
  • Projected End Date: 07/31/28
  • Grant Amount: $5,000,000.00

The Dedicated Lustgarten Laboratory at CSHL

  • David Tuveson, MD, PhD
    Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
    Cold Spring Harbor, NY
  • Start Date: 01/01/23
  • Projected End Date: 12/31/27
  • Grant Amount: $5,000,000.00

Decoding New Targets for Pancreatic Cancer Therapeutics

  • Reuben Shaw, PhD
    The Salk Institute for Biological Studies
    La Jolla, CA
  • Start Date: 08/01/21
  • Projected End Date: 07/31/26
  • Grant Amount: $5,000,000.00

Dedicated Lab: A Translational Convergence Program of Personalized Immunotherapy for Pancreatic Cancer Patients at Johns Hopkins

  • Elizabeth Jaffee, MD
    Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
    Baltimore, MD
  • Start Date: 04/08/19
  • Projected End Date: 04/07/24
  • Grant Amount: $5,000,000.00

Johns Hopkins Dedicated Lab

  • Bert Vogelstein, MD
    Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
    Baltimore, MD
  • Start Date: 01/01/19
  • Projected End Date: 12/31/23
  • Grant Amount: $5,000,000.00

Jacks- Dedicated Lab

  • Tyler Jacks, PhD
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology – MIT
    Cambridge, MA
  • Start Date: 07/01/18
  • Projected End Date: 07/31/23
  • Grant Amount: $5,000,000.00
Clinical Research

A pilot study comparing neoadjuvant and adjuvant GVAX vs a mutated KRAS peptide vaccine given with anti-PD-1 and anti-CD137 agonist for the treatment of surgically resectable pancreatic adenocarcinoma

  • Eric Christenson, MD
    Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
    Baltimore, MD
  • Start Date: 09/01/24
  • Projected End Date: 08/31/27
  • Grant Amount: $1,507,497.00

Investigating the molecular bases of pancreatic cancer disparities in underserved minority communities and increasing clinical trial recruitment employing linguistic intervention.

  • Fiyinfolu Balogun, MD, PhD
    Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK)
    New York, NY
  • Start Date: 07/01/24
  • Projected End Date: 06/30/27
  • Grant Amount: $450,000.00

Syk-Targeted Therapy with Fostamatinib: A Promising Avenue to Enhance Chemotherapy Response in Pancreatic Cancer

  • Andrew Lowy, MD
    The Regents of the University of California, San Diego
    La Jolla, CA
  • Start Date: 07/01/24
  • Projected End Date: 06/30/27
  • Grant Amount: $1,277,531.00

Development of the Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research Clinico-Genomic Data Portal Powered by the AACR Project GENIE Infrastructure

  • Shawn Sweeney, PhD
    American Association for Cancer Research
    Philadelphia, PA
  • Start Date: 06/01/22
  • Projected End Date: 05/31/27
  • Grant Amount: $3,269,532.00

A Window-of-Opportunity Trial Using Neoadjuvant Hepatic Artery Chemotherapy for Patients With Localized Pancreas Cancer

  • Peter Allen, MD
    Duke University School of Medicine
    Durham, NC
  • Start Date: 12/01/23
  • Projected End Date: 11/30/26
  • Grant Amount: $1,368,231.00

IMPACT Diversity: Integrated Multi-level Plan to Address Clinical Trial Diversity

  • Rebecca Snyder, MD
    University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
    Houston, TX
  • Start Date: 12/01/23
  • Projected End Date: 11/30/26
  • Grant Amount: $449,990.28

Navigated Pancreatic Cancer Multidisciplinary Care to Address Cultural and Language Barriers to Clinical Trial Enrollment among Mandarin and Spanish Speaking Patients with Pancreatic Cancer

  • Karyn Goodman, MD, MS
    Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
    New York, NY
  • Start Date: 11/01/23
  • Projected End Date: 10/31/26
  • Grant Amount: $450,000.00

A Phase II Trial of Olaparib, Pembrolizumab, and Lenvatinib as Second-Line Therapy for BRCA1, BRCA2, or PALB2-Mutated Metastatic Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma

  • Michael Pishvaian, MD, PhD
    Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
    Baltimore, MD
  • Start Date: 09/01/23
  • Projected End Date: 08/31/26
  • Grant Amount: $1,609,290.00

Targeting the Immunosuppressive Tumor Microenvironment of Pancreatic Cancer with a Neoadjuvant Platform Clinical Trial

  • Lei Zheng, MD, PhD
    Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
    Baltimore, MD
  • Start Date: 06/01/21
  • Projected End Date: 05/31/26
  • Grant Amount: $1,694,315.00

Testing and Understanding Anti-CTLA4 Plus PARP Inhibitor Maintenance Therapy in Patients with Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer Who Have Achieved Stable Disease on FOLFIRINOX.

  • Kim Reiss Binder, MD
    The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania
    Philadelphia, PA
  • Start Date: 04/01/24
  • Projected End Date: 04/01/26
  • Grant Amount: $1,999,998.99

Evaluation of the Mechanism and Efficacy of IL-15 superagonist-based neoadjuvant chemo-immunotherapy for pancreatic cancer

  • Dafna Bar-Sagi, PhD
    New York University Grossman School of Medicine
    New York, NY
  • Start Date: 03/01/23
  • Projected End Date: 02/28/26
  • Grant Amount: $1,977,282.00

PROmoting CLinicAl TrIal EngageMent for Pancreatic Cancer App Study (PROCLAIM Study)

  • Jen Jen Yeh, MD
    The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
    Chapel Hill, NC
  • Start Date: 01/02/23
  • Projected End Date: 01/01/26
  • Grant Amount: $450,000.00

Phase Ib/II, open-label, multicenter, randomized study evaluating the safety and efficacy of ‘switch maintenance’ combination immunotherapy using TIGIT/PD-1 co-blockade + CD40 agonism in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer

  • James Cleary, MD, PhD
    Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
    Boston, MA
  • Start Date: 08/01/22
  • Projected End Date: 07/31/25
  • Grant Amount: $1,494,315.00

Platform Study: Targeting the Myeloid-stromal Compartment to Enhance Vaccine Induced T Cell Responses

  • Dung Le, MD
    Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
    Baltimore, MD
  • Start Date: 06/01/21
  • Projected End Date: 05/31/25
  • Grant Amount: $1,865,182.00

A Phase II Study Of FOLFIRINOX Combined With The GSK-3 ß Inhibitor 9-ING-41 and The TGF-ß Inhibitor Losartan In Patients With Untreated Metastatic Adenocarcinoma.

  • Colin Weekes, MD, PhD
    Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General)
    Boston, MA
  • Start Date: 11/01/21
  • Projected End Date: 10/31/24
  • Grant Amount: $1,500,000.00

Clinical translation of regulatory network-based precision medicine for pancreatic cancer

  • Kenneth Olive, PhD
    Columbia University Irving Medical Center
    New York, NY
  • Start Date: 01/01/18
  • Projected End Date: 10/31/22
  • Grant Amount: $2,230,654.00
Focused Research Grants

Organoid Personalized Therapeutics Phase 4 Project-OPT4

  • David Tuveson, MD, PhD
    Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
    Cold Spring Harbor, NY
  • Start Date: 09/01/23
  • Projected End Date: 08/31/26
  • Grant Amount: $2,841,093.00

FELIX 2.0. The Integration of AI into the Early Detection and Management of Pancreatic Cancer with Novel AI Algorithms and Advanced Data Analysis

  • Elliott Fishman, MD
    Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
    Baltimore, MD
  • Start Date: 04/01/23
  • Projected End Date: 03/31/26
  • Grant Amount: $3,280,638.00

Felix Civitas

  • Alan Yuille, PhD
    Johns Hopkins University JHURA
    Baltimore, MD
  • Start Date: 04/01/23
  • Projected End Date: 03/31/26
  • Grant Amount: $1,922,421.00

3D Analysis of Human Pancreatic Tissue to Improve Early Detection of Pancreatic Cancer

  • Laura Wood, MD, PhD
    Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
    Baltimore, MD
  • Start Date: 09/01/22
  • Projected End Date: 08/31/25
  • Grant Amount: $2,397,114.00

Identifying high-risk pancreatic cancer genes using Long Read Sequencing

  • Alison Klein, PhD
    Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
    Baltimore, MD
  • Start Date: 09/01/22
  • Projected End Date: 08/31/25
  • Grant Amount: $3,649,780.00

Targeting the desmoplastic stroma and induced tumor vulnerabilities in PDA

  • Claus Jørgensen, BSc, PhD
    University of Manchester
    Manchester, Does Not Apply
  • Start Date: 09/01/22
  • Projected End Date: 08/31/25
  • Grant Amount: $1,146,711.43

Dissecting Stromal Evolutionary Routes in Primary versus Metastatic Microenvironments

  • Mara Sherman, PhD
    Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK)
    New York, NY
  • Start Date: 05/01/21
  • Projected End Date: 05/31/25
  • Grant Amount: $594,921.00

Local and systemic metabolic dysfunction in pancreatic cancer – Bench to bedside

  • James Johnson, PhD
    University of British Columbia
    Vancouver, British Columbia
  • Start Date: 11/01/21
  • Projected End Date: 10/31/24
  • Grant Amount: $1,199,715.00

Mechanisms and therapeutics for genome catastrophes that drive genome evolution in PDAC

  • David Pellman, MD
    Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
    Boston, MA
  • Start Date: 11/01/21
  • Projected End Date: 10/31/24
  • Grant Amount: $1,200,000.00

Targeting elements of the desmoplastic stroma to sensitize pancreatic cancer to immunotherapy

  • Gregory Beatty, MD, PhD
    The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania
    Philadelphia, PA
  • Start Date: 09/01/21
  • Projected End Date: 08/31/24
  • Grant Amount: $1,200,000.00

Metabolic Determinants of Pancreatic Cancer Metastasis

  • Alec Kimmelman, MD,PhD
    New York University Grossman School of Medicine
    New York, NY
  • Start Date: 07/01/21
  • Projected End Date: 06/30/24
  • Grant Amount: $1,200,000.00

Overcoming T cell exclusion: Inhibiting the pathway that “coats” PDA cells with CXCL12

  • Douglas Fearon, MD
    Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
    Cold Spring Harbor, NY
  • Start Date: 07/01/21
  • Projected End Date: 06/30/24
  • Grant Amount: $1,200,000.00

Targeting immune and microbial drivers of obesity-associated pancreatic cancer

  • Mandar Muzumdar, MD
    Yale University School of Medicine
    NewHaven, CT
  • Start Date: 07/01/21
  • Projected End Date: 06/30/24
  • Grant Amount: $1,200,000.00

Racial Disparities in Pancreatic Cancer

  • Howard Crawford, PhD
    Henry Ford Health System
    Detroit, MI
  • Start Date: 06/01/21
  • Projected End Date: 05/31/24
  • Grant Amount: $150,000.00

MICAL2: A Novel Driver of Pancreatic Cancer Metastasis

  • Andrew Lowy, MD
    The Regents of the University of California, San Diego
    La Jolla, CA
  • Start Date: 05/01/21
  • Projected End Date: 04/30/24
  • Grant Amount: $1,200,000.00

Understanding how altered metabolism promotes pancreatic cancer progression

  • Matthew Vander Heiden, MD, PhD
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology – MIT
    Cambridge, MA
  • Start Date: 05/01/21
  • Projected End Date: 04/30/24
  • Grant Amount: $965,508.05

Organoid Personalized Therapeutics Phase 3 Project-OPT3

  • David Tuveson, MD, PhD
    Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
    Cold Spring Harbor, NY
  • Start Date: 01/01/21
  • Projected End Date: 12/31/23
  • Grant Amount: $846,116.00

The Felix Project (2021)

  • Elliott Fishman, MD
    Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
    Baltimore, MD
  • Start Date: 05/01/21
  • Projected End Date: 12/31/22
  • Grant Amount: $1,447,300.00

Organoid Personalized Therapeutics Phase 2 Project – OPT2

  • David Tuveson, MD, PhD
    Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
    Cold Spring Harbor, NY
  • Start Date: 01/01/19
  • Projected End Date: 12/31/22
  • Grant Amount: $1,640,247.00
Career Development Program

3D Morphological Analysis of Human Pancreatic Cancer Liver Metastases

  • Ashley Kiemen, PhD
    Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
    Baltimore, MD
  • Start Date: 07/01/23
  • Projected End Date: 06/30/26
  • Grant Amount: $300,000.00

Metastasis-Initiating Cells in Pancreatic Cancer

  • Christina Ferrer, PhD
    University of Maryland, Baltimore
    Baltimore, MD
  • Start Date: 07/01/23
  • Projected End Date: 06/30/26
  • Grant Amount: $300,000.00

Anti-KRAS therapy resistance and pancreatic tumor immune microenvironment

  • Pingping Hou, PhD
    Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey-RBHS-NJMS
    Newark, NJ
  • Start Date: 07/01/22
  • Projected End Date: 06/30/25
  • Grant Amount: $300,000.00

Targeting Macropinocytosis as a Novel Avenue for Pancreatic Cancer Therapy

  • Edwin Manuel, PhD
    Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope
    Duarte, CA
  • Start Date: 07/01/22
  • Projected End Date: 06/30/25
  • Grant Amount: $300,000.00

The Role of CA 19-9 in Pancreatic Cancer Progression and Metastasis

  • Danielle Engle, PhD
    The Salk Institute for Biological Studies
    La Jolla, CA
  • Start Date: 07/01/21
  • Projected End Date: 06/30/24
  • Grant Amount: $300,000.00

The Role of Tn Antigen in Pancreatic Cancer: Driver, Suppressor and Target

  • Avery Posey, PhD
    The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania
    Philadelphia, PA
  • Start Date: 07/01/21
  • Projected End Date: 06/30/24
  • Grant Amount: $300,000.00
Innovation & Collaboration

Targeting HMGA1 Tumor-Stromal Networks in Pancreatic Carcinogenesis

  • Linda Resar, MD
    Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
    Baltimore, MD
  • Start Date: 07/01/24
  • Projected End Date: 06/30/25
  • Grant Amount: $110,000.00

Establishing choline transport as selective vulnerability of pancreatic cancers

  • Kacper Rogala, DPhil
    The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University
    Redwood City, CA
  • Start Date: 09/01/23
  • Projected End Date: 08/31/24
  • Grant Amount: $110,000.00

The role of lipid droplets in pancreatic cancer metastasis

  • David Kashatus, PhD
    University of Virginia
    Charlottesville, VA
  • Start Date: 09/01/23
  • Projected End Date: 08/31/24
  • Grant Amount: $110,000.00

Building on Kras Inhibition in Pancreas Cancer: Defining Rationale Pairings to Combat Resistance and Enhance Responses to Immunotherapy

  • Andrew Lowy, MD
    The Regents of the University of California, San Diego
    La Jolla, CA
  • Start Date: 09/01/22
  • Projected End Date: 08/31/24
  • Grant Amount: $110,000.00
Partnerships

A Circulating Epigenetic Signature for Early Detection of Pancreatic Cancer

  • Ajay Goel, PhD
    Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope
    Duarte, CA
  • Start Date: 07/01/23
  • Projected End Date: 06/30/26
  • Grant Amount: $300,000.00

Conquering KRAS in Pancreatic Cancer

  • Break Through Cancer ,
    Break Through Cancer
    Cambridge, MA
  • Start Date: 03/01/22
  • Projected End Date: 02/28/25
  • Grant Amount: $5,000,000.00

Elizabeth Jaffee – SU2C -Lustgarten Foundation PC Dream Team

  • Grant Management,
    Marc Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research
    Bethpage, NY
  • Start Date: 12/07/17
  • Projected End Date: 12/06/22
  • Grant Amount: $11,805,831.00

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