Current and Former Awardees
Innovators2024 Recipients
Alex M. Jaeger, PhD
"Engineering approaches to exploit MHC-II antigen presentation in cancer"
at H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center Daniel J. Puleston, PhD
"A new platform to study cancer biology and therapy in humans"
at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Sydney M. Shaffer, MD, PhD
"Spatially resolved cellular competition in oncogenesis"
at University of Pennsylvania Humsa S. Venkatesh, PhD
"Identifying and disrupting the bioelectric circuits driving brain cancer"
at Brigham and Women's Hospital Ziyang Zhang, PhD
"Small molecule activators of GTP hydrolysis for mutant Ras-driven cancer"
at University of California, Berkeley 2023 Recipients
Lucas Farnung, PhD
"Understanding the mechanistic basis of gene expression regulation by MLL complexes in cancers"
at Harvard Medical School Ryan A. Flynn, MD, PhD
"Tools to target novel cell surface ligands in cancer"
at Boston Children's Hospital Max Jan, MD, PhD
"Programming next-generation NK cell therapies using targeted protein degradation"
at Massachusetts General Hospital (Kathy) Fange Liu, PhD
"Y chromosome proteins in sex bias of cancers in non-reproductive organs"
at University of Pennsylvania Elvin Wagenblast, PhD
"Untangling the evolutionary dependency of childhood leukemia"
at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai 2022 Recipients
Chengcheng Jin, PhD
"Investigating neuro-immune interaction in lung cancer"
at University of Pennsylvania Nora Kory, PhD
"Targeting mitochondrial transporters in cancer"
at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Jamie B. Spangler, PhD
"Engineered multispecific antibody-drug conjugates as novel cancer immunotherapeutics"
at Johns Hopkins University Santosha A. Vardhana, MD, PhD
"Investigating and targeting T cell exhaustion in solid tumors"
at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Ekaterina V. Vinogradova, PhD
"Investigating and targeting T cell exhaustion in solid tumors"
at The Rockefeller University Srinivas R. Viswanathan, MD, PhD
"X marks the spot: exploring how X-chromosome alterations drive sex differences in cancer"
at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute 2021 Recipients
Luisa F. Escobar-Hoyos, PhD
"Understanding RNA splicing in tumor-cell adaptation and anti-tumor immunity"
at Yale University School of Medicine Danielle Grotjahn, PhD
"Uncovering structural mechanisms of mitochondrial fragmentation in cancer by cellular cryo-electron tomography"
at The Scripps Research Institute Mandar D. Muzumdar, MD
"Targeting endocrine-exocrine signaling in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma progression"
at Yale University School of Medicine Sabrina L. Spencer, PhD
"Causes and consequences of rapid cancer cell adaptation to MAPK pathway inhibitors"
at University of Colorado Boulder Joshua A. Weinstein, PhD
"A novel DNA microscopy platform for rapid discovery of immunogenic tumor neoantigens"
at The University of Chicago 2020 Recipients
Liron Bar-Peled, PhD
"Identification of redox vulnerabilities in genetically defined cancers"
at Massachusetts General Hospital Michael E. Birnbaum, PhD
"Decoding and reprogramming tumor-infiltrating T cells by pMHC-targeted lentiviruses"
at Massachusetts Institute of Technology Gregory S. Ducker, PhD
"Targeting phosphatidylcholine metabolism in liver cancer using zebrafish"
at Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah Kimberley J. Evason, MD, PhD
"Targeting phosphatidylcholine metabolism in liver cancer using zebrafish"
at Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah Brian B. Liau, PhD
"Investigating allosteric mechanisms regulating DNA methyltransferase enzymes"
at Harvard University Michael E. Pacold, MD, PhD
"Tracing molecular oxygen in pancreatic cancer"
at New York University Langone Health Elli Papaemmanuil, PhD
"Leveraging multi-modal genome profiling approaches to study disease initiation, progression, and response to therapy in TP53 mutated myeloid neoplasms"
at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center 2019 Recipients
Xiaochun Li, PhD
“Investigation of Hedgehog and Wnt signaling mechanisms”
at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Joseph D. Mancias, MD, PhD
“Identifying the pancreatic tumor MHC-I ligandome in response to ionizing radiation for combination radiation-immunotherapy”
at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Jan P. Schuemann, PhD
“Using extreme dose rates to protect healthy tissue in proton radiation therapy”
at Massachusetts General Hospital Jason M. Sheltzer, PhD
“Are cancers addicted to aneuploidy?”
at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Alexandra-Chloé Villani, PhD
"Deciphering the Achilles' heel of cancer immunotherapy"
at Massachusetts General Hospital 2018 Recipients
Lawrence A. David, PhD
"Personalized prebiotics to optimize microbiota metabolism and improve transplant outcomes"
at Duke University Eric S. Fischer, PhD
"Novel mechanisms for small molecule induced targeted degradation of RRM family proteins"
at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Arnold S. Han, MD, PhD
"Precision T cell receptor-based cancer therapies"
at Columbia University Amaia Lujambio, PhD
"Overcoming resistance to anti-PD1 immunotherapy in hepatocellular carcinoma"
at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Wayne O. Miles, PhD
"Maximizing pro-apoptotic protein levels"
at The Ohio State University Anthony D. Sung, MD
"Personalized prebiotics to optimize microbiota metabolism and improve transplant outcomes"
at Duke University 2017 Recipients
Benjamin L. Martin, PhD
"Cell cycle regulation of cellular behaviors associated with cancer metastasis"
at Stony Brook University David Q. Matus, PhD
"Cell cycle regulation of cellular behaviors associated with cancer metastasis"
at Stony Brook University Marcela V. Maus, MD, PhD
"Next-generation CAR T cells for EGFRvIII-positive glioblastoma"
at Massachusetts General Hospital Rushika M. Perera, PhD
"Mechanisms of cellular transformation at the single organelle level"
at University of California, San Francisco 2016 Recipients
Christin E. Burd, PhD
"Exploiting mutational specificity to target RAS-driven melanoma"
at The Ohio State University Jason M. Crawford, PhD
"Elucidating the bacterial determinants of colorectal cancer"
at Yale University Piero D. Dalerba, MD
"Using 'single-cell genomics' to resolve the molecular identity of 'cancer stem cells,' and guide their pharmacological eradication"
at Columbia University Scott J. Dixon, PhD
"Exploring the role of reductive stress in promoting cancer cell death"
at Stanford University Philip A. Romero, PhD
"Digital circulating tumor cell detection using scalable molecular logic"
at University of Wisconsin, Madison Peter J. Turnbaugh, PhD
"The gut microbiome: an unexpected contributor to cancer drug resistance"
at University of California, San Francisco Roberto Zoncu, PhD
"Identifying and disabling organelle circuits that fuel cancer cell metabolism"
at University of California, Berkeley 2015 Recipients
Nicholas T. Ingolia, PhD
"Cis-regulatory code for the translational control of gene expression"
at University of California, Berkeley Christopher M. Jewell, PhD
"Harnessing intra-lymph node controlled release to study and enhance tumor immunity"
at University of Maryland Ning Jiang, PhD
"A single cell integrated system to dissecting cancer immunoediting in humans"
at University of Texas, Austin Guillem Pratx, PhD
"Adding a new dimension to flow cytometry: radionuclide-activated cell sorting"
at Stanford University Brian H. Shirts, MD, PhD
"Participatory genetics for defining genotype-phenotype associations of rare cancer variants"
at University of Washington Elçin Ünal, PhD
"Reducing cancer susceptibility by attenuating cellular aging"
at University of California, Berkeley 2014 Recipients
Emily P. Balskus, PhD
"Understanding and preventing carcinogenesis caused by the human microbiota"
at Harvard University Arvin C. Dar, PhD
"Targeting allosteric control in the Ras-MAPK pathway for cancer therapy"
at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Summer L. Gibbs, PhD
"Studying spatial regulation of HER2 tumorigenesis with multispectral super resolution microscopy (MSSRM)"
at Oregon Health & Science University Moritz F. Kircher, MD, PhD
"Raman-MRI nanobeacons: towards a universal cancer theranostic agent"
at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Xiaolin Nan, PhD
"Studying spatial regulation of HER2 tumorigenesis with multispectral super resolution microscopy (MSSRM)"
at Oregon Health & Science University Eirini Papapetrou, MD, PhD
"Dissecting chromosome hemizygosity with human pluripotent stem cells"
at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai 2013 Recipients
Michael Z. Lin, MD, PhD
"Building the magic bullet: protein switches for sensing oncogenic signals and executing therapeutic programs"
at Stanford University School of Medicine Christine Mayr, MD, PhD
"A functional atlas of lymphoma specific aberrations generated by RNA processing"
at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Nicholas E. Navin, PhD
"Developing single-cell sequencing methods to investigate metastatic seeding in breast cancer"
at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center Trudy G. Oliver, PhD
"Mechanisms of drug resistance in small cell lung cancer"
at University of Utah Bradley L. Pentelute, PhD
"Striking cancer with intracellular antibodies"
at Massachusetts Institute of Technology Agnel Sfeir, PhD
"Pathways involved in preserving the genomic stability of mitochondrial DNA"
at New York University School of Medicine Sarah (Sadie) M. Wignall, PhD
"Probing centrosome-clustering mechanisms to identify targets for new cancer therapies"
at Northwestern University 2012 Recipients
Gregory L. Beatty, MD, PhD
“Targeting macrophages for cancer therapy”
at University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Jay R. Hesselberth, PhD
“Peptide identification by massively-parallel sequencing”
at University of Colorado Denver Matthew R. Pratt, PhD
“O-GIcNAc as a “sweet” link between metabolism and survival in cancer”
at University of Southern California Eranthie Weerapana, PhD
“Targeting reactive cysteine residues for cancer therapy”
at Boston College Feng Zhang, PhD
“Development and application of genome and epigenome engineering tools for cancer research”
at The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard 2011 Recipients
Alexei A. Aravin, PhD
“Epigenetic regulation of transposable elements in cancer”
at California Institute of Technology James E. Bradner, MD
“Targeting epigenetic readers as cancer therapy”
at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Joshua E. Elias, PhD
“How cancers cope with damage: a proteomics approach”
at Stanford University School of Medicine Benjamin P. Tu, PhD
“A novel strategy for attacking tumors based on the identification of a fundamental carbon-source signal driving cell growth”
at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Matthew G. Vander Heiden, MD, PhD
“Understanding the metabolic requirements of cancer cells”
at Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2010 Recipients
Heather R. Christofk, PhD
“Regulation of cancer metabolism”
at University of California, Los Angeles Joshua C. Munger, PhD
“Elucidating mechanisms of oncogenic metabolic manipulation”
at University of Rochester Raffaella Sordella, PhD
“Characterization of Erlotinib resistant, Mesenchymal and Metastatic (EMM) cells present in naïve lung tumors prior to treatments”
at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory 2009 Recipients
Ivan Maillard, MD, PhD (and Yi Zhang, MD, PhD)
“Modulation of Notch signaling to control graft-versus-host-disease and preserve the anti-tumor activity of alloreactive T cells”
at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor John L. Rinn, PhD
“The functional roles of large intergenic non-coding RNAs in cancer”
at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Muneesh Tewari, MD, PhD
“Cancer detection in ‘pre-diagnosis’ blood samples via exosome-associated small RNAs”
at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Yi Zhang, MD, PhD (and Ivan Maillard, MD, PhD)
“Modulation of Notch signaling to control graft-versus-host-disease and preserve the anti-tumor activity of alloreactive T cells”
at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 2008 Recipients
Nathanael S. Gray, PhD
“Identification of kinase substrates using selective irreversible crosslinkers”
at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute David G. Kirsch, MD, PhD
“Transforming cancer therapy with molecular imaging”
at Duke University Medical Center Sarkis K. Mazmanian, PhD
“Host-bacterial immunomodulation in the development of cancer”
at California Institute of Technology 
