Assistant Professor and leader of Cancer Biology lab at Hormel Institute awarded $789,000 grant to focus on deadly type of lung cancer

Dr. Luke Hoeppner, Assistant Professor and leader of the Cancer biology lab at the Hormel Institute in Austin was recently named as the recipient of an American Cancer Society Research Scholar Grant totaling $789,000 over a four-year period to focus on small cell lung cancer.  Small cell lung cancer is the most aggressive subtype of lung cancer, with only 7% of patients surviving over five years, and Dr. Hoeppner talked to KAUS News during a grant presentation ceremony at the Institute Tuesday about what his research will be focusing on…

Dr. Hoeppner went on to talk about why researching small cell lung cancer is important to him…

Dr. Hoeppner’s research grant will investigate dopamine signaling to inhibit small cell lung cancer progression and drug resistance which may translate to new approaches to treatment and more effective treatment options.  Lung cancer, both small cell and non-small cell is the second most common cancer in both men and women in the United States.  The American Cancer Society estimates 235,760 new cases of lung cancer and 131,880 people will die from lung cancer in the U.S. this year.