The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation has announced the selection of 13 outstanding postdoctoral scientists as its 2026 Damon Runyon Fellows, along with six exceptional researchers chosen to receive the prestigious Damon Runyon-Dale F. Frey Award for Breakthrough Scientists. These awards are designed to foster innovative and independent cancer research, equipping promising scientists with substantial funding to explore fundamental mechanisms of cancer biology and treatment. The Foundation’s fellowship program supports the nation’s most talented early-career researchers, empowering them to pioneer basic and translational studies that could reshape cancer diagnosis, prevention, and therapy.
Among the six recipients of the Damon Runyon-Dale F. Frey Award, Dr. Fangtao Chi of MIT is delving into the nuanced interplay between dietary nutrients and cellular metabolism as they influence intestinal regeneration and tumorigenesis. His work focuses on how the intestine’s rapid self-renewal, mediated by intestinal stem cells, is affected by metabolic signals derived from diet. While these metabolic pathways promote tissue repair after damage such as inflammation or cancer therapy, Dr. Chi’s groundbreaking investigations also reveal that the same regenerative mechanisms can be subverted to fuel abnormal cellular growth, leading to tumors. By systematically dissecting these nutrient-metabolism pathways, Dr. Chi aims to establish dietary strategies that optimize tissue repair while mitigating colorectal and other intestinal cancers.
Dr. Cayla E. Jewett at the University of Colorado, Denver Anschutz Medical Campus is tackling an intriguing paradox presented by multiciliated cells. These specialized cells generate an abundance of centrioles—cellular organelles ordinarily tightly regulated to prevent cancerous transformation. Surprisingly, multiciliated cells manage to safely increase centriole numbers and use the DNA damage response pathway normally associated with oncogenic stress as part of their development. Dr. Jewett’s research seeks to decode how such cells reconcile these contradictory features, hoping to uncover novel molecular checkpoints that prevent tumorigenesis. Insights from this research may identify new therapeutic targets that inhibit abnormal centriole amplification in cancer cells while sparing normal tissue.
At Princeton University, Dr. Titas Sengupta investigates how epigenetic modifications of histones—proteins around which DNA is wrapped—influence gene regulation in neurons, especially regarding aging and environmental responses. Her work has unveiled mechanisms by which rapid histone modifications modulate neuronal functions such as short-term memory, highlighting that dynamic gene expression changes rather than static protein reserves underlie these cognitive processes. This line of inquiry is highly relevant to understanding the epigenetic dysregulation often observed in cancers affecting nervous tissues, providing a potential framework for uncovering how altered chromatin landscapes contribute to cancer progression and neurological dysfunction.
Dr. Dylan M. Parker of the University of Colorado, Boulder studies stress granules—membraneless molecular condensates that form within cells under stress conditions, impacting gene expression and cell survival. Stress granules are garnering attention for their roles in cancer, particularly in how their dynamics could promote tumor progression and resistance to chemotherapy. Dr. Parker aims to elucidate the molecular controls governing stress granule assembly and disassembly, advancing our understanding of how cancer cells adapt to treatment. Such knowledge might open avenues for developing drugs that disrupt granule formation, thereby sensitizing resistant tumors to existing therapies.
At the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Catherine Triandafillou explores error correction mechanisms during early development using gastruloids, three-dimensional stem cell clusters that mimic embryonic patterning. Her microscopy-enabled lineage-tracing studies assess how deviations in cellular behavior impact developmental outcomes and the capacity of tissues to correct aberrations. Understanding how these processes fail in cancer could illuminate why tumors contain abnormal cellular compositions and proliferate unchecked. Dr. Triandafillou’s work aims to uncover cellular and tissue-level responses to early developmental errors, potentially revealing new approaches to target cancer’s root defects.
Dr. Youngmu (Nick) Shin from UCSF is pioneering the engineering of scaffold proteins to reconstruct and probe cell-cell communication interfaces known as synapses. By building synthetic synapses through designed protein condensates, he strives to elucidate the physical principles governing synaptic organization and strength. Insights from this synthetic biology approach have profound implications for immunotherapy, including engineering immune cells like T cells to form precise, robust connections with cancer cells, enhancing their ability to target malignancies while minimizing damage to healthy tissues.
The November 2025 cohort of Damon Runyon Fellows also exemplifies the breadth and depth of current cancer research. Dr. Duaa H. Al-Rawi at Memorial Sloan Kettering focuses on the earliest genetic disruptions in high-grade serous ovarian cancer, particularly alterations in the p53 tumor suppressor pathway and chromosomal instability in fallopian tube cells. By modeling these initial events, her research aims to inform early detection and prevention strategies for this deadly cancer subtype.
Dr. Tatsat Banerjee from the Whitehead Institute investigates the fundamental signaling architecture within CAR T cells—immune cells genetically reprogrammed for cancer therapy—seeking to enhance their ability to recognize and persist against solid tumors like melanoma. His innovative melding of molecular genetics and biophysics targets improvements in the immunological synapse’s function, essential for T cell-mediated tumor eradication.
Leukemia translation regulation is the focus for Dr. Elizabeth Black, also at the Whitehead Institute. Her research zeroes in on translation start site selection, a nuanced control point of protein synthesis that is dysregulated in blood cancers but overlooked due to experimental challenges. Understanding how cancer cells manipulate translation initiation could herald novel therapeutic interventions.
At UCSF, Dr. Sarah W. Cai investigates how TRP ion channel receptors, key mediators of pain, form nanoscale clusters in sensory neurons during cancer-associated pain and chemotherapy-induced neuropathy. Her work employs advanced microscopy to parse receptor organization changes that amplify pain signaling, with prospects for designing better pain management approaches for cancer patients.
The interplay between diet-derived xenobiotics and inflammation in cancer progression forms the basis of Dr. Esther J. Han’s work at Yale University. She studies how gut microbes and host cells chemically modify these plant-derived molecules, influencing cancer risk and inflammation, potentially guiding nutritional interventions to prevent or mitigate disease.
Dr. Qixiang He at Columbia University explores a novel bacterial antiviral defense that synthesizes DNA rather than cleaving it. By deciphering this system’s mechanisms, his research aims to develop innovative gene therapy delivery methods that circumvent immune reactions, potentially enhancing gene- and immunotherapies in cancer treatment.
Dr. King L. Hung at The Scripps Research Institute employs the regenerating flatworm as a model to study how chemical and mechanical signals integrate to maintain tissue integrity, a property lost in cancer. His live imaging approaches seek to untangle the multicellular circuitry that prevents unchecked proliferation and invasion.
Protein complexes essential for lung cancer progression are the subject of Dr. Jinho D. Jeong’s research at Massachusetts General Hospital. Using Molecular COUPLrs, a novel chemical biology technology, he aims to selectively disrupt complexes driving non-small cell lung cancers and brain metastases, potentially revealing new drug targets for these lethal diseases.
At the Broad Institute, Dr. Wenbin Mei studies the influence of inherited genetics on the development and aggressiveness of ERBB2-driven cancers, such as breast and lung cancers. His work aims to integrate germline and tumor genomic data to personalize risk prediction and therapy.
Dr. Rishi Kumar Mishra at the University of Michigan focuses on how the motor protein dynein localizes at microtubule plus-ends during cell migration, a process critical for cancer metastasis. Understanding this mechanism may identify vulnerabilities to inhibit cancer spread.
Dr. Christian G. Peace from Princeton University has developed novel in vivo technology for tracking nutrient utilization by cancer and immune cells within the tumor microenvironment. His work sheds light on the metabolic competition in tumors influencing immunotherapy efficacy.
Dr. Juntao Yu at Whitehead Institute investigates chromatin-based mechanisms guiding asymmetric cell division in stem cells, fundamental for tissue homeostasis and cancer prevention. Dissecting chromosome inheritance patterns may reveal how cancer cells bypass these controls.
Finally, Dr. Ming M. Zheng at the Broad Institute integrates large-scale genetics, single-molecule imaging, and AI to create dynamic maps of oncogene behavior in living cells, aiming to guide the creation of precise and long-lasting cancer therapies with minimal side effects.
Together, these fellows and awardees represent a vanguard of cancer research, tackling fundamental questions with cutting-edge tools across genetics, cell biology, immunology, and bioengineering. Their combined efforts underscore the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation’s commitment to nurturing innovative science that holds promise for transformative advances in cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment worldwide.
Subject of Research: Cancer research focusing on fundamental mechanisms of tumorigenesis, metastasis, immunotherapy, epigenetics, and cellular communication.
Article Title: Damon Runyon Foundation Announces 2026 Fellows and Breakthrough Scientists Driving Cancer Research Innovation
News Publication Date: 2025-11
Web References: http://damonrunyon.org/
Keywords: Cancer research, postdoctoral fellows, tumorigenesis, immunotherapy, epigenetics, cellular metabolism, stem cells, DNA damage, translation regulation, tumor microenvironment, cancer genetics, synthetic biology
