Our Research Portfolio
Within just two years of Susan Wojcicki’s lung cancer diagnosis, she catalyzed a broad research portfolio spanning immunotherapies, targeted therapies, cancer vaccines, and the biological and environmental drivers of lung cancer —mobilizing leading researchers, clinicians, and advocates across a growing, multi-institutional effort.
The Susan Wojcicki Foundation builds on this work, with a renewed focus on lung cancer early detection and prevention.
Understanding Risk
Redefining Lung Cancer Risk Through Biology and Environment
We have invested in large-scale studies designed to redefine lung cancer risk and broaden screening eligibility.
These efforts include the Lung Cancer Genetics Study and the Sherlock-Lung study, which integrate genetic, environmental, and clinical data to better understand who is at risk.
Together, these studies are generating early evidence that lung cancer risk is shaped by a broader set of biological and environmental factors than captured by current screening guidelines.
These efforts represent critical first steps toward establishing an evidence base for who is at risk for lung cancer — and which populations may benefit from earlier or expanded screening.
Detecting Cancer Earlier
Advancing New Techniques to Improve Blood Tests
We have supported work at Stanford University led by Ash Alizadeh, MD, PhD, and Max Diehn, MD, PhD, focused on integrating multiple liquid biopsy analysis techniques to improve early detection of lung cancers. This research combines complementary molecular and genomic approaches to better characterize disease signals at early stages.
These efforts are generating foundational evidence for how integrating diverse testing strategies may enable earlier detection and more precise monitoring across cancers where current tools remain limited.
Preventing Lung Cancer
Cancer Vaccines That Can Target Hundreds of Tumor Signals
We have supported work at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute led by Cathy Wu, MD, advancing next-generation cancer vaccine technologies through the development of “tumor avatar” platforms capable of expressing hundreds of tumor neoantigens within a single system.
Our support has helped optimize this platform across design, manufacturing, and immune evaluation, enabling its transition from a research tool to a clinically deployable vaccine approach.
Designed for both patient-specific and off-the-shelf use, these platforms are now positioned to start early clinical testing.
