METAvivor Research and Support announces six additional new grant awards for metastatic breast cancer research totaling $1,100,000.00. METAvivor held its annual metastatic breast cancer research cycle in 2021 and as a result of strong support from generous donors and sponsors for metastatic breast cancer research, METAvivor was able to award five additional research grants. The grants hold promise for future treatments and therapies that will one day, change metastatic breast cancer from a terminal disease to one that is manageable with a good quality of life.
METAvivor Research and Support Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to funding research for Stage IV metastatic breast cancer (MBC), announces six additional grant awards totaling $1.1 million, which brings the 2021 MBC research total to $5,150,000. The research grants will enhance the understanding of metastatic breast cancer, help improve current treatments and develop greatly needed therapeutic options to combat this complicated disease.
Metastatic breast cancer (also known as stage IV or advanced stage cancer) is the spread of breast cancer from the breast to other parts of the body -- most commonly to the bones, liver, lungs and/or brain. Approximately 30% of early stage breast cancer patients can and do metastasize, with the mean survival after diagnosis being 33 months. In the United States, under 5% of all cancer research funds are dedicated to metastatic breast cancer research – yet 98-99% of all breast cancer deaths are caused by a metastasis.
“We announced our 2021 grant awards in early January and were thrilled to have an exceptional grant year. When we totaled our year end donations for research, we were able to award an additional five grant awards bringing this year’s research award total to 32 grants and a grand total of $5.150 million” said Jamil Rivers, President of METAvivor’s Board of Directors “We are thrilled that our supporters have helped us exceed our 2021 goal for funding stage IV metastatic breast cancer research and we look forward to awarding an even larger number of research grants in 2022.”
The additional METAvivor grant awards include both Early Career Investigator grants that total $100,000 and Translational Research Grant awards of $250,000 for 2021.
“Research is our number one priority. It is imperative we increase research funding for stage IV metastatic breast cancer so that we can find life extending treatments. We continue to lose 115 people every day to metastatic breast cancer.” Said Rivers. “The hope is that the vital research that is being funded will help fulfill the promise to transform metastatic breast cancer from a terminal disease into a chronic, manageable condition with a good quality of life.” METAvivor is so thankful to the donors, fundraisers, research partners, sponsors and the metastatic breast cancer community for helping exceed our research goal for 2021.
Below are the five additional Research Grant Awards:
METAvivor Metastatic Breast Cancer Translational Research Awards
Lisa Carey, MD, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC – “HARMONY: Harnessing the Analysis of RNA expression and Molecular subtype to Optimize Novel Therapy for metastatic breast cancer”
Presented by METAvivors of NJ in Memory of Donna Karlis – Sara Tolaney, MD, MPH, Susan F. Smith Center for Women’s Cancers, Dana Farber Institute, Boston, MA - “Enhancing the immunogenicity of PD-L1+ metastatic HR+ breast cancer via DNA damage”
Kornelia Polyak, MD, PhD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA – “Metastatic niche metabolomes and epigenetic heterogeneity in breast cancer”
Carol Sartorius, PhD, University of Colorado, Denver, CO – “Endocrine therapy driven reprogramming of circulating tumor cell-platelet interactions in driving late metastatic spread of ER+ breast cancer”
METAvivor Early Career Investigator Research Award:
Presented by the Bayhill 9 Holers and Friends, Honoring the Memory of Linda Pizzolato – Marjan Rafat, PhD, Vanderbilt University – Nashville, TN – “An engineered bone marrow microenvironment model to investigate the impact of stiffness in breast cancer metastasis”
ABOUT METAVIVOR
METAvivor Research and Support Inc. is an Annapolis-based, volunteer-led, non-profit organization founded by metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients in 2009. The organization’s main focus is to fund critical research that will lead to advances in treatment options, quality of life and survival for patients diagnosed with MBC. Since 2009, METAvivor has awarded 166 research grants totaling $23,150,000. METAvivor is the only national organization with a peer-reviewed grant program aimed at exclusively funding MBC research, and 100% of all donations go to fund research.
METAvivor also raises awareness of MBC, provides support for people living with this disease, and offers opportunities for others to help make a difference for the metastatic community. METAvivor has gained a rapidly growing following within the breast cancer community, and has become a leader the metastatic breast cancer community.
Visit us at www.METAvivor.org, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
