A U-M physician was selected for the Era of Hope Scholar Award from the U.S. Department of Defense to further studies of breast cancer prevention.
Dr. Xiaochun Yu, assistant professor of molecular medicine and genetics at the Medical School, was awarded $3.7 million to expand research on new mechanisms associated with DNA damage response, treatment of breast tumors and prevention of tumor development in women who carry mutations in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes. These genetic mutations are associated with a higher risk of breast cancer.
Ranked in the top percentile of young cancer scientists in the United States, Yu is “clearly one of the best and brightest in the BRCA field,” members of the Era of Hope Scholar Award review panel say. “Dr. Yu’s research has enormous potential to have a major impact on understanding the mechanisms of breast carcinogenesis and for possibly developing effective chemopreventive approaches. One could predict that he will be a future leader of the BRCA/DNA damage field and, by extension, in breast cancer research.”
“This award confirms our past work on analysis of the role of BRCA1 and BRCA2,” Yu says. “It gives me a golden opportunity to continue to do good science.”
The Era of Hope Scholar Award, granted by the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program, will be distributed over a five-year period.
