Four UF Health Cancer Institute researchers have received 2026-27 Scientific Research Grants from the Florida Breast Cancer Foundation.
The Florida Breast Cancer Foundation is a nonprofit dedicated to ending breast cancer through research, education and advocacy. It was founded by three Miami women in 1993.
Through the 2026-27 Scientific Research Grants, the foundation is supporting researchers working to better understand breast cancer, improve treatment, prevent recurrence and metastasis and, ultimately, save lives.
Learn more about their projects below:
“FOXA1 in lobular breast cancer – biology and therapeutic target”
Weizhou Zhang, Ph.D.
Co-leader, UF Health Cancer Institute Immuno-Oncology and Microenvironment research program
Co-leader, UF Health Cancer Institute Breast Cancer Working Group
This project aims to develop a new therapeutic for invasive lobular breast cancers, which represent 15% of breast cancer cases. Zhang’s team will investigate the gene FOXA1 as a potential biomarker and therapeutic target.
The researchers will use a high-throughput screening technology to develop the first proof-of-concept evidence for targeting and degrading FOXA1. The team aims to establish a connection between FOXA1 and therapy resistance in invasive lobular breast cancers.
The researchers also want to develop compounds that can effectively degrade FOXA1 and validate the efficacy of these compounds in killing invasive lobular breast cancer cells in laboratory and animal testing. The goal is to lay the foundation for the potential clinical translation of what could be a better and safer treatment option for patients with late-stage invasive lobular breast cancer.
“Silent highways: Targeting the lymphatic network to halt breast cancer metastasis”
Sulma Mohammed, Ph.D.
Co-leader, UF Health Cancer Institute Cancer Control and Population Sciences research program
Breast cancer most often spreads through the lymphatic system, the body’s natural drainage network. This makes the lymphatic system the earliest and most important pathway for cancer’s spread.
Mohammed’s research in animals shows that the lymphatic system is not just a passive pathway, but an active place where cancer cells change and gain stronger abilities to spread.
The goal of this project is to study, for the first time in women, cancer cells traveling through the lymphatic system and the environment they travel in. The team will compare cancer cells in the lymph system and the blood. They will also study immune cells and signals in lymph fluid that may help tumors survive and spread.
This work aims to help identify early interventions to prevent the spread of cancer before it becomes life-threatening.
“The use of ERR agonists to prevent doxorubicin-induced heart failure”
Thomas Burris, Ph.D.
Director, UF Genetics Institute
Over the past 50 years, breast cancer survival in the U.S. has improved dramatically, from about 75% to around 91%. However, as more women survive breast cancer, heart disease has become a leading cause of death among survivors.
Doxorubicin, a standard and highly effective chemotherapy drug widely used to treat breast cancer, can damage the heart and lead to heart failure. Currently, there are no therapies to prevent this, forcing many patients to either reduce their chemotherapy dose or stop treatment entirely.
Doxorubicin harms the heart primarily by disrupting how heart cells produce energy. Normally, the heart uses fat as primary fuel, but doxorubicin shifts it to a less efficient system that relies on glucose. This metabolic change severely weakens the heart’s pumping ability and eventually leads to heart failure. Burris’ team developed novel drugs called ERR agonists that can restore normal energy production in the heart.
In this study, the team will test whether these drugs can protect the heart exposed to doxorubicin. Using rat models, the researchers will determine whether these drugs can prevent heart damage when given alongside chemotherapy and repair damage that has already occurred. The goal is to improve how patients tolerate chemotherapy, enhance long-term cardiovascular health and improve the overall quality of life and survival of patients.
“Smart Trop-2 CAR-T with synthetic circuits for TNBC precision”
Rodrigo Cristofoletti, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Pharmaceutics, UF College of Pharmacy
Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is one of the most aggressive forms of breast cancer. It’s called “triple-negative” because the tumor lacks three common markers that many breast cancer drugs target, leaving patients with fewer effective treatment options. TNBC also occurs more often in Black and Latina women, contributing to disparities in outcomes.
Many TNBC tumors display a surface protein called Trop-2, making it an important treatment target. The leading Trop-2 drug can improve survival for some patients with advanced disease, but it can also cause serious side effects because Trop-2 is also present on some healthy tissues.
This project aims to develop a new type of immune cell therapy using T cells, a kind of white blood cell. The design is intended to focus the strongest immune attack on tumor-like environments and reduce damage to healthy tissues.
The team will test this strategy using patient-derived TNBC “mini-tumors” grown on microchips that mimic real tumor conditions. At the same time, they will evaluate the safety using a human gut-on-a-chip model that can detect early signs of tissue injury. The goal is to generate safer, more precise immune therapies for TNBC and a practical testing framework to speed up the development of treatments with fewer side effects.
