UNC- Chapel Hill and Duke researchers will share national grant money to further breast cancer studies. Ten programs at the schools will get $3.6 million from the Susan G. Komen Foundation. The research will investigate causes and develop vaccines.
Pam Kohl, the director of Komen's Triangle to the Coast affiliate, says this funding can be as important to scientists as it is to patients. Kohl points to Komen Scholar Kimberly Blackwell of Duke as one of those who benefited.
"When she spoke at our Race for the Cure in the Triangle in June she told 15,000 people that if it had not been for Komen funding, her lab would have had to close," Kohl said. "So this kind of funding is critically important for life-saving breast cancer research."
Duke University researchers will get an additional $4.5 million to study environmental factors that may lead to breast cancer, like exposure to pollutants and synthetic chemicals. Emory University in Atlanta and the University of Southern California also received grants to study environmental effects on breast cancer.