Avon Walk Funds Go to BU Breast Cancer Research.

Researchers from the BU schools of public health and medicine have been awarded $300,000 by the Avon Foundation to study the role of environmental chemicals in breast cancer stem cell development.

David Sherr, professor of environmental health at BUSPH, and Dr. David Seldin, a school of medicine professor, will use the money – raised through the annual Avon Walk for Breast Cancer – to study whether chemicals cause changes to breast tumors that enable them to spread from their original sites to other organs. The team is among eight local groups that have been awarded new grants from the $3.9 million raised during the two-day walk.

Boston Medical Center researchers also received a grant — $150,000 – to help screen more than 17,000 women this year and to provide navigation services to patients to remove barriers and coordinate access to care for prompt diagnosis. Other recipients include Mass General Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

More than 1,700 people participated in Avon Walk Boston, May 17-18, the third of eight 2014 Avon Walks across the country.