Research

Updated results of an early-phase trial showing positive outcomes for melanoma patients treated with an investigational anti-cancer drug plus the checkpoint inhibitor nivolumab could be promising for kidney cancer patients too. People diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) are at increased risk for developing melanoma, and vice versa. The cancers share some genetic characteristics and respond to many of the…

A research duo from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas – Dr. Eric Jonasch, an oncologist and professor in the department of Genitourinary Medical Oncolgy, and Dr. Guang Peng, an associate professor of Clinical Cancer Prevention – received a 2019 Advanced Discovery Award. The team plans to investigate how the novel tumor suppressor gene NPRL2 functions…

Research on altered von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) genes proved to be critical in revealing the mechanism by which cells sense and adapt to changing levels of oxygen – a fundamental cellular process that is particularly important in some kidney cancers. Dr. William Kaelin at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts, Dr. Gregg Semenza at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland,…

Dr. Ed Reznik is a computational oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) and a recipient of a 2019 Young Investigator Award to examine tumor metabolism as it relates to the tumor microenvironment (TME) of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). Dr. Reznik, under the mentorship of Dr. Ari Hakimi, a surgeon at MSKCC, proposed that a better understanding of the…

Dr. Tian Zhang is a medical oncologist at the Duke Cancer Institute. She received a 2019 Young Investigator Award for research that could help doctors and patients make better decisions when selecting first-line therapies for metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). Dr. Zhang will analyze how the tumor microenvironment (TME) responds to immunotherapy and investigate a panel of five genes and…

Led by Dr. Kathleen Mahoney in collaboration with Dr. Rupal Bhatt, both clinicians and scientists, and Dr. Gordon Freeman, a virologist and immunologist who contributed critical work to the discovery of the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway, this research team from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Beth Israel-Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts received a 2019 Advanced Discovery Award. Their research will explore a…

Dr. Akash Kaushik is a postdoctoral researcher at the Children’s Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern where he studies cancer cell metabolism, which includes all the processes that help cells take up nutrients and convert them to energy and other materials for growth. Dr. Kaushik received a 2019 Young Investigator Award for research that will take a closer look at the amino acid…

Dr. Scott Haake is a medical oncologist and PhD candidate in cancer biology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Dr. Haake received a 2019 Young Investigator Award for research that will investigate endogenous retrovirus (ERV) expression in papillary renal cell carcinoma (RCC), both type 1 and 2, and how ERV expression impacts anti-tumor response in this understudied RCC subtype. We spoke to Dr.…

Since 2006, the Kidney Cancer Association has supported an annual Young Investigator Award (YIA) through the Conquer Cancer Foundation of the American Society of Clinical Oncology(ASCO). The YIA supported by Kidney Cancer Association provides funding to promising doctors to pursue careers in kidney cancer research. This year, the Kidney Cancer Association supported two awards – a YIA and an ASCO…