2017 Liz and Eric Lefkofsky Innovation Research Award Recipients

The Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University is pleased to announce the four recipients of the 2017 Liz and Eric Lefkofsky Innovation Research Awards.

Funded by a generous donation from Liz and Eric Lefkofsky, the awards were established to provide Lurie Cancer Center investigators with the resources to conduct highly innovative cancer-relevant pilot studies that can serve as foundations for larger, nationally funded studies.

Based on the outstanding progress made during his initial year of funding, one awardee from 2016 received funding to continue his project for a second year.  Three additional investigators received 2017 Innovation Research Awards that will support new pilot projects.  

The new Liz and Eric Lefkofsky Scholars are:

Alfred George, PhD
Chair, Department of Pharmacology
Magerstadt Professor of Pharmacology 
Feinberg School of Medicine
Physiologic and genomic profiling of ion channels in human brain cancer

Kathleen Green, PhD
Associate Director, Basic Sciences Research
Lurie Cancer Center
Joseph L. Mayberry, Sr. Professor of Pathology and Toxicology
Feinberg School of Medicine
Surrounded by Bad Neighbors: Do Keratinocyte “Cancerization Fields” Promote Melanoma Development?

Steven Kosak, PhD
Assistant Professor of Cell and Molecular Biology
Feinberg School of Medicine
Regulatory Nuclear Translation at PML Bodies During Cellular Stress and Oncogenesis

Liz and Eric Lefkofsky Scholar whose award was renewed for 2017 is:

Ali Shilatifard, PhD
Chair, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics
Robert Francis Furchgott Professor
Feinberg School of Medicine
Transcription Elongation Control in Cancer Therapeutics