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QuadW Foundation Sarcoma Research Fellowship in Memory of Willie Tichenor

QuadW Foundation

Grant Amount$60,000 USD

Grant Term1 Year

Start of Grant TermJuly 1, 2026

Application DeadlineNovember 18, 2025 1:00 PM (ET)

Decision DateMarch 2026

Additional InformationAdditional details regarding this grant can be found in the Program Guidelines and Application Instructions. Final determinations of eligibility will not be completed until the AACR is in receipt of the submitted application.

Description

The AACR-QuadW Foundation Sarcoma Research Fellowship in Memory of Willie Tichenor represents a joint effort to encourage and support a postdoctoral or clinical research fellow to conduct translational or clinical sarcoma research and to establish a successful career path in this field.

The fellowship provides a one-year grant of $60,000 to support the salary and benefits of the fellow while working on a mentored sarcoma research project. Funds may also be designated for non-personnel expenses, such as research/laboratory supplies, equipment, publication charges for manuscripts that pertain directly to the funded project, and other research expenses. However, grant funds cannot be used to compensate for clinical practice with patients or for indirect costs.

AI Based Application Success Predictor

✅ 1. Osteosarcoma (OS) relevance is the single strongest predictor

QuadW consistently prioritizes:

biology of osteosarcoma

metastasis (especially lung)

recurrence

therapy resistance

biomarkers for risk stratification

Projects not clearly tied to OS historically underperform.

✅ 2. Adolescents & Young Adults (AYA) focus

Funded themes frequently target:

outcome disparities in AYA cancers

developmental/psychosocial factors

clinical trial access

survivorship toxicity in young patients

Emphasizing AYA relevance adds visible scoring weight.

✅ 3. Collaborative / consortia-based work

QuadW supports:

multi-site clinical biology cohorts

coordinated correlative science

clinically annotated sample sharing

Projects isolated to a single institution, without network integration, are weaker.

✅ 4. Strong biospecimen integration

A recurring trait:

PDX models from OS patients

metastatic lesion tissue use

rapid autopsy programs

high-quality biobanking

Mouse-only work without human anchors scores lower.

✅ 5. Translation to therapy

Panels favor proposals with:

druggable pathway rationale

target engagement strategies

combination therapy logic

resistance mechanism rebuttal

Therapeutic actionability matters more than descriptive biology.

✅ 6. Metastasis emphasis

QuadW portfolios repeatedly prioritize:

lung metastasis seeding and colonization

dormancy in OS

microenvironmental drivers

Showing metastatic impact almost always strengthens proposals.

✅ 7. Patient outcome impact in <5–7 years

There is sensitivity to:

realistic translational timelines

the short runway of AYA survivorship needs

Vague “future potential” is less competitive.

✅ 8. Workforce development

QuadW invests in:

summer sarcoma training programs

young clinician-scientist pipeline development

mentoring environments

Including trainee development plans is subtly advantageous.

✅ 9. Community-centric framing

QuadW originated from a family philanthropy model. Reviewers respond well to:

patient/community voice

psychosocial need

quality of life

ongoing survivorship burden

Pure omics without human meaning is lower-impact.

✅ 10. Psychosocial oncology in sarcoma

Funded projects frequently include:

anxiety/stress interventions

return-to-school support

adolescent adherence

peer isolation management

This distinguishes QuadW from purely molecular funders.

🔬 Historically favored methodologies

Patterns across funded work show preference for:

CRISPR perturbation screens in OS

liquid biopsy markers (ctDNA, miRNA)

metastatic niche modeling (lung microenvironment)

drug repurposing screens

immune-microenvironment interrogation

These methods track with portfolio themes.

🧠 Biology themes that appear repeatedly

High signal in previous awards:

Wnt signaling dysregulation

DNA damage response vulnerabilities

metabolic dependencies in OS

RTK pathway resistance loops

mesenchymal transcriptional plasticity

Generic oncogenic pathways fare worse if not OS-ancho red.

📉 Common Reviewer Critiques (predictors of rejection)

✘ “applies to solid tumors generally” with no OS specificity
✘ single cell line → no patient validation
✘ discovery-only aims without therapeutic leverage
✘ lack of metastatic context
✘ unrealistic enrollment timelines for rare disease cohorts
✘ underdeveloped mentoring environment for trainees

🧵 Soft cultural rules

QuadW reviewers tend to favor:

pragmatic feasibility over high-risk abstraction

direct patient community benefit

collaboration over competition

clear access to OS specimens

Tone matters — empathetic, patient-centered writing resonates.

👩‍🔬 Investigator profile signals

Awardees frequently:

belong to sarcoma networks (COG, SARC, EuroSARC)

contribute to collaborative tumor boards

publish in sarcoma-focused outlets

have clinical translational co-mentors

Track record in OS > generalized cancer expertise.

🏗️ Successful Aim Meta-Structure

Aim 1 — Identify mechanism or vulnerability in OS
Aim 2 — Validate in metastatic/PDX/human tissue
Aim 3 — Therapeutic leverage (drug, combination, biomarker)

Two aims can also work if sharply focused.

🌱 Emerging growth areas

Recent cycles reveal increasing interest in:

immunotherapy responsiveness in OS

overcoming immune exclusion

metabolic rewiring in lung metastases

spatial transcriptomics

Proposals that incorporate these are increasingly selected.

🧱 Condensed Success Fingerprint

A competitive QuadW Foundation project is:

✅ osteosarcoma-specific
✅ metastatic/dormancy-relevant
✅ translationally actionable
✅ human tissue–anchored
✅ collaborative/consortium-aligned
✅ beneficial for AYA patients
✅ psychosocially aware (optional but advantageous)

Specialties

Cancer

Eligibility Requirements

Applicants must have a doctoral degree (PhD, MD, MD/PhD, or equivalent) in a related field and not currently be a candidate for a further doctoral degree.

At the start of the grant term on July 1, 2026, applicants must:

Hold a mentored research position with the title of postdoctoral fellow, clinical research fellow, or the equivalent
- If eligibility is based on a future position, the position must be confirmed at the time of submission, and CANNOT be contingent upon receiving this grant
- If the future position is at a different institution than the applicant’s current institution, the applicant must contact the AACR’s Research and Grants Administration Department (AACR’s RGA) at grants@aacr.org before submitting their application for information on additional verification materials/signatures that may be required.
Have completed their most recent doctoral degree within the past five years (i.e., degree cannot have been conferred before July 1, 2021; the formal date of receipt of doctoral degree is the date the degree was conferred, as indicated on the diploma and/or transcript)
- Applicants with a medical degree must have completed their most recent doctoral degree or medical residency - whichever date is later - within the past five years.
Work under the auspices of a mentor at an academic, medical, or research institution anywhere in the world.

Sponsor Details

Sponsor Institute/Organizations: QuadW Foundation

Sponsor Type: Corporate/Non-Profit

Address: 615 Chestnut St., 17th Floor Philadelphia, PA 19106-4404 USA Telephone: 215-440-9300 Email: aacr@aacr.org

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