The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation named seven early career scientists as recipients of its 2021 Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovation Award, which funds projects that have the potential to transform the areas of cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment.
The award recognized five first-time recipients with $400,000 grants to be dispersed over two years. An additional $400,000 was issued to two "Stage 2" recipients who made significant research progress during the first two years of receiving the initial reward.
Past success stories from award recipients include the development of the CRISPR gene editing technology.
The new 2021 Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovators are:
- Luisa Escobar-Hoyos, PhD, assistant professor of therapeutic radiology at New Haven, Conn.-based Yale University School of Medicine
- Danielle Grotjahn, PhD, a fellow at San Diego-based Scripps Research Institute
- Mandar Muzumdar, MD, assistant professor at Yale University School of Medicine
- Sabrina Spencer, PhD, assistant professor biochemistry at University of Colorado in Boulder
- Joshua Weinstein, PhD, biophysicist and molecular technologist at The University of Chicago
The Stage 2 recipients are:
- Xiaochun Li, PhD, assistant professor of biophysics and molecular genetics at Dallas-based University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
- Alexandra-Chloé Villani, PhD, assistant investigator at Boston-based Massachusetts General Hospital's Center for Immunology and Inflammatory Diseases
To read more about the recipients, click here.