News
Mary Kay Ash Foundation grant for a TRDMT1 drug in ovarian and breast cancer
The Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation gave Dr. Li Lan a translational cancer research grant. The foundation announced its 2025 awards on 21 October 2025. Ten researchers took a grant of one hundred thousand dollars each, for cancers that affect women.
The Duke project is called Targeting the mRNA Methyltransferase TRDMT1 in Ovarian and Breast Cancer, and it runs from 2025 to 2027. TRDMT1 puts a methyl mark on the RNA of an R-loop. Tumors of the breast and of the ovary often carry more of the enzyme than healthy tissue does.
The lab asks whether the loss of TRDMT1 kills those tumor cells on its own, and whether it returns a tumor that resists a PARP inhibitor to treatment.