The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network announced Monday that it is accepting applications for its 2019 research grants program, which will award individual grants of $500,000 to support scientists whose research is focused on the disease.
The application period runs through December.
“The need for continued research funding, both public and private, is urgent, as pancreatic cancer patients have the lowest five-year survival rate of any major cancer at just 9 percent,” said Lynn Matrisian, chief science officer at Manhattan Beach-based PanCAN. “Pancreatic cancer is projected to become the second leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States around 2020. Every new advance in detection or treatment began as a research effort.”
PanCAN will offer two types of grants: the Catalyst Grant and the Translational Research Grant.
Recipients of the Catalyst Grant will receive $500,000 over the course of three years. The application requires that candidates be junior faculty members conducting pancreatic cancer research.
“PanCAN has a longstanding strategy to increase the number of young investigators dedicated to the disease, and this grant is intended to solidify their path,” according to a PanCAN statement. “Projects competing for this grant must have direct applicability to pancreatic cancer, but may be basic, translational, clinical or epidemiological in nature.”
Last year, during its inaugural run, PanCAN awarded the grant to two promising young scientists and plans to award between one and three Catalyst grants in 2019.
The Translational Research Grant is designed to fund high-priority pancreatic cancer research projects and accelerate the translation of scientific discoveries to application in patients. The grant will award recipients a total of $500,000 for a two-year term.
“Research project proposals for this grant must identify novel targets and approaches to the treatment of pancreatic cancer. The idea is to generate compelling new pathways to target and to increase the pipeline of different therapies for the future,” according to PanCAN.
Since 2003, PanCAN and its charitable donors have invested more than $48 million to help advance the field of pancreatic cancer research, which is necessary to understand the biology of the disease and develop improved early detection tools and better treatment options for patients.