Tucker L.C. Pyle, MD, PhD, and Luis R. Rodriguez, PhD, two George Washington University (GW) School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS) junior faculty members recently received the George Washington University Cancer Center’s American Cancer Society Institutional Research Grant (ACS-IRG), which was awarded to Edward Seto, associate center director for basic science at the GW Cancer Center, and the King Fahd Professor of Cancer Biology.
The ACS-IRG provides pilot funding to beginning investigators at the rank of Assistant Professor (or equivalent) who have not yet achieved NIH R01 or R01-like funding. Each grant recipient is expected to develop a thorough, innovative cancer research project with a year of mentorship from an experienced GW Cancer Center faculty member.
Applications were meticulously reviewed by a committee of experienced GW cancer researchers who considered the strengths of each study proposal, including its cancer research significance and relevance, extent to which the award would nurture the applicant’s innovative ideas, and suitability of the investigator and mentor for the project. Nearly three times as many applications were submitted this cycle compared to the previous cycle. This review process resulted in the funding of two impressive applications from Tucker L.C. Pyle, MD, PhD, and Luis Rodriguez, PhD.
Tucker L.C. Pyle, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Children’s National Hospital
Tucker Pyle has been at Children’s National Hospital since 2022. Their proposal, Diagnostic microRNA for Early Detection of Germ Cell Tumor, focuses on addressing a critical gap in care for individuals at high risk of developing gonadal cancer.
Approximately 1 in 3,500 people are born with reproductive system differences that alter their gonads (testes or ovaries). These gonad differences come with an up-to-1000x risk of gonadal cancer. There is currently no reliable method to screen these individuals for germ cell tumors (GCT), and health care providers are left watching and waiting for cancer to begin. Pyle’s project is intended to create a screening tool, potentially the first of its kind for children, using microRNAs (miRNAs) in the blood to identify GCT early in high-risk individuals.
“My work is pivoting from causes and risk for gonadal germ cell tumor to early detection in individuals at high risk,” said Pyle. “To do this, we're branching into oncogenesis and microRNA biology. I am trained as a research and clinical geneticist, with a focus on cancer predisposition. The ACS-IRG supported research and mentorship will provide me and my laboratory with the much-needed expertise in solid tumors and miRNA at a level that we can translate new tools to the cancer-risk clinic.”
Pyle’s research will be conducted under the mentorship of Holly Meany, MD, associate professor of pediatrics.
Luis R. Rodriguez, PhD, Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences
Luis Rodriguez arrived at GW in late 2025. His proposal, Disrupted p63 Signaling Links Aberrant Lung Repair and Lung Cancer, focuses on understanding how lung squamous cell carcinoma begins.
This form of lung cancer accounts for about one quarter of lung cancer cases and remains difficult to treat. One reason progress has been slow is that scientists still do not fully understand the earliest biological changes that allow normal lung cells to become cancerous.
Rodriguez’s research focuses on how lung cells respond to injury. When the lung is damaged, cells enter temporary repair states that return to normal after repair is complete. This project considers conditions where these repair programs fail to turn off, enter abnormal states that persist, and potentially become cancer. Using organoid models, or organized lung cells grown in a dish, this project will test whether loss of the tumor-suppressor gene, p53, allows injury-related cell states to stabilize and progress toward cancer.
“My previous training in lung injury and epithelial progenitors is a good scientific fit for cancer research, but without the funding or experienced mentorship it would be incredibly difficult to pivot away from chronic injury,” said Rodriguez. “This pilot program affords me the funding and intellectual support to make the leap.”
Rodriguez’s research will be conducted under the mentorship of Xiaoyan Zheng, PhD, associate professor of anatomy and cell biology.
The awardees will be introducing their research projects to the broad Cancer Center community at the GW Cancer Center Retreat on Friday, June 12, 2026, at the University Student Center.
ACS-IRG grants are funded for one year and are non-renewable. A new selection of researchers will be awarded annually through 2030.
