Kimberley Evason, MD, PhD, and Gregory Ducker, PhD, were two of only twelve scientists nationwide to receive a Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovation Award. This award is given by the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation annually to help "exceptionally creative thinkers" who pursue "high-risk, high-reward" research concepts.
Evason is a researcher at Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) and assistant professor of pathology at the University of Utah (U of U). Gregory Ducker is also an HCI researcher, and an assistant professor of biochemistry at the U of U. The award will fund Evason and Ducker's research involving zebrafish related to liver cancer. Evason and Ducker study how the liver uses different forms of energy, including fat. They identified that certain kinds of fat are elevated in liver cancer cells and work to understand the impact of this fat on the disease. They use a zebrafish model system because liver tumors of zebrafish share attributes of human liver tumors.
Read the full press release on the Huntsman Cancer Institute website.