On Jun. 3, 2019, the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) announced it had received a $12 million grant from The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research to study the connection between cellular therapies and new methods of radiation therapy.

The grant from established The Mark Foundation Center for Immunotherapy, Immune Signaling, and Radiation at the University, which will seek to better understand the interconnected relationship between novel forms of radiation therapy, important signaling pathways between cancer and immune cells, and the immune system’s ability to kill cancer. Five specific projects brought together multidisciplinary teams of basic science and clinical researchers to answer these key questions.