The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network announced that Rahul S. Shinde, D.V.M., Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Immunology, Microenvironment & Metastasis Program of Wistar’s Ellen and Ronald Caplan Cancer Center, was bestowed the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network Career Development Award.
Shinde was the Institute’s first Caspar Wistar fellow and was promoted to assistant professor at the start of 2022. He describes his experience as a researcher as “wonderful” and “one in which I have developed personally and professionally” – crediting the collaborative atmosphere and scientific environment at Wistar as excellent support in helping to garner his lab funding. Currently, Shinde is working on characterizing the gut microbiome and host metabolism in the context of immune responses to cancer.
“Growing as a researcher at Wistar is an amazing feeling filled with learning, discovering, and sharing science,” he says, adding that receiving this award at this stage in his research career is an honor. “The PanCAN Career Development Award is a gratifying experience that reassures me that I’m conducting impactful research in my laboratory.”
The $250,000 in grant funding will help propel forward his scientific focus on characterizing how gut microbe-derived metabolites impact immune cell function and support foundational research into a potential supplementary therapy for pancreatic cancer. Shinde elaborates, “The successful outcome of this research may form the basis for gut bacteria-based therapies or diet-based therapies to improve the survival as well as the quality of life of pancreatic cancer patients.”
Research supported by the 2022 Pancreatic Cancer Action Network Career Development Award, Grant Number “22-20-SHIN.”