Washington, DC - The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and Bayer are pleased to announce the 2016 AACR-Bayer Innovation and Discovery Grants program for meritorious projects that examine novel targets and biomarkers in oncology research.
“The AACR is thrilled to partner with Bayer to help transform foundational science into innovative therapeutics for cancer patients,” said Mitch Stoller, executive director of the AACR Foundation. “While we have made great progress against the more than 200 diseases we call cancer, with nearly 600,000 people in the United States projected to die due to cancer this year, we must redouble our efforts to provide groundbreaking approaches to treat and prevent cancer.”
The AACR-Bayer Innovation and Discovery Grants will promote the key tenets of the Bayer Grants4Targets initiative: to provide new treatment options for cancers with high unmet medical need, to encourage innovation and translation of ideas from basic research into novel drugs, and to foster collaborations between academic groups and the pharmaceutical industry. Bayer’s Grants4Targets initiative, originally introduced in 2009, translates ideas from basic research into novel drugs through grants for research into drug targets and biomarkers.
“Bayer is committed to partnering with elite organizations, and we are delighted to launch the AACR-Bayer Innovation and Discovery Grant program and support exciting early cancer research,” said Karl Ziegelbauer, PhD, Bayer’s senior vice president and Head of Global Therapeutic Research Groups at Global Drug Discovery. “The goal of the AACR-Bayer partnership is to help translate innovative ideas into projects that will result in an improved understanding of the pathogenesis of cancer, with the hope of contributing meaningful results to cancer research and discovery.”
The research proposed for funding should examine novel therapeutic targets focusing on the following oncology research areas:
- inhibition of cell proliferation;
- survival signaling;
- transcription and chromatin modulation;
- cell cycle regulation;
- tumor metabolism;
- hypoxia;
- immunotherapy; and
- antibody-drug conjugates.
It is anticipated that multiple grants will be funded. The grants will provide $10,000 to $25,000 over one year, with the grant term to begin July 1, 2016. All the recipients will be offered the opportunity to work with a Bayer mentor who will provide guidance, expertise, and/or tools to accelerate the translation of their scientific idea.
Investigators interested in the program can find further details online. To complete an application, please visit MyAACR. Applications must be submitted by noon ET, Jan. 18, 2016. Additional inquiries may be directed to Shaun Fitzpatrick at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
In April, 2015, the AACR and Bayer launched a joint initiative to provide critical support to postdoctoral and clinical fellows conducting basic cancer research at the earliest stages of their careers. That initiative, called the AACR-Bayer HealthCare Basic Cancer Research Fellowships program, provided two fellowships to cancer researchers.
