On Friday, first lady Jill Biden paid a visit to Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, to tour its cancer research laboratory in support of the president's "Cancer Moonshot" initiative, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

That is part of the active and leading role she has taken on in support of the 2024 re-election campaign of her husband, President Joe Biden, as they both are seeking another four years in the White House.

The Emory lab, which just recently received a significant $24.8 million federal grant from the Biden administration, is on the cutting-edge front of the president's priority initiative to research and develop new and innovative ways to prevent, treat, and even cure different types of cancer.

Funding for cancer research

On August 23, President Biden gave an update on the work of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) that was created by Congress in relation to his Cancer Moonshot initiative and announced, "Today, we’re taking an important step forward in achieving that ambitious goal, with a new ARPA-H program to use mRNA technology to train our own immune systems to fight cancer, autoimmune disorders, and infectious diseases more effectively."

"Over the past few years, COVID-19 vaccines developed using mRNA technology have saved millions of lives around the world," he added, and with a boost from an ARPA-H grant, "a skilled team at Emory University in Atlanta will work to adapt these technologies to turn more cancers into curable diseases. This is a bold endeavor that has the potential to transform the fight against cancer and other difficult diagnoses."

Just a few weeks after that announcement was made, first lady Biden traveled to Emory to see first-hand what, exactly, that taxpayer-funded grant was being used for in the university's cancer research lab.

Biden touts advancements on "ambitious" goal to end cancer

According to an Emory University news release, first lady Biden toured the lab and watched as researchers and robots worked to perfect the use of mRNA technology as a sort of genetic therapy to strengthen and train the human immune system to better defend the body against destructive cancer cells.

"Just two weeks ago, ARPA-H made its first award to a research team right here at Emory. And as we just saw, they are finding ways to train our immune systems to fight cancer and other diseases. And that is the heart of the Biden Cancer Moonshot," Biden said after the tour. "Your work can change lives here in Georgia and around the world."

"Through the Cancer Moonshot, we’re putting American innovation to work for patients," she added. "And together, we will make it so the word 'cancer' loses its power, so fewer families know the pain of losing a loved one to this disease. It’s ambitious, yes, but it’s within our reach."

First lady deployed as Biden campaign's "secret weapon"

Few should be surprised that first lady Biden is actively campaigning in support of President Biden's re-election bid as exactly that was forecast in January by Bloomberg News, which reported at the time that the American people should "Expect to See A Lot More of First Lady Jill Biden in 2024."

The article asserted that "As the campaign unfolds, the first lady is expected to assert herself on major decisions," as well as "to serve both as adviser and surrogate, traveling often -- including to states her husband didn’t win in 2020 -- to talk about issues important to her including education, military families and cancer research and prevention."

Bloomberg went on to note that Team Biden views the first lady as a sort of "secret weapon" that can be deployed effectively on behalf of the president, most especially in winning over the support of women voters.

An "active fundraiser" and "formidable presence" for the campaign

CNN reported in June that the first lady had taken on an "active fundraiser" role for the Biden campaign in its "early stages" and, at that time, was scheduled to speak at several fundraising events in key states over the coming weeks and months, though it was also acknowledged that there were plans for her to "reprise her role as a frequent campaigner for her husband down the road" in a similar manner to what she did during the 2020 campaign.

"Her warmth and approachability, combined with her 30-plus years as a classroom teacher, make her an effective messenger on the campaign trail," Biden campaign senior adviser Elizabeth Alexander said at the time. "As she has been for all her husband’s presidential campaigns, she will continue to be a formidable presence on the stump."