Meyers receives $100,000 grant to advance breast cancer research
The PA Breast Cancer Coalition has presented $100,000 to Craig Meyers, Ph.D., of Penn State College of Medicine. Meyers' research focuses on using the adeno-associated virus type 2, or AAV2, to kill breast cancer cells in certain types of tumors without harming healthy cells around them. The coalition awarded Meyers a $50,000 grant, which was matched by an anonymous donor for a total of $100,000.
“Researchers here in Pennsylvania need our help to get their experiments out of the lab and into clinical trials,” says PA Breast Cancer Coalition President and Founder Pat Halpin-Murphy. “The PA Breast Cancer Coalition is proud to support the cutting-edge science being implemented at Penn State Hershey and to advocate for this important work.”
Since 1997, the coalition awarded more than $3 million in research grants to scientists in Pennsylvania through its Refunds for Breast Cancer Research campaign. Pennsylvania residents can contribute to the campaign by donating all or part of their state income tax refund directly to this initiative on their PA-40 tax form.
“Dr. Meyers' research is a perfect example as to how fundamental laboratory studies are leading to innovative and novel therapies for breast cancer treatment,” says Dr. Raymond Hohl, director of the Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute. “In particular, his approach can be thought of as a very advanced biological therapy for the treatment of breast cancer; one that uses viruses, which are better recognized to cause disease, to treat human breast cancers.”
Meyers has previously received three grants from the PA Breast Cancer Coalition; one for $35,000 in 2001, another $35,000 grant in 2007 and a $100,000 grant in 2011.
“We have been working on this research now for 20 years,” Meyers says. “We are now at the point where one more set of experiments will decide whether or not we can put an application together to proceed with human trials.”
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