Applications are now being accepted for the new $100,000 Invasive Lobular Carcinoma (ILC) Research Grant, sponsored by the SNMMI Mars Shot Fund and the Lobular Breast Cancer Alliance (LBCA). This grant, a first-time collaboration between the two organizations, aims to fund a research/project focused on advancing ILC breast cancer imaging and treatments to improve patient outcomes. The collaboration has also resulted in a change in the SNMMI grant application review process, as patient advocates will be voting members in the application review process.

To be selected, research projects must focus on ILC and molecular imaging or therapy for lobular breast cancer. Priority projects may have molecular imaging as the primary focus of the proposed research, or alternatively, researchers may investigate methods that integrate other imaging and/or molecular science with radionuclide methods, including hybrid imaging techniques such as PET/CT, SPECT/CT and PET/MRI.

Learn more and submit an application. Submission deadline: Dec. 15, 2022.

About Invasive Lobular Carcinoma

ILC, also known as lobular breast cancer, represents 15% of all breast cancer diagnoses annually in the U.S. and is the second most common histologic subtype of breast cancer, afflicting nearly 44,000 new people each year. ILC is a unique histological subtype of breast cancer with some troubling characteristics.

These include the fact that ILC tumors, which typically form in linear patterns rather than lumps, are often more difficult to detect with standard imaging. They are often missed until they are larger and later-stage, and progression is difficult to monitor. Learn more about ILC.