Fairfax, Va., -- The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) has selected seven (7) leading researchers who will receive a total of $675,000 in awards and grants to advance radiation oncology research. The Junior Faculty Career Research Training Awards, the ASTRO Resident/Fellows in Radiation Oncology Research Seed Grants and the ASTRO/Radiation Oncology Institute (ROI) Comparative Effectiveness Research Awards will fund studies in radiation and cancer biology, radiation physics, translational research, outcomes/health services research and comparative effectiveness research within radiation oncology. Recipients will be recognized at ASTRO's 55th Annual Meeting, September 22-25, 2013, at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta.

"Advances in radiation oncology to improve cancer care and treatment for patients are the direct result of high-quality research," said ASTRO Chairman Michael L. Steinberg, MD, FASTRO. "ASTRO is proud to foster each of these outstanding researchers in their professional growth and to support their efforts to advance cancer care, particularly as it relates to radiation oncology."

The Junior Faculty Career Research Training Award provides $100,000 annually for two years to two winners ($200,000 to each recipient) to support the careers of promising junior faculty by offering them the opportunity for dedicated time to work on research projects in radiation oncology, biology, physics or outcomes/health services. Recipients must be board-eligible physicians, physicists in radiation oncology or radiobiologists within the first three years of their junior faculty appointment.
The two (2) 2013 Junior Faculty Research Training Grant awardees are:

--Joseph Mancias, MD, PhD, of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. Dr. Mancias is evaluating the use of autophagy inhibition to make pancreatic cancer cells more susceptible to radiation therapy (radiosensitization). Recent research has shown autophagy, a normal physiological process that contributes to cell destruction, is critical in the growth of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

--Terence Williams, MD, PhD, of The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. Dr. Williams is working on elucidating and targeting intrinsic KRAS mutant radioresistance with novel RAS targeted therapies. The goal of the research is to improve the effects of radiation by better characterizing DNA damage response pathways in KRAS mutant tumor cells, which can benefit patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma, a disease that typically has a high rate of KRAS mutations.

More HCB News