LUNGevity Awards $2 Million to Reshape Lung Nodule Diagnostics

The inaugural 2026 RTFCCR/LUNGevity Early Detection Awards provide $1 million each to projects led by Steven Dubinett of UCLA and Lecia Sequist of Massachusetts General Hospital. Both studies seek to solve the clinical dilemma of distinguishing benign spots from early-stage lung cancer, a challenge that frequently results in either unnecessary surgeries or dangerous delays in treatment.

Dr. Dubinett’s team will spend the next three years validating a diagnostic tool that combines CT imaging analysis with liquid biopsy, specifically focusing on cell-free DNA methylome biomarkers. By testing this method across 500 patients at UCLA and Veterans Affairs hospitals, the researchers hope to provide a reliable, blood-based screening protocol. Simultaneously, Dr. Sequist is launching the RESOLVE study to evaluate Sybil, an open-source artificial intelligence model. This trial will monitor 340 adults aged 35–75 to determine if AI can accurately estimate cancer risk directly from existing scans, bypassing the need for human annotation. If these initiatives succeed, they could significantly decrease the volume of invasive biopsies and improve outcomes for populations often overlooked by traditional screening criteria, including women who lack standard risk factors.