Below please find details on our past 5 years of research funding. If you are interested in learning more about past MOCA research funding, please call the MOCA office at 612-822-0500.

MOCA awarded $500,000 in Research Awards in May 2024. In November 2024, MOCA awarded $100,00 in our National Early Detection Research Award and $100,000 for an additional Research Award.

2024 MOCA Research Funding

Our 2024 MOCA Research Award recipients include:

Matthew Block, MD, PhD, Mayo Clinic, “MC220601: FRaDCs plus Pembrolizumab for Patients with Advanced Stage Ovarian Cancer”, $100,000 for one year

Tim Griffin, PhD, University of Minnesota, “A rigorous validation of a novel host-microbe peptide panel for ovarian cancer early detection from routinely collected samples”, $100,000 for one year

Arun Kanakkanthara, PhD, Mayo Clinic, “A novel therapy for high-grade serous ovarian cancer”, $100,000 for one year

Beau Webber, PhD, University of Minnesota, “Gene-edited tumor infiltrating lymphocytes for ovarian cancer immunotherapy”, University of Minnesota, $100,000 for one year

Xinyan Wu, PhD, Mayo Clinic, “Investigating Soluble AXL as a Biomarker in Ovarian Cancer: Implications for Prognosis and Treatment”, $100,000 for one year

In November 2024, MOCA awarded an additional Research Award to:

Branden Moriarity, PhD, and Melissa Geller, MD, PhD, University of Minnesota, “GMP manufacturing of cytokine armored CAR-NK cells for the treatment of advanced epithelial ovarian cancer,” 100,000 for one year.

MOCA presented our National Early Detection Research Award in November 2024 to:

Robert Bast, MD, Vice President of Translational Research, MD Anderson Cancer Center, “Early Detection of Ovarian Cancer with a Four-Biomarker Algorithm: the Normal Risk Ovarian Cancer Screening Study -2”, $100,000 for one year.

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2023 MOCA Research Funding

Our 2023 MOCA Research Award recipients include:

• Samira Azarin, PhD, University of Minnesota, “Development of nanomaterials for ultrasound-mediated destruction of metastatic ovarian tumors,” $100,000 for one year
• Martina Bazzaro, PhD, University of Minnesota, “Precision medicine for ARID1A-mutated ovarian cancer,” $100,000 for one year
• Gunda Georg, PhD, University of Minnesota, “Discovery and development of allosteric inhibitors of Cdk2/cyclin E as non-toxic ovarian cancer drugs,” $100,000 for one year
• Amy Skubitz, PhD, University of Minnesota, “A novel method to treat ovarian cancer: Increasing the effectiveness of chemotherapy to prevent ovarian cancer recurrence,” Funded in part by the Spin It Teal Research Award, $100,000 for one year
• Rachel Vogel, PhD, University of Minnesota, “Examining the associations between cytomegalovirus (CMV), inflammation, and ‘chemo brain’,” $50,000 for one year

Our 2023 National Early Detection Research Award recipients are:

• Lindsay Cowell, MS, PhD, UT Southwestern Medical Center, “Leveraging Cancer-Associated T Cell Responses for the Early Detection of HGSC of Tubo-Ovarian Origin,” $100,000 for one year
• Charles Ishak, PhD, MD Anderson Cancer Center, “Leveraging non-coding genomic regions for early HGSC detection,” $100,000 for one year

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2022 MOCA Research Funding

The 2022 MOCA-funded researchers include:

• Gunda Georg, Ph.D., University of Minnesota, “Discovery and development of allosteric inhibitors of Cdk2/cyclin E as non-toxic ovarian cancer drugs,” $150,000 for one year
• Timothy Griffin, Ph.D., University of Minnesota, “Towards an integrated microbiome host protein biomarker panel for early detection of ovarian cancer in routinely collected clinical samples,” $100,000 for one year
• Emil Lou, M.D., Ph.D., University of Minnesota, “Targeting channels of ovarian tumor cell communication,” $87,000 for one year
• Viji Shridhar, Ph.D., Mayo Clinic, “The Role Quinacrine-Induced Nuclear Cathepsin L (nCTSL) as a Therapeutic Target in Ovarian Cancer,” $150,000 for one year
• Stefani Thomas, Ph.D., University of Minnesota, “Autophagy-mediated sensitization of high-grade serous ovarian cancer cells to PARP inhibitor treatment in the setting of BRCA1/2 mutation status,” $100,000 for one year
• Erin Wesley, Ph.D., University of Minnesota, “Evaluating the impact of CMV and inflammation on high grade serous ovarian cancer” $100,000 for one year
• Chen Wang, Ph.D. and Xiaonan Hou, Ph.D., Mayo Clinic, “Investigate Synthetical Lethality Between Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase Inhibitor and Hedgehog Inhibitor for Ovarian Tumors with Proficient Homologous Recombination Repair Activities,” $150,000 for one year
• Xinyan Wu, Ph.D., Mayo Clinic, “Elucidating underlying mechanisms of intrinsic resistance to PARP inhibitors in ovarian cancer,” $150,000 for one year

The 2022 MOCA National Early Detection Research Award recipient:

Kathleen Burns, MD, PhD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School “Development of an Ultrasensitive Blood Test for LINE-1Encoded ORF1p for Ovarian Cancer Detection,” $100,000 for one year

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2021 MOCA Research Funding

The 2021 MOCA-funded researchers include:

• John Hawse, Ph.D., Mayo Clinic, “Interrogating JAK/STAT signaling as an oncogenic driver and therapeutic target in ovarian cancer,” $100,000 for one year
• Emil Lou, M.D., Ph.D., University of Minnesota, “Targeting channels of ovarian tumor cell communication,” $100,000 for one year
• Zhenkun Lou, Ph.D., Mayo Clinic, “Sensitizing Ovarian Cancer Cells to PARP Inhibitor by LRRK2 Inhibition,” $100,000 for one year
• Amy Skubitz, Ph.D., University of Minnesota, “The first step toward a self-sampling at-home test for ovarian cancer: Detection of ovarian cancer biomarker proteins in cervical swabs,” $100,000 for one year
• Tim Starr, Ph.D., University of Minnesota and Beau Webber, Ph.D., University of Minnesota, “Gene-edited tumor infiltrating lymphocytes for ovarian cancer immunotherapy,” $100,000 for one year

The 2021 MOCA National Early Detection Research Award recipients include:

• Kevin Elias, M.D., Harvard Medical School, “Cellular communication at the ovarian-fallopian tube interface,” $50,000 for one year
• T. Rinda Soong, M.D., Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh, “Local and Peripheral Immune Landscapes as Biomarker Signatures Associated with Early Precursors of High-Grade Serous Carcinoma,” $50,000 for one year

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2020 MOCA Research Funding

The 2020 MOCA-funded researchers include:

• Matthew Block, M.D., Ph.D., Mayo Clinic, “Restructuring the ovarian cancer immune microenvironment with the heparan sulfate mimetic PG545.” $100,000 for one year. This award is funded in part by MOCA’s Spin it Teal Research Award.
• Amy Skubitz, Ph.D., University of Minnesota, “Early detection of ovarian cancer.” National Early Detection Research Award, $100,000 for one year. This award is funded in part by the Molly Cade Research Grant.
• Vijayalakshmi Shridhar, Ph.D., Mayo Clinic, “Quinacrine-induced active Cathepsin L is essential to promote ‘BRCAness’ to sensitize HR proficient ovarian cancer cells to PARP inhibitor.” $100,000 for one year.
• Daniel Vallera, Ph.D., University of Minnesota, “Engaging the immune system against ovarian cancer.” $100,000 for one year.

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