Yang receives MARF grant for meso study
26 Jan 2009 by Wendi Lewis under News
Research scientist Haining Yang, MD, PhD, has been selected to receive a two-year, $100,000 grant from the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation (MARF) to study the mechanism of how asbestos causes mesothelioma. She hopes the research will aid in the development of effective prevention and therapeutic interventions, according to a report in the Honolulu Advertiser. Yang is a scientist at the Cancer Research Center of Hawaii, in the Thoracic Oncology Program.
Yang was one of five recipients of the MARF grant, and was selected from among 59 applicants in an international competition. Her research project will include an early detection study of mesothelioma in targeted villages in Turkey that show a high incidence of the disease, the paper reports.
In addition to the MARF grant, Yang will recieve $120,000 from the Hawaii Community Foundation Leahi Fund that will help support her research.
According to the Honolulu Advertiser, people in Hawaii are familiar with mesothelioma because it often affects people who worked in the naval shipyards at Pearl Harbor, as a result of exposure to asbestos used in shipbuilding for years.
The Cancer Research Center of Hawaii is a reserach unit of the University of Hawaii. It was established as a freestanding independent institute in 1981. On July 1, 1996, the Center became a National Cancer Institute (NCI) designated center, and was awarded the Cancer Center Support Grant. The Center is located in Honolulu, Hawaii. Its mission is to “reduce the burden of cancer through research, education, and service with an emphasis on the unique ethnic, cultural and environmental characteristics of Hawaii and the Pacific.”
