The Department of Defense office of the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program awarded Petit Institute researcher Susan Thomas with a Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program Career Development Award. 

Thomas, assistant professor in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, is awarded $529,000 over three years as part of a grant program that supports independent, early-career investigators who are conducting impactful research. The award is designed to foster groundbreaking cancer research relevant to active duty Service members, their families, and other military beneficiaries.

Thomas’s project focuses on developing targeted therapeutic approaches to treat melanoma, a disease that disproportionately affects U.S. Military personnel. Her laboratory will utilize nanotechnology to investigate how targeted delivery improves melanoma immunotherapy.