The Penn State College of Medicine is one step closer to finding a cure for breast cancer, thanks to a $100,000 grant by the Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition.

The coalition awarded distinguished professor Dr. Craig Meyers with a $50,000 grant that was matched by an anonymous donor. The grant was presented to Dr. Meyers on November 20th at the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center.

“Dr. Meyers’ research is a perfect example as to how fundamental laboratory studies are leading to innovative and novel therapies for breast cancer treatment,” said Dr. Raymond Hohl, director of the Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute, in a press release. “In particular, his approach can be thought of as a very advanced biological therapy for the treatment of breast cancer; one that uses viruses, which are better recognized to cause disease, to treat human breast cancers.”

Dr. Meyers’ research centers around the use of the adeno-associated virus type 2, or AAV2. He has shown that the virus is capable of killing breast cancer cells without affecting healthy cells in mice. Meyers says he hopes to finish clinical trials on mice at this time next year and apply for human testing.

The Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition has awarded more than $500,000 to the Hershey Medical Center since 1999. The PBCC is a statewide non-profit organization, formed in 1993 by breast cancer survivors. It supports survivors and their families through education, legislative advocacy, and research grants.

“We have been working on this research now for 20 years,” Meyers said. “We are now at the point where one more set of experiments will decide whether or not we can put an application together to proceed with human trials.”