Masonic Cancer Center announces spring 2026 internal grant awardees

The Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota recently announced the awarding of $270,000 in pilot grants through its Spring 2026 Internal Grant Program. Support for these grants is made available by the center through a variety of funding sources, including the Mezin-Koats Colon Cancer Research Fund and the Rein in Sarcoma Fund.

The purpose of this program is to promote innovation, spark research collaborations, and support novel research concepts to answer the toughest cancer research questions. The goal of the program is to fund pilot projects that lead to nationally peer-reviewed grant funding.

Please join us in thanking the Masonic Cancer Center’s support partners and congratulating this year’s award recipients.

Cancer Research Translational Initiative (CRTI) Translational Working Group Awards

Breath-Based Volatile Organic Compound Signatures for Non-Invasive Detection of Ovarian Cancer
Melissa Geller, MD, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women's Health, Medical School
Jordan Mattson, MD, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women's Health, Medical School
Award Amount: $50,000

Genomic Delineation of Military Burn Pit Exposure-Associated Prostate Cancer
Janeen Trembley, PhD, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Medical School
Mark Klein, MD, Department of Medicine, Medical School
J. Carlos Manivel, MD, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Medical School
Justin Hwang, PhD, Department of Medicine, Medical School
Rich Evans, PhD, Clinical and Translational Science Institute, Office of Academic Clinical Affairs 
Award Amount: $50,000

MCC Catchment Community Pilot Grant

NatureENGAGE-AYA: A Community-Engaged Survivorship Intervention for Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Survivors
Erica Timko Olson, PhD, RN, Department of Adult and Gerontological Health, School of Nursing
Tara Rick, PhD, PA-C, Department of Medicine, Medical School
Abby Girard, PsyD, LMFT, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, Medical School
Rich Evans, PhD, Clinical and Translational Science Institute, Office of Academic Clinical Affairs 
Award Amount: $50,000

MCC Shared Resource Utilization Awards

Strategies for Tobacco Abstinence in Rural Tobacco Users (START) P01 Preliminary Analysis
Dana Carroll, PhD, MPH, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health
Award Amount: $10,000

Identification of specific receptors for targeted therapy developed by Adenovirus-based therapy
Mizuho Sato-Dahlman, PhD, Department of Surgery, Medical School
Masato Yamamoto, PhD, Department of Surgery, Medical School
Award Amount: $10,000

Mezin-Koats Colon Cancer Research Award

Role of gut microbiome- vagal signaling in colorectal cancer
Frank Duca, PhD, Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology, Medical School
Subree Subramanian, PhD, Department of Surgery, Medical School
Award Amount: $25,000

Oncolytic adenovirus for colon cancer as viro-immunotherapy 
Mizuho Sato-Dahlman, PhD, Department of Surgery, Medical School
Masato Yamamoto, PhD, Department of Surgery, Medical School
Award Amount: $25,000

Rein in Sarcoma Foundation Grant 

iPSC-Based Modeling of BCOR-Altered Pediatric Sarcomas for Mechanistic and Translational Studies
Darko Bosnakovski, PhD, Department of Pediatrics, Medical School
Award Amount: $50,000