by Tom Wilemon
Two Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers have received awards from the AGA Foundation, the charitable arm of the American Gastroenterological Association.
Eunyoung Choi, PhD, assistant professor of Surgery and Cell and Developmental Biology, is the recipient of the Robert and Sally Funderburg Research Award in Gastric Cancer. The award provides $50,000 yearly for a two-year period totaling $100,000 to an established investigator working on novel approaches in gastric cancer research.
The grant will support Choi’s research to elucidate biological functions of an oncogenic gene, ARID1a, which is associated with epigenetic regulation in cells during the carcinogenic transformation of precancer to cancerous stages in gastric cancer development.
Sarah Short, PhD, research instructor in Medicine, is the recipient of the Caroline Craig Augustyn and Damian Augustyn Award in Digestive Cancer. The award provides $40,000 for one year to an early career investigator who holds a federal or nonfederal career development award devoted to conducting research related to digestive cancer.
The grant will support Short’s research to determine the role of glutathione peroxidase 1 (GPx1) in colorectal cancer. She will investigate how GPx1 contributes to both tumorigenesis in both early and late tumor states, as well as response to therapy.
In total, the AGA Research Foundation awarded $2.56 million to 61 young scientists this year at its annual awards program.
