The scientific objective of the Basser Center for BRCA includes the funding of cutting-edge cancer research projects related to BRCA1/2 gene mutations ranging from basic science to clinical and translational research with an emphasis on collaborative projects shared between groups of scientists including those focused on cancer interception. More information on these grants can be found in the Current Grant Awardees section below.

Everything you need to know about the Basser Grants Program

Basser Core Investigators

Internal Funding (Only for Penn Investigators)

The Basser Center for BRCA has the unique opportunity to catalyze research to change the paradigm of discovery, innovation, and care for issues related to BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations. Germline mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 significantly increase the risk of breast and ovarian cancer and also are associated with prostate cancer and pancreatic cancer. Towards this end, the Basser Center is seeking applications that propose innovative approaches to the study of BRCA-related cancers.
 

Funding

There are two types of awards in this RFA*:

  • Faculty awards are for two years with a funding level up to $200,000 per year.
  • Early career awards for Fellows, Postdocs and Instructors up to $100,000 for one year. Grants are eligible for competitive renewal upon reapplication and are contingent on progress the first year.

*Funding begins on July 1, 2026.
 

The 2026 application period is now closed.

External Funding

The Basser Center for BRCA at Penn Medicine’s Abramson Cancer Center announces the Basser External Research Grant Program, which focuses on projects that have the potential to advance the care of individuals living with BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations. Research grant applications related to early lesions, individualized risk, haploinsufficiency, tissue tropism, cancer interception, and early detection and relevant to the study of BRCA1/2 will be considered. 

 

Funding: 

  • Up to $150,000 per year for two years.  Second year funding will be contingent upon demonstrated progress. A three-month notice of termination will be given if lack of progress is demonstrated. Semi-annual and final reports are required. 

Current Internal Grant Awardees

Establishing a Biochemical Workflow for the Discovery of Tumor-Specific Antigenic Profiles in BRCA1/2 Malignancies

Principal Investigator: Andrew Tsourkas, PhD

Enhancing the Efficacy of PARP Inhibition in BRCA-Associated Cancer

Principal Investigator: Ben Stanger, MD, PhD

Advancing Treatment of BRCA1/2-Deficient Triple-Negative Breast Cancer with FLASH Proton Radiotherapy and Immunotherapy

Principal Investigator: Ioannis Verginadis, MSc, PhD

Microbiome-Driven Inflammatory Programs as a Patient-Intrinsic Determinant of Early Cancer Onset in BRCA-Mutated Cancers

Principal Investigator: Joel Babdor, PhD

Lineage Tracing the Pre-Malignant Evolution of BRCA1/2 Carrier Breast Tissue

Principal Investigator: Sydney Shaffer, MD, PhD

Integrative AI-based Analysis of Non-Coding Variants in BRCA1/2 with Experimental Validation

Principal Investigator: Yoseph Barash, PhD

Early Career Investigators:

Evaluating the role of genomic integrity on CD4 and CD8 T cell dynamics and its effect on malignancy risk in BRCA1/2 Carriers

Principal Investigator: Yasmin Kamal, MD, PhD

Current External Grant Awardees

Targeting BRCA1 Driver Mutations by Increasing BRCA1 mRNA Translation

Principal Investigator: Alessandro Vindigni, PhD

Mapping Genetic Regulation of Breast Cancer Risk in BRCA1 and BRCA2 Carriers

Principal Investigator: Drew Neavin, PhD 

Harnessing LINE-1 Biology for Early Cancer Detection and Interception in BRCA1/2 Carriers

Principal Investigator: Marty Taylor, MD PhD 

Past Grant Awardees

Recent internal and external grant awardees are listed below. View the full list of all past grant awardees.

Past Internal Grants

Pilot Investigation of Hyperpolarized C-13 Imaging to Improve Early Diagnosis of Breast Cancer and Inform Metabolic Alterations In BRCA1 Mutation Carriers

Principal Investigator: Christine Edmonds, MD

Role of BRCA1/2 Haploinsufficiency in Micronuclei and Inflammatory Signaling

Principal Investigator: Jude Khatib, PhD (Early Career Investigator)

The Mechanism of Cancer Initiation in BRCA2-Related Prostate Tissues

Principal Investigator: Kara Maxwell, MD, PhD

Secondary Interception of Breast Cancer Recurrence in BRCA Carriers

Principal Investigator: Lewis Chodosh, MD, PhD

Developing a Next-Generation ERISED Strategy to Overcome Acquired PARP Inhibitor Resistance in BRCA-Mutated Patients

Principal Investigator: Lin Zhang, MD

Targeting RALDH Isozymes for Prostate Cancer Immunotherapy

Principal Investigator: Malay Haldar, MD, PhD

Strategies to Increase Activity of DNA Damage Response Inhibitors (DDRi) in BRCA Mutant Ovarian Cancer

Principal Investigator: Fiona Simpkins, MD

DNA Repeat Transcription as a Cause of LOH and Treatment for BRCA1/2-deficient Cancers

Principal Investigator: Eric Brown, PhD

Assessing the Therapeutic Potential of PARPi and PROTACs in BRCA-Mutated Cancers

Principal Investigator: Luca Busino, PhD

Sympathetic Innervation Inhibits High Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer Intestinal Metastasis in the Setting of BRCA1/2 Dysfunction

Principal Investigator: Matthew Knarr, PhD

Pre-cancer and Early Cancer Atlas of Germline BRCA1/2 Related Prostate

Principal Investigator: Nabamita Boruah (Early Career Investigator)

Lineage Tracing to Uncover Drivers of BRCA1/2-associated Gastric Cancer

Principal Investigator: Sydney Shaffer, MD, PhD

Base Editing Screening to Identify Vulnerabilities in BRCA Mutant Cancers

Principal Investigator: Tao Shi (Early Career Investigator)

Helicobacter Pylori Prevalence and Risk Factors Among BRCA1/2 Carriers

Principal Investigator: Kole Buckley (Early Career Investigator)

Impacts of BRCA1 and Spindle Mechanics on Chromosome Instability

Principal Investigator: Geng-Yuan Cheng, PhD (Early Career Investigator)

Using Protein Dynamics to Understand and Treat BRCA1-Mediated Cancers

Principal Investigator: Gregory Bowman, PhD

CDK7 Inhibition Suppresses Homology-Directed DNA Repair in Prostate Cancer

Principal Investigator: Irfan A. Asangani, PhD

Preclinical Development of a Novel ERISED Strategy to Overcome Acquired Resistance of PARP Inhibitor in Patients with BRCA Mutation

Principal Investigator: Lin Zhang, MD

Vaginal Metabolome-Based Prediction of Ovarian Cancer

Principal Investigator: Maayan Levy, PhD

Past External Grants

Risk Stratification of STIC Lesions Using Shallow Whole Genome Sequencing

Principal Investigator: Iain McNeish (Imperial College London)

Environmental Exposomics in Women at High Risk of Breast Cancer

Principal Investigator: Mary Beth Terry, PhD (Columbia University)

Addition of a Deep Learning Model in Pathological Assessment of STIC and Fallopian Tube Carcinoma

Principal Investigator: Michiel Simons, MD, PhD (Radboud University Medical Center)

Engineering Aggressive BRCA2 mutant Prostate Cancer from Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells( iPSC)—New Opportunities to Develop Preclinical Tools in Prostate Cancer Studies

Principal Investigator: Nur Yucer (University of Texas Health San Antonio)

Identification and Targeting of DNA Repair Pathways Driving BRCA2 Reversion Allele Formation

Principal Investigator: Ryan Jensen, PhD (Yale School of Medicine)

Targeting BRCA1 Driver Mutations by Increasing BRCA1 mRNA Translation

Principal Investigator: Alessandro Vindigni, PhD (Washington University School of Medicine)

Role of BRCA2 Mutations in Human Prostate Development and Prostate Cancer Initiation

Principal Investigator: Andrew Goldstein, PhD (UCLA)

Fate of S-phase DNA Breaks During BRCA1-mutant Tumorigenesis

Principal Investigator: John Krais, PhD (Washington University School of Medicine)

Mapping and Leveraging BRCA1/2 Impact on Immune Recruitment for Cell Engineering

Principal Investigator: Livnat Jerby, PhD (Stanford University)

DHX36 G-Quadruplex Resolvase as Suppressor of HR and PARPi Resistance in BRCA-mutant Ovarian Cancer

Principal Investigator: Philipp Oberdoerffer, PhD (Johns Hopkins School of Medicine)

Targeting a New Class of Pathogenic Variations in BRCA1 and BRCA2

Principal Investigator: Georgios Karras, PhD (University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center)

A Short Treatment to Intercept Nascent BRCA1/2 Breast Cancers

Principal Investigator: Gerburg Wulf, MD, PhD (BIDMC/Harvard Medical School)

Defining the Pre-Clinical Treatment Regime of the Potassium Channel KCNN4 Inhibitor, Senicapoc, in BRCA1-Deficient Breast Cancers

Principal Investigator: Kara Britt, PhD (University of Melbourne)

Improving the Scalability and Rigor of Expert Variant Curation

Principal Investigator: Melissa Cline, PhD (UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute)

Deciphering the Immune Modulation by PARP Inhibitor and PD-1 Blockade in BRCA1-Mutated Mammary Tumors

Principal Investigator: Sven Rottenberg, DVM, PhD, Dipl ECVP (University of Bern)

Modifiers of Breast Cancer Risk for BRCA1 and BRCA2 Mutation Carriers of Asian Ancestry

Principal Investigator: Weang Kee Ho, PhD (University of Nottingham Malaysia)

The International BRCA1/2 Carrier Cohort Study (IBCCS): Prospective Cohort Analyses

Principal Investigator: Yen Tan, PhD, MSc, BSc (Medical University of Vienna)

Gray Foundation Grants

Basser Center founding donors, Mindy and Jon Gray, have established the Gray Foundation with the mission to transform the lives of individuals born with BRCA mutations by accelerating research into BRCA-associated cancers. The Gray Foundation is committed to health equity and values diversity and inclusion in its funded research programs.

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