Press Releases

Ten Scientists Awarded TheoryLab Collaborative (TLC) Grant by the American Cancer Society and Emerson Collective
Feb 2, 2021

Five research teams have been awarded a TheoryLab Collaborative (TLC) Grant by the American Cancer Society and Emerson Collective. Each team is comprised of two scientists affiliated with different universities who connected and will collaborate through TheoryLab®, the American Cancer Society’s online platform for funded researchers. 

TLC Grant awardees are: 

Rebecca Perkins, MD (Boston Medical Center) and Susan Vadaparampil, PhD (H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Inc.) will research the impact of COVID-19 on cervical cancer screening and management of abnormal results in underserved women. 

Rajan Kulkarni, MD, PhD (Oregon Health & Science University) and Jason Sheltzer, PhD (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) will study whether aneuploidy can drive resistance to BRAFi/MEKi therapy in melanoma. 

Leah Cook, PhD (Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska University of Nebraska Medical Center) and Isabel Schlaepfer, PhD (University of Colorado Denver, AMC and DC) will explore the role of CPT1A in Neutrophil-mediated Immune response and BM-PCa. 

Claudia Benavente, PhD (The Regents of the University of California, Irvine) and Michael Emanuele, PhD (The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) will study the potential of harnessing the ubiquitin system as a therapeutic approach in triple-negative breast cancer. 

Alice Berger, PhD (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center) and Lixin Wan, PhD (H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Inc.) will explore targeting USP9X-mediated RIT1 stabilization for lung cancer therapy. 

Each team grant is funded for one year starting on February 1, 2021. 

In 2020, the American Cancer Society and the Emerson Collective launched a partnership to support innovative, collaborative research projects using TheoryLab. The TLC Grant mechanism is designed to support new and transdisciplinary collaborations among TheoryLab users to explore high-risk ideas, including Covid-19 research relevant to cancer or persons living with cancer. 

Emerson Collective deploys a wide range of tools — from impact investing to philanthropy to advocacy — in pursuit of a more equal and just America. We focus on creating systemic change in education, immigration, climate, and cancer research and treatment.