Who We Are
What We Fund
Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry of Cancer
This program focuses on genes involved in cancer and the role their alterations (mutations, deletions, and amplifications) play in the process. Of particular interest is the examination of the molecules involved in cancer (proteins, nucleic acids, lipids, and carbohydrates) and how their activities affect these diseases. Researchers focus on new targets for prevention, detection, and treatment of cancer.
Cancer Cell Biology and Metastasis
The primary goal of this program is to provide a better understanding of the nature of cancer cells, so they can be more effectively controlled and eliminated. Emphases include:
- Understanding the fundamental controls of normal and cancer cells, with a focus on how cells regulate when to grow, when to divide, and when to die
- How cells create an identity
- How cells relate to the local environment and to other cells
- How cells regulate when and how to move from one site to another
Translational Cancer Research
This program focuses on the interface between laboratory investigations and human testing. The program supports investigations of the:
- Role of the microbiome and infectious diseases in cancer
- Microbial-based cancer therapies
- Discovery, synthesis, and delivery of cancer drugs
- Creation and use of animal models of cancer
- Biomarker Identification/development
Clinical Cancer Research, Nutrition, and Immunology
This program focuses on therapies for cancer. The scope of the program includes basic, preclinical, clinical, and epidemiological investigations of:
- Immunotherapy, inflammatory responses, and immunosurvelliance
- Innate and adaptive immune responses.
- Development and application of new imaging and bioanalytical tools and techniques
- Targeted and traditional therapies
- How the exposome, nutrition, physical activity, and the environment impact cancer prevention, initiation, progression, and treatment
Cancer Control and Prevention Research
The program focuses on the development and testing of interventions to influence health behaviors and health-care delivery. Research projects in this program focus on:
- Cancer risk reduction and delivery of high-quality health promotion
- Screening, early detection, and treatment services
- Health services, outcomes, and policy research to assess the effectiveness of interventions and the impact of polices on access to care, quality of care, and costs of care
Special emphasis is placed on health-equity research addressing disparities in disadvantaged groups and the social determinants of health that drive inequities.
How Our Funding Process Works
Supporting Top Scientists
Nobel Prize Winners
The American Cancer Society is honored to have given funding to 49 investigators who went on to win the Nobel Prize, considered the highest accolade any scientist can receive. This is a tribute to the Society’s Research program and the strength of its peer-review process.
Research Professors
The American Cancer Society Research Professor and Clinical Research Professor Awards are the most prestigious research grants made by the national program. The title of American Cancer Society Professor can be used throughout the remainder of the scientist's career.
Our Proudest Achievements
Many of the scientists we’ve funded have made discoveries that changed the way we view and treat cancer today.
Uncovering a key way to stop tumors from growing
In 1971, while being supported with an ACS grant, Judah Folkman, MD, discovered tumor angiogenesis: the idea that tumors need blood vessels to grow and spread. In 2004, more than 30 years after Folkman’s initial observations, the FDA approved the drug Avastin, which works by preventing the formation of new blood vessels. Avastin is used to treat lung, brain, kidney, cervical, ovarian, and metastatic colon cancers.
Pioneering work in bone marrow transplants
Beginning in 1963, ACS provided over a decade of funding that helped E. Donnall Thomas, MD, conduct research and clinical trials that led to successful bone marrow transplants in humans. Decades later, in 1990, Thomas received a Nobel Prize for his work. Bone marrow transplantation, and the related therapy, stem cell transplantation, have had a global impact – decreasing mortality in several blood cancers.
Furthering knowledge of genes linked to breast cancer
ACS-funded researchers continue to provide a better understanding of how BRCA1 and BRCA2 genetic mutations are linked to breast and ovarian cancers, decades after Mary-Claire King, PhD made her breakthrough discovery. The ACS’s funding of Dr. King helped her find that tamoxifen reduced breast cancer incidence among healthy women carrying a BRCA2 mutation. In another ACS-funded study, she found that 1 in 4 African American breast cancer patients had mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2.