Mason awarded Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research prize
Mark Rubin, M.D., chats with finalist honoree Chris Mason, Ph.D., at the Pershing Square Sohn Prize for Young Investigators in Cancer Research reception. Credit: Thos Robinson/Getty
Christopher Mason, Ph.D., has been named as one of seven winners of the The Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance's Young Investigators in Cancer Research prize.
The prize awards scientists with $200,000 annually for up to three years in support of explorative and high-risk/high-reward research in areas where traditional funding is often lacking.
Mason's award will support his work into computational and biochemical methods to target and re-program specific sites of epigenetic aggressiveness in acute myeloid leukemia patients.
"We are pleased to announce our third cohort of the Pershing Square Sohn Prize winners,” Pershing Square Capital Management CEO and foundation Founder Bill Ackman said in a statement. "We formed this prize to enable talented scientists to pursue bold research at a critical time in their careers. We are extremely pleased with the network the Pershing Square Sohn Prize has created and hope through collaboration we can accelerate the potential for a cure."
Other winners include:
- Mount Sinai's Samuel Sidi, who is researching genetic mutations in tumors and treatment options for radioresistant cancer
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory's Christopher Vakoc, who is using CRISPR to study protein involvement in cancer
- Memorial Sloan Kettering's Andrea Ventura, who is using genome-editing to identify molecular mechanisms underpinning lung cancer initial and progression
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center's Omar Abdel-Wahab, who is identifying novel transcripts, pathways, and therapeutic strategies to target spliceosomal-mutant malignancies in leukemias
- Columbia University Medical Center's Uttiya Basu, who is studying infections disease-induced DNA alterations in B cell malignancies
- NYU School of Medicine's Agnel Sfeir, who is researching the molecular mechanisms involved in the chromosome biology of breast cancers