In January 2022, METAvivor Research and Support, a non-profit organization dedicated to funding research for stage IV metastatic breast cancer, announced 26 grant awards totaling $4,050,000. Lalita Shevde-Samant, Ph.D., Professor, Molecular and Cellular Pathology, received a Translational Research Grant award, in memory of Heather Holmes, for her work, "Altering the metastatic immune niche to eradicate established breast cancer metastases."

Shevde-Samant is a senior scientist with the O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center.

According to the organization, these research grants, "will enhance the understanding of metastatic breast cancer, help improve current treatments and develop greatly needed therapeutic options to combat this complicated disease. Since its founding in 2009, METAvivor has put 100% of donations into its peer-reviewed research grant program.

Metastatic breast cancer (also known as stage IV or advanced stage cancer) is the spread of breast cancer to other parts of the body -- most commonly to the bones, liver, lungs and/or brain. Approximately 30% of breast cancer patients metastasize, with the mean survival after diagnosis being 33 months. In the U.S., only 2-5% of all cancer research funds are dedicated to metastatic breast cancer research – yet 98% of all breast cancer deaths are caused by a metastasis."

Shevde-Samant is not the first UAB Pathology faculty member to receive support for research in cancer from METAvivor. In early 2021, Eason Hildreth, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, MCP, received a grant for his work, "Targeting the CSF1R/PU.1 axis and PU.1/BET super-enhancer regulome in breast cancer bone metastasis." 

In 2020, Selvarangan Ponnazhagan, Ph.D., Endowed Professor in Experimental Cancer Therapeutics in UAB Pathology, was awarded the same Translational Research METAvivor grant for his work on, "Co-targeting immunosuppression and skeletal pathology for metastatic breast cancer therapy." 

In late 2020, two additional METAvivor grants went to UAB Pathology faculty: Xu Feng, Ph.D., Professor, for his work, "Development of Targeted Drugs for Treating Breast Cancer Bone Metastasis," and Douglas Hurst, Ph.D., Associate Professor, for his work, "Improving Oncolytic Herpes Simplex Virus for Metastatic Breast Cancer."