Georgia Tech has been awarded a $450,000 grant to investigate whether boosting a patient’s immune response may promote tumor immunity and improve disease outcomes.
The grant was one of 124 made by Susan G. Komen, a non-profit that funds breast cancer research. The Georgia Tech grant brings Komen’s total research investment to $3,800,000 in Georgia and more than $889 million nationally since 1982.
The 2015 research grants expand Komen’s ongoing commitment to funding early-career scientists, including recent graduates and those trying to establish independent research careers, who have been hard hit by declines of as much as 25 percent in federal research funding over the past decade.
“We committed two years ago to do all that we can to ensure that talented early-career investigators remain in the breast cancer research field, while continuing our support for established researchers,” said Dr. Judith A. Salerno, Komen’s president and CEO in a press release. “We cannot afford to lose talented scientists to other fields for lack of funding.”
Komen’s research program is funded in part by contributions from the non-profit’s network of affiliates, which direct 25 percent of locally raised funds to the national research program. The remaining 75 percent of net funds are invested into community outreach programs that serve local women and men facing breast cancer.
Since 1993, Komen Atlanta has funded more than $23.6 million to community programs serving people in Metro Atlanta, while contributing $8.5 million to Komen research.
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