The New York City-based Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation has announced the 2022 cohort of Damon Runyon Fellows.

This year, the program has awarded fellowships of $260,000 each over four years to 16 early-career scientists to conduct cancer research under the mentorship of senior investigators. Recipients include Xin Gu (Harvard Medical School), for work focused on revealing the molecular mechanisms of IEG expression in cells and efforts to study the physiological and disease-related outcomes caused by misregulation of the process; Heidi E. Klumpe (Boston University), who will use yeast as a simplified model of cell aggregation to engineer diverse aggregates to shed light on “design principles” that underlie the persistence of tumors; J. Scott P. McCain (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), in support of research investigating circadian rhythms in bacteria; Dylan M. Parker (University of Colorado Boulder), who will work to determine the mechanisms regulating stress granule assembly and disassembly to understand how stress granule formation supports the development of cancer and chemotherapy-resistant tumors; and Wen Mai Wong (Salk Institute for Biological Studies), who will investigate a new method to non-invasively silence neurons within the body.

“We are thrilled to be funding these innovative, young scientists with the brilliance and passion to push boundaries and make breakthroughs,” said Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation president and CEO Yung S. Lie. “They are committed to understanding the fundamental processes driving cancer, which may ultimately lead to new therapeutic approaches for patients. Damon Runyon Fellows are the future leaders of their respective fields.”

For a complete list of this year’s Runyon Fellows, see the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation website.

(Photo credit: Getty Images)