The Hirshberg Foundation awards the best abstract presentations during the National meeting of the American Pancreatic Association. The 2009-2010 awardees are:

BEST CLINICAL ABSTRACT
Presented to: Nameeta Mujumdar, PhD
University of Minnesota
Title: Inhibition of Autophagy Triggers Apoptotic Cell Death in Pancreatic Cancer Cells

BEST BASIC/EXPERIMENTAL ABSTRACT
Presented to: Toru Furukawa, MD, PhD
Tokyo Women's Medical University
Title: Prognostic Relevance of Morphologic Types of Intraductal Papillary Mucinous Neoplasms of the Pancreas

At the National level, the Foundation has launched a very successful Seed Grant program to fund pilot feasibility studies that can then go on to qualify for National Institutes of Health grants. The 2009-2010 pilot feasibility awards were given to the following individuals:

Carmen Visus, PhD
University of Pittsburgh
Hillman Cancer Center
Title: Combinatorial Strategy for Targeting Pancreatic Cancer Stem Cells

Gabriela Chiosis, PhD
Molecular Pharmacology & Chemistry and Medicine
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Title: Inhibition of Molecular Chaperones as a Potential Therapy for Pancreatic Cancer

Shen Hu, PhD
School of Dentistry & Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center
UCLA
Title: Tracer-Based Proteomics of Pancreatic Cancer

Timothy Donahue, MD
Surgery/General Surgery
UCLA
Title: Identifying the Malignant Signatures Associated with the Development of Human Pancreatic Cancer

Over the years the pilot feasibility program has resulted in some key NIH funding, which is typically for 2 to 5 years, and
these include:

Guido Eibl, MD
R01 CA 104027 - The Role of COX2 and PPAR-g in Pancreatic Cancer
  
Anna Gukovskaya, PhD
R01 CA 119025-01 - NADPH Oxidase and Pancreatic Cancer Cell Survival
 
Nathan R. Wall, PhD
P20 MD 001632-02 - Project 3, Oxidative Stress-Induced Cellular Survival Pathways in Pancreatic Cancer

Aurelia Lugea, PhD
R03 AA 016008 - Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator System and Pancreatic Stellate Cells

Oscar Joe Hines, MD
R21 CA 1207803 - Role of CXCr2 in Pancreatic Cancer

Other collaborative center grants and individual initiated grants are currently under consideration by NIH.