Associate Board of Lurie Cancer Center Awards $146,000 to Lung Cancer and Immunotherapy Research
The Associate Board of Lurie Cancer Center celebrated its fifth year of fundraising and presented Jonathan H. Chen, MD, PhD, assistant professor of Pathology (Molecular Pathology) at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, the 2026 Innovative Research Award at its annual cocktail reception on August 13.
The $100,000 award will support Dr. Chen’s lung cancer immunology research. Thanks in part to advanced imaging technologies, his team discovered immune cell regions within tumors that they dubbed “immunity hubs”—fascinating “neighborhoods” of immune cells that help recruit and organize T-cells to fight cancer. Dr. Chen’s goal is to therapeutically strengthen a type of immunity hub called “stem-immunity” hubs to improve outcomes for patients with lung cancer.
The reception drew members of the Associate Board—young professionals dedicated to advancing cancer research, education, and patient care by funding cutting-edge research at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University—to the Ivy Room at Tree Studios in Chicago for an evening of conversation, cocktails, and hors-d'oeuvres.
Since its inception in 2021, the board has raised $731,000, which its awardees have leveraged into $8.64 million in additional grants and federal funding, board co-chair Jamey Maniscalco, PhD, shared in remarks.
“To everyone here who has contributed their time, their effort, their thoughts, thank you. This could not have happened without all of you,” Dr. Maniscalco said. “This is a dream come true.”
The Associate Board surpassed its target of $100,000 this year for high-risk, high-reward research, raising $146,000. In a new initiative, the board announced the launch of the Clinical Trial Support Fund for advancing innovative clinical trials. This year, the board elected to gift $46,000 to support lung cancer clinical trials at Lurie Cancer Center.
“This new effort of the Associate Board will help us launch or support important clinical trials for many different types of cancer down the line," said Leon Platanias, MD, PhD, director of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University and the Jesse, Sara, Andrew, Abigail, Benjamin, and Elizabeth Lurie Professor of Oncology.
The goal is to provide "saving day" funds to clinical trials in need, Associate Board co-chair Louise Arnott Cardillo, JD, said in remarks. "[Lung cancer] is the disease type that's really needing that additional push for existing clinical trials. We're very excited to be doing this."
Attendees also heard from Katherine Borden, PhD, the Hospira Foundation Professor of Translational Cancer Biology and professor of Pharmacology, who shared updates on investigations led with Shira Dinner, MD, associate professor of Medicine (Hematology and Oncology), and supported by the inaugural Innovative Clinical Trial Award from the Associate Board in 2024.
Decoding Tumor “Immune Hubs”
Dr. Chen aims to improve and personalize immunotherapy treatments for lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer cases and deaths worldwide. Through support from the Associate Board of Lurie Cancer Center, his lab is investigating how immune cells interact within tumors, focusing on stem-immunity hubs, regions containing stem-cell-like CD8 T-cells that can also predict a patient’s response to immunotherapy.
“Immunotherapy is one of the most powerful cancer-fighting drugs that has ever been invented,” Dr. Chen said. “My question is, can we take a tumor microenvironment and drive it into a favorable state before we give patients immunotherapy?”
To understand how stem-immunity hubs form and operate, Dr. Chen is studying two key cell types found within them: fibroblasts and macrophages. Early evidence suggests that fibroblasts producing a molecule called CCL19 may help attract and support cancer-fighting T-cells, so his team is exploring whether therapies that increase CCL19 production could improve emerging targeted treatments for lung cancer. His research also suggests macrophages may help organize immunity hubs by secreting molecules that recruit T-cells, although they may also contribute to T-cell exhaustion—a conundrum his team is also working to address.
“We've been really fortunate to be able to support wonderful research from the faculty members that you can see up here—ranging from areas like breast cancer to reducing health disparities in multiple myeloma in the Chicago area to utilizing gold nanoparticles to try to increase the efficacy of CAR T-cell therapy, and to implanting absorbable micro-wafers into the brain to allow for chemotherapeutic treatment in the brain, which is hard to access through the blood-brain barrier,” Dr. Maniscalco said. “Some wonderfully cool things are happening.”
For more information about supporting the Associate Board of Lurie Cancer Center or becoming a board member, please contact Nicole Langert at nicole.langert@northwestern.edu or 312-503-1656.