ThyCa's Research Grant Awards — Researchers, Institutions, Projects (06/12)

At ThyCa: Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Association, Inc., we’re committed to funding research to help cure all types of thyroid cancer. Thanks to generous contributions, ThyCa has awarded new thyroid cancer research grants every year since 2003.

2012

• Niklas Finnberg, Ph.D., Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute, Hershey, Pennsylvania, for the project titled "Sorafenib and Quinacrine as Potential Combination for Anaplastic Thyroid Carcinoma."
• Aime Franco, Ph.D., University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas, for the project titled "The Role of RAS versus RAF in Thyroid Cancer Development and Progression."
• Andreas Lundqvist, Ph.D., Cancer Center Karolinska, Stockholm, Sweden, for the project titled "Study the Role of Natural Killer Cells in Anaplastic Thyroid Carcinoma." Dr. Lundqvist is the recipient of the Ric Blake Memorial Thyroid Cancer Research Grant.

2011

• ”Naifa L. Busaidy, M.D., Assistant Professor in the Department of Endocrine Neoplasia & Hormonal Disorders at the University of Texas – M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, for the project titled “A PI3K Based Phophoproteome Signature To Predict Prognosis and Response to Therapy in BRAF Mutant Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma.”
• Joanna Klubo-Gwiezdzinska, M.D., Ph.D., Endocrine Research Fellow, Washington Hospital Center/Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., for the project, “The Role of the Translocator Protein (TSPO) in the Thyroid Cancer Response to Treatment.”
• Carmelo Nucera, M.D., Ph.D., Harvard Medical School, and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, for the project “Targeting BRAFV600E with an Orally Available Selective Inhibitor in Novel In Vitro and In Vivo Preclinical Models of Human Papillary Thyroid Cancer.

2010

• Rozita Bagheri-Yarmand, Ph.D., University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer, Houston, Texas, for the project titled “Center Activating Transcription Factor 4 (ATF4), a Novel Putative Tumor Suppressor Gene in Medullary Thyroid Cancer."
• Tania Pilli, M.D., University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, for the project titled “The Role of MADD, an IG20 Gene Splice Variant, and Its Potential Use as Therapeutic Target in the Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer.”

2009

• Dingxie Liu, M.D., Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, for the project titled “Dually Targeting the MAP Kinase and PI3K Pathways in Thyroid Cancer – Testing of a Novel Therapeutic Approach.”
• Martin Walter, M.D., University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland, for the project titled “Somatostatin-coupled Nanoparticles for Imaging and Therapy of Medullary Thyroid Cancer.”

2008

• Mike S. Fenton, Ph.D., University of California Los Angeles (UCLA)/Veterans Affairs West Los Angeles Health Care System, Los Angeles, California, for project on promoter gene regulation of the sodium/iodide symporter (NIS) gene expression in papillary thyroid cancer.
• Libero Santarpia, M.D., Ph.D., University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, for project on identifying the target genes of six microRNAs (miRNA) in medullary thyroid cancer.

2007

• Krystian Jazdzewski, M.D., Ph.D., Medical University of Gdansk, Poland, and Visiting Scientist, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, for research on the role of miR146a in papillary thyroid carcinoma.
• Mabel Ryder, M.D., Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York, for research on the role of Tumor-Associated Macrophages (TAMs) on thyroid cancer progression.

2006

• Lionel Groussin, M.D., Ph.D., Cochin Institut, Paris, France, for research focusing on two specific enzymes in thyroid cells and their possible roles in suppressing thyroid cancer.
• Xianmin Xia, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, for research on the effect of a small portion of a tumor suppressor protein on the proliferation of human medullary thyroid cancer cells, as well as poorly differentiated papillary thyroid cancer cells and anaplastic thyroid cancer cells.
  

2005

• Matthias Schott, M.D., Heinrich-Heine University of Duesseldorf, Duesseldorf, Germany, for project titled “Induction of Cytotoxic Immunity in Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma by Dendridic Vaccination.”
• Erich M. Sturgis, M.D., University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, for project titled “Radiation Response Genotype and Risk of Papillary Thyroid Cancer: A Case-Control Study.”
  

2004

• Sareh Parangi, M.D., Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, for project titled "Antiangiogenic Therapy of Thyroid Cancer."
  

2003

• Xiulong Xu, Ph.D., Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center. Chicago, Illinois, for project examining the relationship between a gene mutation and papillary thyroid cancer.
  

ThyCa’s grants are the first-ever thyroid cancer research grants to be funded entirely by thyroid cancer patients, caregivers, and friends. The grant recipients are selected by an independent expert panel of the American Thyroid Association. The ThyCa grants are open to researchers and institutions worldwide.

You’re invited to help support the Rally for Research. For details, visit the Rally for Research page.