The New York City-based Cancer Research Institute has announced that it awarded more than $28.5 million to help advance immunology and cancer immunotherapy research during the fiscal year ending June 30, 2021.

Forty-three institutions in eight countries were awarded a total of seventy-nine research grants and fellowships in support of postdoctoral research, clinical trials, technology innovation, data sharing, and interdisciplinary collaboration.

The awards include twelve Anna-Maria Kellen Clinical Accelerator Grants totaling $10.7 million to fund the launch, expansion, or ongoing support of platform studies including the AMADEUS biomarker study and the IPROC (ovarian cancer), PORTER (prostate cancer), and REVOLUTION (pancreatic cancer) studies testing immunotherapy combinations in hard-to-treat cancers. CRI also awarded six Lloyd J. Old STAR Awards of $1.25 million each over five years to future "stars" in the field of cancer immunology in support of unconventional, high-risk/high-reward research with significant potential to advance cancer immunotherapeutics.

Other grants and fellowships include thirty-one CRI Irvington Postdoctoral Fellowships of up to $175,500 each over three years; thirteen Clinic and Laboratory Integration Program (CLIP) Grants of $200,000 each; five Technology Impact Awards of up to $200,000 each to address the gap between technology development and clinical application of cancer immunotherapies; and nine Impact Grants totaling $905,000, including support for a glioblastoma immunotherapy consortium intended to facilitate development of novel targets for cellular therapy and a research technician pipeline program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center aimed at attracting underrepresented minority graduate students to pursue careers in academic scientific research.

"Advances in immunology and cancer immunotherapy are being made at an accelerating pace thanks in part to new technologies and techniques that are opening up exciting new ways to explore the complex relationship between cancer and the immune system," said Jill O’Donnell-Tormey, CEO and director of scientific affairs at the Cancer Research Institute. "However, it is the brilliant scientists who apply these new tools and techniques to test their bold hypotheses that make possible true progress in the fight against cancer. CRI is proud to support their promising ideas to advance research and improve cancer patient care."

For a complete list of recipients, visit the CRI website.