Research

Physician-researchers at the Lung Cancer Specialty Care Center and University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) are pioneering efforts to develop novel strategies for earlier diagnosis, more effective treatment, and prevention of lung cancer.

UPCI holds the highly competitive Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) grant for lung cancer research from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Through the grant, investigators are studying:

• factors related to women’s increased susceptibility to lung cancer
• cancer vaccines and immunotherapy
• proteomic biomarkers to improve early detection and prognosis
• genetic mutations to identify individuals at high risk for developing lung cancer

The Lung Cancer Specialty Care Center actively participates in multiple clinical trial consortiums, including the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group (ACOSOG) and the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG), with faculty serving in leadership positions in both of these groups.

And through the Georgia Cooper Lung Research Registry, a lung cancer database is helping physician-researchers to develop a reliable screening test for lung cancer.