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 $450,000 in MOCA Research Awards in May 2023 and an additional $200,00 in National Early Detection Research Awards in November 2023.

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

MOCA awarded $987,000 to Minnesota-based ovarian cancer research projects on May 24, 2022, and an additional $100,000 for our National Early Detection Research Award on November 9, 2022.

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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
MOCA awarded $500,000 to ovarian cancer research projects on May 11, 2021, and an additional $100,000 in National Early Detection Research Awards on November 9, 2021.

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

MOCA awarded $400,000 to ovarian cancer research projects on November 19, 2020. Learn more and watch our 2020 Research Awards program.

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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2019 MOCA Research Funding

MOCA awarded $680,000 in funding to researchers in Minnesota and across the nation. In addition to the 2019 funding awards, MOCA provided $475,000 to multi-year grant awards that were funded in 2017 and 2018.

The 2019 MOCA-funded researchers include:

• Melissa Geller, M.D., M.S., University of Minnesota. “IL-15 superagonist ALT 803 maintenance therapy to prevent recurrence of advanced stage ovarian cancer.” $100,000 for one year.
• XInyan Wu, Ph.D., Mayo Clinic. “A humanized antibody against AXL receptor tyrosine kinase as a novel therapy for ovarian cancer.” $100,000 for one year.
• Emil Lou, M.D., Ph.D., University of Minnesota. “Targeting channels of ovarian tumor cell communication.” $80,000 for one year.
• Valentina Zanfagnin, M.D., Mayo Clinic. “Repurposing ceritinib to enhance the efficacy of Olaparib in ovarian cancer.” $100,000 for one year.
• Reuben Harris, Ph.D. University of Minnesota. “Diagnosing and targeting APOBEC3B in clear cell ovarian carcinoma.” $100,000 for one year.
• Amy Skubitz, Ph.D., University of Minnesota. “Verification of a biomarker panel for the early detection of ovarian cancer using serum samples from multiple sources.” $150,000 for one year.
• Naoko Sasamoto, M.D., M.P.H., Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA. “High throughput protemics profiling for identification of early detection biomarkers of high-grade serous ovarian cancer.” National Early Detection Research Grant Award. $50,000 for one year.