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Indian-origin researcher awarded for prostate cancer study
The NCI K99/R00 is a career development award that supports promising early-career biomedical researchers as they transition toward independent research careers.
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Staff Reporter - Sat, 08, Aug 2026
- 03:09 EDT
- 21
Varadha Balaji Venkadakrishnan / Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
An Indian-origin researcher has been selected for a prestigious U.S. award for investigating the biological mechanisms behind treatment resistance in neuroendocrine prostate cancer, an aggressive form of the disease for which there are currently no approved targeted therapies.
Varadha Balaji Venkadakrishnan, an instructor at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, was selected for the 2026 National Cancer Institute (NCI) Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00) program, the institute said.
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The NCI K99/R00 is a career development award that supports promising early-career biomedical researchers as they transition toward independent research careers.
The award aims to facilitate a timely transition of talented postdoctoral researchers with a research and/or clinical doctorate degree from mentored, postdoctoral research positions to independent, tenure-track or equivalent faculty positions.
Congratulations to @Bajji on an NCI K99/R00 award for research in @mishabeltran's lab at @DanaFarber investigating the epigenetic drivers of treatment resistance in neuroendocrine prostate cancer, an aggressive disease with no approved targeted therapies.… pic.twitter.com/COFU3fDOt0
— Dana-Farber News (@DanaFarberNews) August 7, 2026
Balaji's research was conducted in the laboratory of Misha Beltran at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and will focus on the epigenetic drivers of treatment resistance in neuroendocrine prostate cancer.
Neuroendocrine prostate cancer is an aggressive disease, and the research aims to better understand the biological changes that enable cancer cells to evade treatment.
The NCI K99/R00 is a career development award that supports promising early-career biomedical researchers as they transition toward independent research careers.
The researcher has previously been recognized through several competitive research and professional awards, including the National Cancer Center Fellowship, DoD PCRP Early Investigator Research Award, 2023 CURE Mentor Appreciation Award, Prostate Cancer Foundation Young Investigator Award and the Michael O. Koch Research Excellence Award for Early Career Scholars.
His research aims to define novel molecular mechanisms of resistance to standard-of-care therapies to lay a foundation for the development of an alternative therapeutic strategy for prostate cancer patients. Thus, the proposed research is relevant to NCI's mission to develop fundamental knowledge that will help reduce the burdens of human cancer.
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