Awards follow the recent launch of the Samuel Waxman Aging & Cancer Institute at The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research
New York — March 10, 2026 — Taking aim at the leading risk factor for cancer, The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research and the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation (SWCRF) today announced $2.5 million to support science at the intersection of aging biology and cancer. The money will fund five collaborative research grants, which will be administered by The Mark Foundation through the newly established Samuel Waxman Institute for Aging & Cancer (Waxman Institute), formed in 2025 following the announcement of a pending merger between SWCRF and The Mark Foundation.
This initiative brings together a powerful multi-organization partnership that includes the American Cancer Society (ACS) and the Cancer Research Institute (CRI), with ACS providing early backing to help shape the 2025 Request for Proposals (RFP), and CRI co-funding an innovative research project focused on preventing age-dependent immune system dysfunction and tumor growth.
Rising Incidence of Cancer Due to Aging
Cancer is predominantly a disease of aging. Nearly 60 percent of all cancers and more than 70 percent of cancer-related deaths occur in people 65 and older. As life expectancy increases worldwide, cancer incidence is projected to rise sharply, with global cases expected to double by 2050, due in large part to aging populations.
“Our mission is grounded in a simple but urgent idea: understanding aging processes is essential to conquering cancer,” said Samuel Waxman, MD, founder of SWCRF and director of the Waxman Institute. “By funding scientists who are rethinking cancer through the lens of aging, we are working toward an ultimate goal of healthier, longer lives with less cancer risk as we age.”
Despite the strong link between aging and cancer, most research models and clinical trials have historically focused on younger populations, leaving major gaps in understanding how aging biology influences cancer risk, progression, recurrence and treatment response.
“The Waxman Institute was created to help close this gap,” said Ryan Schoenfeld, PhD, CEO of The Mark Foundation. “By bringing together world-class investigators and supporting them through a highly focused, collaborative model, we aim to reshape how cancer is prevented and treated.”
New Aging & Cancer Awards
The five projects below were carefully selected following a competitive request for proposals (RFP) issued in 2025 that included a rigorous peer review process. Each multidisciplinary team will receive $500,000 over three years, starting in January 2026. To learn more about these awards, visit: www.waxmaninstitute.org
Reducing Aging-Associated Blood Cancers by Understanding How TNFα Signaling Shapes Hematopoietic Stem Cells
Jennifer Trowbridge, PhD, The Jackson Laboratory; and Peter Van Galen, PhD, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Senescence-Associated Metabolism in Age-Related Tumorigenesis
Corina Amor Vegas, MD, PhD, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory; Joshua Rabinowitz, MD, PhD, Princeton University
Targeting LINE-1 to Prevent Age-Dependent Immune Dysfunction in Cancer with support from CRI
Miriam Merad, MD, PhD and Nicholas Vabret, PhD, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; Vera Gorbunova, PhD, University of Rochester
Aging-Associated Inflammation in Lung Cancer Evolution
Tuomas Tammela, MD, PhD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; Alexander Tsankov, PhD, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Impact of Aging on the Intestinal Stem Cell Niche and Colorectal Cancer
Omer Yilmaz, MD, PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Andrew Chan, MD, MPH, Massachusetts General Hospital
These awards will be part of a broader $15 million, three-year commitment by the Waxman Institute and The Mark Foundation. In spring 2026, the Waxman Institute will announce a new RFP on aging and cancer.
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About The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research
The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research, a charitable organization based in New York City, actively partners with scientists worldwide to accelerate research that will transform cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. Since 2017, The Mark Foundation has awarded over $300 million in grants to investigators at more than 120 academic institutions across 18 countries, with research programs focusing on early career support, team science collaboration, new technology innovation, and therapeutics discovery. Additionally, The Mark Foundation maintains a growing portfolio of investments in early-stage cancer diagnostics and therapeutics companies, including several that have transitioned from grantee projects into commercial development. To learn more, please visit www.themarkfoundation.org
About the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation
The Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation is an international organization dedicated to curing and preventing cancer. The Foundation is a pioneer in cancer research and its mission is to eradicate cancer by funding cutting-edge research that identifies and corrects abnormal gene function that causes cancer and develops minimally toxic treatments for patients. Through the Foundation’s collaborative group of world-class scientists, the Institute Without Walls, investigators share information and tools to speed the pace of cancer research. Since its inception in 1976, the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation has awarded more than $120 million to support the work of more than 200 researchers across the globe. For more information, visit www.waxmancancer.org
About the American Cancer Society
The American Cancer Society is a leading cancer-fighting organization with a vision to end cancer as we know it, for everyone. For more than 110 years, we have been improving the lives of people with cancer and their families as the only organization combating cancer through advocacy, research, and patient support. We are committed to ensuring everyone has an opportunity to prevent, detect, treat, and survive cancer. Learn more at www.cancer.org.
About the Cancer Research Institute
The Cancer Research Institute, established in 1953, is the preeminent U.S. nonprofit organization dedicated to saving more lives by fueling the discovery and development of powerful immunotherapies for all cancers. Guided by a world-renowned Scientific Advisory Council that includes five Nobel laureates and 35 members of the National Academy of Sciences, CRI has invested over $570 million in support of research conducted by immunologists and tumor immunologists at the world’s leading medical centers and universities and has contributed to many of the key scientific advances that demonstrate the potential for immunotherapy to change the face of cancer treatment. Learn more at www.cancerresearch.org.
Media Contacts:
Rachel Hastings
rhastings@themarkfoundation.org
Wylie Tene
wtene@waxmaninstitute.org