Research

There is good news in the advancement in lung cancer research. New treatments are being discovered that can be used alone, before, after, or in combination with traditional chemotherapy, radiation and surgery.

has been donated in research funding for seed projects at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center to the Thoracic Department, and has generated 20x in larger research grants.

We seek to help fund research
that focuses on

Early detection & diagnosis of lung cancer

Personalized & targeted treatment therapies

Increasing survival rates & eradicating cancer

To date we have given over $1 million dollars to targeted research projects at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. These dollars have allowed the Thoracic team at MD Anderson to generate over $10M in grant funds.

2017

Funded Research

Personalizing Immunotherapy
Early Stage Lung Cancer microbiome and blood-based markers

Benefit to Patients
Using biomarkers for personalizing immunotherapy in early stage lung cancer to determine which patients will likely benefit or experience toxicities from our new immunotherapy studies.

Boris Sepesi, M.D.
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Thank You Letter

Personalizing Immunotherapy
In metastatic lung cancer, including autantibodies & genomic markers

Benefit to Patients
Improving patient selection of who will likely benefit or experience toxicities from our new immunotherapy studies.

Mehmet Altan, M.D. &
Boris Sepesi, M.D.
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Thank You Letter

Targeted Treatment
To correlate the microorganisms in the gut with the risk of inflammation of the colon and response to immunotherapy.

Benefit to Patients
To better understand the impact of modifying the gut microbiome to impact response rates to immunotherapy and protect patients from colon inflammation.

Mehmet Altan, M.D.
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Thank You Letter

Targeted Treatment
To determine the biomarkers for selecting which patients benefit from aggressive local consolidative therapy.

Benefit to Patients
Traditionally Oligometastic lung cancer has only spread to limited number of sites, and has been treated only with chemo. This study will seek to determine benefits from surgery and radiation in addition to systemic therapy.

Daniel Gomez, M.D. &
Jianjun Zhang, M.D., Ph.D.
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Thank You Letter

Targeted Treatment
To understand how EGFR/HER2 exon 20 mutant non-small cell lung cancer develops resistance to poziotinib.

Benefit to Patients
To provide patients who have tumors that have become resistant to treatments, a new combination of drugs to overcome that resistance.

Jacqulyne Robichaux, Ph.D.
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Thank You Letter

Making a difference

Through the years

2025 Total Funding $600,000

Funded by —

Lance Bertrand Grant

Pre-Cancer & Environmental Exposures Research

Researchers:
Dr. Zhang, Dr. Heymach, & Dr. Vaishnavi

Targeting IL-1α for Interception of KRAS-Driven Lung Pre-Cancer / Combined with Elucidating the Molecular Mechanisms of Sexual Dimorphism in Lung Cancer following Environmental Exposures

Funded by —

Rexannas General Fund

KRAS-inhibitor resistant NSCLC Treatment Research

Researchers:
Dr. Gibbons & Dr. Kundu

Investigate the mechanisms of treatment resistance and therapeutic vulnerability of brain metastases in KRAS-inhibitor resistant NSCLC

Funded by —

Pamela Henicke Grant

AI-powered Digital Twin Framework

Researchers:
Dr. Wu, Dr. Heymach & Dr. Zhang

Optimizing Lung Cancer Treatment Matching grant gift provided by Rusty Rush.

Funded by —

Victor Elias Grant

MD Anderson Young-Onset Lung Cancer Program

Researchers:
Dr. Singhi & Dr. Antonoff

Survivorship through the MD Anderson Young-Onset Lung Cancer (YOLC) Program: Promoting Wellness, Surveillance, and Long-term Health

Funded by —

Tamra Hissom Budd Grant

B-to-T Cell Interactions with Immunotherapy

Researchers:
Dr. Cacone

Elucidating how B-to-T Cell Interactions Shape the Response of Early-Stage Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer to Immunotherapy

Funded by —

Lance Bertrand Grant

Characterizing Transcriptional Events in EGFR-driven Lung Cancer for Resistance

Researchers:
Dr. Heeke & Dr. Le

Prediction and Biomarker Identification in Tissue and Liquid Biopsies

Funded by —

Bruce Campbell Grant

Innovative Engineered T Cell designs for the treatment of drug-resistant lung cancers

Researchers:
Drew C. Deniger & Alexandre Reuben

Our lab has already discovered and validated 21 unique T cell receptors (TCRs) with in vitro efficacy – ability to recognize and kill tumor cells in the lab. Prior work by academia and industry has demonstrated some proof of concept that introduction of TCRs into patient T cells to generate TCR-T cells resulted in objective clinical responses. However, these results were neither durable past 1 year nor resulting in complete responses, and most patients treated had little or no clinical benefit even if tumor shrinkage was observed. We aim to build upon these proof-of-concept reports and build a cellular therapy that has increased potency and persistence and could be the framework for incorporation of other TCRs that could target any immunogenic peptide/HLA complex for immunotherapy of multiple cancer histologies or autoimmune disorders. We anticipate that, if successful, these studies will be the foundation for Phase I clinical trials in the THNMO department at MD Anderson for patients with refractory lung cancers.

Funded by —

Pamela Henicke Grant

Characterize ALK fusion resistant mutations to predict efficacy to current and next generation ALK inhibitors

Researchers:
David Molkentine, BS, Research Laboratory Coordinator, Thoracic H&N Medical Oncology, MDACC

Increasing knowledge of mutation-specific ALK inhibitor resistance would translate to patients and clinicians by providing a roadmap for ALK inhibitor treatment efficacy and guide 1st line treatment decisions for patients with ALK fusion driven NSCLC.

Research

We seek to help fund research
that focuses on

Early detection & diagnosis of lung cancer

Personalized & targeted treatment therapies

Increasing survival rates & eradicating cancer