Project will explore patient response to immunotherapy
A breast cancer research collaboration between the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) has been awarded a two-year award totalling $100,000 from the Breast Cancer Research Foundation of Alabama (BCRFA).
Sara Cooper, PhD, a faculty investigator at HudsonAlpha, and Donald Buchsbaum, PhD, the director of the division of radiation biology at the Wallace Tumor Institute at UAB, will lead the project to characterize the effects of immunotherapy in breast cancer models and explore new drugs to improve immune system response. The project will use technology developed at HudsonAlpha to measure immune response both to immunotherapy alone and in combination with novel drugs. The goal is to improve immune response and provide resources to identify and validate new genes that contribute to patient response. This is the first year the award has been offered by the foundation.
About the Breast Cancer Research Foundation of Alabama
The purpose of BCRFA’s collaboration award is to encourage collaborative research among top researchers in Alabama in the field of breast cancer research. The award also helps support basic research, which can emerge into translational research, and offers financial support to promising breast cancer research in Alabama. This support will help fund initial research so that the project can support future funding from national funders. Finally, the award offers hope to those affected by breast cancer and will ultimately save lives through breast cancer research.
The BCRFA is a nonprofit organization raising funding and awareness for breast cancer research in Alabama. Since the organization began in 1996, the BCRFA has invested over $5.8 million to breast cancer research initiatives in Alabama.
