Women with triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) learn quickly that their aggressive form of the disease is notoriously resistant to the standard treatments of surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy.
That's why the Vera Bradley Foundation Center for Breast Cancer Research is focusing on advancing the science of immunotherapy—using the body's immune system to target and destroy even the toughest cancer cells.
With support from a new $12.5 million gift from the Vera Bradley Foundation, our investigators are developing therapies that will enable the immune system to target and destroy cancer cells while avoiding cancer’s tendency to inactivate immune cells.
Our goal is to have a breast cancer diagnosis become an inconvenience rather than an overwhelming presence.
Ruth Cook — Chair, Vera Bradley Foundation Board of Directors
In early 2022, Mateusz Opyrchal, MD, PhD, was named the inaugural Vera Bradley Foundation Scholar in Breast Cancer Discovery at IU School of Medicine and co-leader of the cancer center’s experimental and development therapeutics research program.
Dr. Opyrchal’s research focuses on novel therapeutic approaches and enhancing immune responses in triple negative breast cancer. He and his colleagues collaborate with the experts at the Brown Center for Immunotherapy to get their scientific breakthroughs into patients as quickly as possible.
Read more about Dr. Opyrchal:
I believe that, in my lifetime, we’ll see a good portion of these women live long, productive lives.
Mateusz Opyrchal, MD, PhD — Vera Bradley Foundation Scholar in Breast Cancer Discovery
Researchers at the IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center are transforming the future of cancer treatment with advances in immunotherapy. Less toxic than many current therapy options, immunotherapy uses the body’s immune system to target and destroy cancer cells.
In this Simon Says session, Dr. Opyrchal and Huda Salman, MD, PhD, executive director of the Brown Center for Immunotherapy, break down how immunotherapy works and its possibilities for cancer patients.
Kelvin Lee, MD, director of the IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center, is the moderator.
Donor support is crucial to advancing discoveries that will have the most meaningful impact on women’s lives. You can help us make it happen.
Vera Bradley Foundation Center for Breast Cancer Research
535 Barnhill Drive
Indianapolis, IN 46202
