Archive for the ‘Research Centers’ Category

Cancer Research Institute Names 11 Outstanding Young Scientists to Receive Prestigious Postdoctoral Fellowship Award

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Posted 22 Feb 2012 — by James Street
Category Finance and Politics of cancer research and treatment, General Cancer Research, genetic research, Research Centers
Released: 2/16/2012 12:30 PM EST
Source: Cancer Research Institute

More than $1.8 Million Committed for Research in Cancer Immunology

Newswise — NEW YORK, NY, Feb. 16, 2012 – The Cancer Research Institute, Inc. (CRI), a U.S. nonprofit organization established in 1953 to support and coordinate scientific studies in the fields of immunology and tumor immunology with the goal of harnessing the power of the immune system to treat and cure cancer, announced that the Fellowship Review Committee of the CRI Scientific Advisory Council, with the approval of the Institute’s Board of Trustees, has named 11 new postdoctoral fellows from its October 2011 application round, totaling more than $1.8 million in research funding through the Irvington Institute Fellowship Program of the Cancer Research Institute.

The 11 young scientists are conducting research under the guidance of leading immunologists and tumor immunologists at distinguished academic institutions throughout the United States, including Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Yale University School of Medicine, Columbia University, California Institute of Technology, and University of California, San Francisco. Each of their projects is advancing knowledge about the immune system that can be directly applied to solving the cancer problem, with projects providing insights into lymphoma, ovarian, colorectal, prostate, and HIV-related cancers, among others.

Each fellow will receive stipend support totaling $160,000 over three years, plus an annual research allowance of $1,500.

Cancer Research Institute Postdoctoral Fellows Awarded in January 2012:

• Anne Chauveau, Ph.D., with her sponsor Morgan Huse, Ph.D., at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, will investigate how a family of proteins known as the diacylglycerol kinases (DGK) are involved in the process of immune cell polarization—a process that plays an important role in ensuring that T cells can accurately direct cell-killing substances against their targets, including cancer cells. A better understanding of the mechanisms involved in directional secretion could make important contributions to the design of novel cancer immunotherapeutics.

• Juan R. Cubillos-Ruiz, Ph.D., with his sponsor Laurie H. Glimcher, M.D., at Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, aims to understand how immune cells called dendritic cells promote and support the development of ovarian cancer. Through his project, he aims to identify the pathways involved in immune-related cancer progression and use a nanotechnology-based strategy to effectively block these pathways as a novel therapeutic approach to complement standard ovarian cancer treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

• Timothy Eitas, Ph.D., with his sponsor Jenny P.-Y. Ting, Ph.D., at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, will study a protein called NLRX1 and its role in mediating the production of inflammatory molecules called cytokines in ulcerative colitis and colitis-associated cancer. Dr. Eitas’s in vivo and in vitro experiments should offer novel immunological and molecular targets for the treatment of colorectal cancer.

• James A. Harker, Ph.D., with his sponsor Elina I. Zuniga, Ph.D., at the University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, will explore a new compartment that Dr. Harker hypothesizes plays a major role in defense during chronic infection and is essential for viral control and resolution. His project will include identifying the key components of the compartment, the factors that lead to its activation, and its therapeutic potential. This work could lead to treatment strategies that significantly reduce the incidence of chronic infectious diseases and their associated cancers.

• Chunyu Jin, Ph.D., with sponsor Michael G. Rosenfeld, M.D., at the University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, aims to elucidate the role of GPS2 in macrophages, immune cells that can drive pro-cancer inflammatory reactions in hormone-resistant prostate cancer. Initial results suggest that GPS2 plays a role in preventing activation of inflammatory signaling pathways. By further elucidating the role of GPS2, Dr. Jin’s studies will help shed light on macrophage-related inflammation in hormone-resistant prostate cancer, with implications for the effectiveness of selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMs) in prostate cancer treatment and the appearance of clinical resistance in prostate cancer patients.

• Lingfeng Liu, Ph.D., with sponsor Wendell A. Lim, Ph.D., at the University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, aims to optimize T cells for adoptive therapy by using synthetic biology to reengineer transgenic T cells to respond selectively to high antigen density on tumor cells and not to low antigen density on normal tissue cells. This study can potentially provide a general strategy to improve cell-based cancer therapy.

• Boryana N. Manz, Ph.D., with sponsor Arthur A. Weiss, M.D., Ph.D., at the University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, aims to study how the Dok1 tumor suppressor regulates signaling proteins in immune cells. This project will elucidate the Dok1-dependent processes that control the aberrant activation of immune cells and provide insight into the mechanisms of cancer initiation in multiple tissues. Dok1, or genetic variants identified in this study, can then be delivered to tumors to suppress their hyper-activation, or included in cell-based cancer immunotherapies, as a safety regulator against hyper-activation.

• James B. Munro, Ph.D., with his sponsor Walther Mothes, Ph.D., at Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, will utilize state-of-the-art imaging technologies to visualize HIV envelope protein (Env) molecules—the primary target for anti-HIV antibodies generated by the immune system—to elucidate how Env is capable of escaping the activity of the vast majority of anti-HIV antibodies. These insights will assist the development of an HIV vaccine.

• Vanja Sisirak, Ph.D., with sponsor Boris V. Reizis, Ph.D., at Columbia University, New York, NY, aims to study the role of a novel DNA-digesting enzyme in recognition of microbial DNA and self-DNA by immune cells called dendritic cells. This work will allow for a better understanding of how dendritic cells sense DNA and will help identify new targets for future therapy development for the treatment of autoimmune diseases, as well as offer new perspectives on cancer immunotherapy.

• Beth M. Stadtmueller, Ph.D., with her sponsor Pamela J. Bjorkman, Ph.D., at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, will investigate the molecular mechanisms and architecture of immunoglobulin alpha (IgA) in mucosal surfaces, where many epithelial cancers arise. Using x-ray crystallography, complimentary biochemical experiments, and electron microscopy, Dr. Stadtmuller will characterize IgA and its related complexes, providing fundamental insights into the mechanisms of IgA processes, which are necessary not only to better understand mucosal immunity and disease pathology, but also to develop existing and novel cancer immunotherapies.

• Leng-Siew Yeap, Ph.D., with sponsor Frederick W. Alt, Ph.D., at Immune Disease Institute, Inc., Boston, MA, aims to understand how the enzyme Activation Induced Deaminase (AID) is attracted to specific DNA sequences in the generation of antibody diversity, dysregulation of which can lead to B cell lymphomas. This study will shed light on the mechanisms by which DNA sequence influences AID targeting in antibody diversity, as well as on potential strategies to prevent the adverse consequences of AID and the development of cancer.

The Cancer Research Institute extends its congratulations to this latest group of postdoctoral fellows. The next deadline for applications to the Institute’s fellowship program is April 2, 2012.

About the Cancer Research Institute
The Cancer Research Institute (CRI), established in 1953, is the world’s only nonprofit organization dedicated exclusively to transforming cancer patient care by advancing scientific efforts to develop new and effective immune system-based strategies to prevent, diagnose, treat, and cure cancer. Guided by a world-renowned Scientific Advisory Council that includes three Nobel laureates and thirty members of the National Academy of Sciences, CRI has invested more than $200 million in support of research conducted by immunologists and tumor immunologists at the world’s leading medical centers and universities, and has contributed to many of the key scientific advances that demonstrate the potential for immunotherapy to change the face of cancer treatment.

To accelerate the pace of progress in the field, CRI convenes and coordinates global collaborations among academics, industry scientists and decision makers, regulatory representatives, and health research associations focused on discovery, development, and refinement of new cancer immunotherapies. A founding visionary and scientific leader in tumor immunology, CRI is helping to shape the emerging field of immuno-oncology, and is ushering in a new era of medical progress to bring more treatment options to cancer patients sooner.

For more information, visit http://www.cancerresearch.org.

An ambitious plan for curing cancer in a businesslike way is in the works

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Posted 28 Dec 2011 — by James Street
Category Bioinformatics, Finance and Politics of cancer research and treatment, General Cancer Research, genetic research, Proteomics, Proteomics, Research Centers, Understanding Cancer

Dec 31st 2011 | NEW YORK | from the print edition

 

Cancer, you have a problem

RON DEPINHO is a man on a mission. Oddly, though, he does not yet know exactly what that mission is. Dr DePinho is the new president of the MD Anderson Cancer Centre in Houston, Texas. (He took over in September, having previously headed the Belfer Institute, part of Harvard’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.) Mindful of his adopted city’s most famous scientific role, as home to Mission Control for the Apollo project, he says his own mission is akin to a moon shot. He aims to cure not one but five varieties of cancer. What he has not yet decided is: which five?

That it is possible to talk of curing even one sort of cancer is largely thanks to an outfit called the International Cancer Genome Consortium. Researchers belonging to this group, which involves 39 projects in four continents, are using high-throughput DNA-sequencing to examine 50 sorts of tumour. They are comparing the mutations in many examples of each type, to find which are common to a type (and thus, presumably, causative) and which are mere accidents. (The DNA-repair apparatus in malignant cells often goes wrong, so such accidents are common.)

The consortium’s work is progressing fast, and preliminary results for many tumours are already in. But such knowledge is useless unless it can be translated into treatment. That is where Dr DePinho comes in—for his career has taken him into the boardroom as well as the clinic. He is a serial entrepreneur: he helped found Aveo Pharmaceuticals, which is developing a drug to block the growth of blood vessels in tumours, Metamark Genetics, which works on diagnosing cancers, and Karyopharm Therapeutics, which is trying to regulate the passage of molecules into and out of the cell nucleus, and thus control the nucleus’s activities. His aim in coming to MD Anderson, he says, is to “industrialise” other aspects of biological research in the way that genetics has been pushed forward by high-throughput sequencing.

That will cost billions of dollars. Fortunately, the state of Texas—no pushover when it comes to spending taxpayers’ cash—is creating a $3 billion cancer-research fund to help pay for it. Local philanthropists, including T. Boone Pickens and Ross Perot, are chipping in, too. Their model is the original Human Genome Project, during which the cost of sequencing a single genetic “letter” (a DNA base pair) fell from $10 in 1991 to ten cents in 2001—and is now 3,000 base pairs a cent. They hope their dollars will encourage people working with what are now, essentially, craft technologies to think about how they might industrialise them.

Several techniques look ripe for such industrialisation. Dr DePinho sets great store, for example, by the use of genetically modified mice (he calls them “little patients”) in which mutations found in human cancers can be replicated precisely, but one at a time, to discover the shape of each piece of the jigsaw. If this process can be scaled up it will, as he puts it, allow cancer’s genetic generals to be distinguished from the foot soldiers.

Another field that has great potential is imaging technology—in particular, a combination of positron-emission tomography (which uses radioactive sugar to measure how metabolically active tissue is) and computerised tomography (which uses X-rays to map the body’s internal anatomy). Together these can show whether a treatment is reducing a cancer’s energy consumption, and thus its metabolism. This gives a good indication of how well that treatment is working.

A family business

Dr DePinho himself will have more duties at MD Anderson than just dealing with the five chosen tumours. The donkey work of creating the Institute for Applied Cancer Science, as the new mission control is to be known, will be done by Lynda Chin. Dr Chin, too, worked at the Belfer Institute. She is part of the International Scientific Steering Committee of the cancer-genome project. And she is also Dr DePinho’s wife. Dr Chin will be assisted by some 55 other scientists from the Belfer, who are making the journey to Texas with her and her husband. That sort of team poaching is common in investment banking but rarer in academic research. Dr DePinho refers to it, jokingly, as metastasis, since a clone of his primary creation will be taking root elsewhere in the country.

As to which five cancers to attack, that decision will be made by the middle of 2012. A crucial consideration will be how likely it looks that research into the tumour in question could get rapidly to the “proof of concept” stage—the point at which it could be taken forward by a business that relied on commercial sources of capital, rather than on the sorts of grants that usually propel academic research. At that moment a new firm might be spun out of the institute, or a deal might be done with an established pharmaceutical firm, to try to get a new drug developed.

In recent years many big drug companies have gutted their research departments. This is partly because those departments have failed to come up with new “blockbuster” drugs of the sort that created Big Pharma in the first place, and partly because the big firms’ bosses had hoped that smaller biotechnology companies, of the sort Dr DePinho has helped set up, would do the hard work of drug discovery instead, and then let themselves be bought by the big firms.

Unfortunately, it hasn’t quite worked out like that. The output of the biotech firms has been a trickle, rather than a torrent. They have been one of the worst-performing parts of the private-equity market since 2007, according to Dr DePinho. He hopes to change that—and in the matter of new anti-cancer drugs, the science is looking auspicious. For example, a drug called vemurafenib, which was approved for use in America in August 2011, gives months of extra life to people with metastasising melanoma, one of the deadliest cancers. Vemurafenib is so powerful that some people call it a “Lazarus” drug, after the chap Jesus is said to have raised from the dead.

Crucially for Dr DePinho’s project, the development of vemurafenib was stimulated by the identification of a mutated gene often present in melanomas. He and others like him hope that the cancer-genome consortium will throw up dozens of similar genes, and that they, too, will prove tractable targets for drug development.

Of course, if Dr DePinho had a penny for every time a “cure for cancer” headline proved premature, he wouldn’t need munificent donors. But if his bets on the science and on adopting business methods pay off, the drug industry and millions of patients will benefit. That would be one benign sort of metastasis.

Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong has taken part of his fortune made in the biotech game

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Posted 21 Nov 2011 — by James Street
Category Bioinformatics, Finance and Politics of cancer research and treatment, Gene sequencing, genetic research, Open Source Drug Discovery, Research Centers

Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong has taken part of his fortune made in the biotech game–via multibillion-dollar sales of his companies Abraxis and APP Pharmaceuticals–and spent it on a high-speed rail of sorts to transport genomic data among researchers and medical care facilities around the U.S. The initial focus of the previously announced Chan Soon-Shiong Institute for Advanced Health (CSS Institute) will be supporting cancer research, Gigaom reported.

Soon-Shiong and his wife Michele Chan formed CSS Institute earlier this year. The billionaire’s nonprofit has a supercomputer housed in Arizona for genomic data analysis and two data centers in the state. He’s also taken financial responsibility of and the chairman role at the National LambdaRail (NLR), the 12,000-mile fiber-optic network that enables high-speed data transfers of 100 gigabits per second among hundreds of researchers, physicians and hospitals in the U.S., Gigaom reported. The CSS Institute’s supercomputer and data centers have been linked to the NLR, with genomic sequencing hubs around the country expected to follow.

Sequencing an entire genome has become relatively cheap, costing in the ballpark of $5,000 per genome. Yet there are about 500GB of data in each genome, according to the Gigaom report, and now groups have begun projects that involve sequencing many genomes, and sharing the huge amounts of data generated from those projects among collaborators requires IT infrastructure that is equal to the task. Enter Soon-Shiong’s nonprofit and the fiber-optic network he’s bankrolling. Suddenly, sharing mountains of data, including those from sequencing and imaging tissue, start to sound manageable.

An important aspect of the CSS Institute’s work is to streamline the translation of scientific discoveries into new therapies. As Soon-Shiong adviser Bob Peirce tells Gigaom, it takes an average of 17 years for research discoveries to mature into treatments for patients. For all the advances in genomics over the past decade, the development of new drugs remains a long and tricky process. Cancer treatment has shown signs of speeding up due to genetic findings that help match patients with treatments, and the oncology field is expected to be the initial focus of the CSS Institute.

National Cancer Institute establishes $11.3 million center at Case Western Reserve

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Posted 17 Sep 2011 — by James Street
Category Gastrointestinal, Research Centers

Prestigious research excellence grant to advance treatment of gastrointestinal cancers

The National Cancer Institute has awarded $11.3 million to Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine to establish a center of excellence for research on gastrointestinal cancers. The funding designates the university as a Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) in Gastrointestinal (GI) Cancers – recognition extended to just one institution this year. University Hospitals Case Medical Center is the primary affiliate of Case Western Reserve and is collaborating with the School of Medicine on a portion of the comprehensive program.

“This grant reflects the culmination of decades of remarkable research efforts that have advanced our understanding of some of the most devastating and challenging forms of cancer,” Case Western Reserve President Barbara R. Snyder said. “We are proud of that progress and profoundly hopeful for future breakthroughs.”

This award recognizes extraordinary achievements and potential of the School of Medicine’s programs in gastrointestinal malignancies. Case Western Reserve will join an elite group of six other institutions nationwide that hold a SPORE in gastrointestinal cancers. Others include Harvard and Johns Hopkins University. The new funding will be used to build on Case Western Reserve researchers’ existing discoveries and push them forward to provide more effective modes of detection, treatment and prevention for patients.

The Case Western Reserve SPORE will focus on translational research aimed at reducing the incidence and deaths from colon cancers and from cancers of the esophagus The SPORE will also develop new approaches for treatment and prevention of adenomatous colon polyps that can develop into colon cancers, and for Barrett’s esophagus, that can develop into esophageal cancer. Colon cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer death in the United States, and cancers of the esophagus are (along with melanomas) the most rapidly increasing cause of cancer deaths in the United States.

“We believe passionately in the importance of bench-to-bedside research – that is, to ensure discoveries made in laboratories effectively reach the patients who need them most,” said Pamela B. Davis, MD, PhD, Dean of the School of Medicine and Vice President for Medical Affairs, Case Western Reserve University. “This award aligns directly with that approach, and the work it funds ultimately will change lives.”

The SPORE studies will develop new tests to identify persons susceptible to GI cancers; new methods to prevent these cancers; new treatments for these cancers; and clinical trials to apply these advances directly to patients.

SPORE studies will benefit the large population of individuals that are affected by GI cancers. They will also work with high risk groups that may not be screened for colon cancers, to develop easy-to-access screening tests. This will include African-Americans, a population highly vulnerable to colon cancer. Since early detection saves lives, this advance will have significant impact on individuals most at risk.

The SPORE will be directed by Dr. Sanford Markowitz, the Dr. Sanford Markowitz/Frances Wragg Ingalls Professor of Cancer Genetics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and a medical oncologist at University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center. The SPORE is co-directed by Dr. Nathan Berger, the Hanna-Payne Professor of Experimental Medicine at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, and a hematologist-oncologist at the Seidman Cancer Center. Drs. Markowitz and Berger will lead the SPORE team of 15 doctors and scientists, 11 from the School of Medicine, and its principal affiliate, University Hospitals Case Medical Center, and three from Cleveland Clinic. The Cleveland team is also joined by Dr. James K. V. Willson, Director of Simmons Cancer Center at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, and by Dr. Willson’s Dallas-based team of investigators.

“I am honored to lead the outstanding team of physicians and scientists who have joined in the SPORE,” said Dr. Markowitz. “Our SPORE trials will be conducted here in Cleveland, and members of our community will be among the first to be able to benefit from the work.”

“As the first SPORE to be awarded to the institution, this is a significant advance,” said Dr. Stan Gerson, Asa and Patricia Shiverick- Jane Shiverick (Tripp) Professor of Hematological Oncology and director of the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Seidman Cancer Center at University Hospitals Case Medical Center. “The grant validates our priority to develop strong, coordinated and integrated cross-disciplinary teams to investigate and treat complex cancers. This reflects our approach to all of the major cancers.”

Main SPORE research studies include:

  • Developing new drugs for preventing colon cancer.
  • Developing new tests to identify individuals at risk of developing colon cancer.
  • A clinical trial at the Seidman Cancer Center of a non-invasive stool DNA test for early detection of colon tumors.
  • Developing new tests to distinguish colon cancers that can be cured by surgery alone from those that require further treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation.
  • Identifying the causes of the increased death rate from colon cancer among African-American men and women, with the aim of developing better treatments for these cancers.
  • Identifying genes that cause certain families to be vulnerable to cancer of the esophagus and/or the potentially precancerous disease known as Barrett’s esophagus.

SPORE Researchers Include:

  • Sanford Markowitz, MD, PhD, the Dr. Sanford Markowitz/Frances Wragg Ingalls Professor of Cancer Genetics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and medical oncologist at University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center, SPORE Director.
  • Nathan Berger, MD, the Hanna-Payne Professor of Experimental Medicine and University Distinguished Professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, and hematologist-oncologist at University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center, SPORE Co-director.
  • Joseph E. Willis, MD, Associate Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Pathology, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and University Hospitals Case Medical Center.
  • Li Li, MD, PhD, Associate Director for Prevention Research, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and University Hospitals Case Medical Center; Associate Professor of Family Medicine, Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.
  • Gregory Cooper, MD, Professor of Medicine, Oncology and Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Division of Gastroenterology, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and University Hospitals Case Medical Center.
  • Zhenghe Wang, PhD, Assistant Professor of Genetics, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.
  • Amitabh Chak, MD, Professor of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and gastroenterologist at University Hospitals Case Medical Center.
  • Robert Elston, PhD, Amasa B. Ford and University Distinguished Professor and Chair, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.
  • Martina Veigl, PhD, Associate Professor in the Division of General Medical Sciences, Biochemistry and Environmental Health Sciences, Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.
  • Jill Barnholtz-Sloan, PhD, Associate Professor in the Division of General Medical Sciences and Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.
  • Janet A. Houghton PhD, Chair, Department of Cancer Biology, Betsy B DeWindt Endowed Chair for Cancer Research, Lerner Research Institute Cleveland Clinic.
  • John Goldblum, MD, Chair, Anatomic Pathology, Cleveland Clinic Professor of Pathology, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine.
  • Ian Lavery, MD, FACS, Digestive Disease Institute, Department of Colorectal Surgery, Cleveland Clinic.
  • Neal J. Meropol, MD, Professor of Medicine, Chief, Division of Hematology and Oncology at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and University Hospitals Case Medical Center, Associate Director for Clinical Research, Case Comprehensive Cancer Center.
  • James K. V. Willson, MD, Director of Simmons Cancer Center at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

SPORE Research Details:

Drs. Markowitz and James K. Willson discovered that the gene 15-PGDH naturally suppresses colon cancer and also regulates responses to tumor prevention with the drug Celecoxib. They lead the investigation into how individuals’ natural levels of 15-PGDH expression may make them resistant or susceptible to tumor formation, identifying individuals at particularly high risk. They will examine whether differences in the gene are integral to tumor development in men versus women, and African-Americans versus Caucasians. The researchers will also seek to develop drugs that will increase 15-PGDH levels to provide a new class of agents for colon cancer treatment and prevention.

Drs. Gregory S. Cooper and Li Li are working on a non-invasive stool DNA test for early detection of colon tumors as a way to reach people who have not undergone or cannot afford a colonoscopy. They will begin a clinical trial conducted in both suburban and city neighborhoods, with the aim of raising screening rates for medically well-served and underserved parts of the community.

Drs. Joseph E. Willis and Sanford Markowitz were part of a team that sequenced what is called the colon cancer genome, which identified 140 genes that are targets of mutations in late stage cancer. Drs. Willis and Zhenghe Wang, Assistant Professor of Genetics, now lead an effort to identify the specific mutations that distinguish cancers that metastasize and those that do not. They will also seek to identify gene mutations associated with vulnerability according to race and gender. The findings will then be used to develop tests that would enable doctors to determine whether a patient requires surgery alone or requires chemotherapy and radiation following surgery.

Drs. Amitabh Chak and Robert C. Elston lead the esophageal cancer project. They will study a group of individuals from families in which multiple individuals have developed esophageal cancers and/or Barrett’s esophagus. Using the newest generation of DNA sequencers, they will seek to identify the specific genes that cause certain individuals to become vulnerable to developing Barrett’s esophagus and esophageal cancers.

Drs. Berger, Houghton and Meropol will coordinate the SPORE Pilot Project Program to develop new research initiatives in gastrointestinal cancer. They will also coordinate a SPORE Scholars Training Program to recruit, train and retain the most outstanding physicians and scientists to the region to engage in gastrointestinal cancer research and patient care.

A community advisory board will meet with SPORE researchers on a regular basis to advise on research directions and ensure dissemination of advances in the public interest.

###

 

About Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine

Founded in 1843, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine is the largest medical research institution in Ohio and is among the nation’s top medical schools for research funding from the National Institutes of Health. The School of Medicine is recognized throughout the international medical community for outstanding achievements in teaching. The School’s innovative and pioneering Western Reserve2 curriculum interweaves four themes – research and scholarship, clinical mastery, leadership, and civic professionalism – to prepare students for the practice of evidence-based medicine in the rapidly changing health care environment of the 21st century. Nine Nobel Laureates have been affiliated with the school of medicine.

Annually, the School of Medicine trains more than 800 MD and MD/PhD students and ranks in the top 25 among U.S. research-oriented medical schools as designated by the U.S. News & World Report “Guide to Graduate Education.”

The School of Medicine’s primary affiliate is University Hospitals Case Medical Center and is additionally affiliated with MetroHealth Medical Center, the Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and the Cleveland Clinic, with which it established the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University in 2002. http://casemed.case.edu.

Dendreon Corporation CEO Mitchell H. Gold to Receive 2011 Grace Award from Cancer Research Institute

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Posted 17 Aug 2011 — by James Street
Category Finance and Politics of cancer research and treatment, Immune System, Research Centers, Vaccine
Released: 8/17/2011 2:00 PM EDT
Source: Cancer Research Institute

CRI to Honor Gold’s Leadership in Advancing First FDA-Approved Therapeutic Cancer Vaccine

Newswise — The Cancer Research Institute, Inc. (CRI), a U.S. nonprofit organization established in 1953 to advance the science of tumor immunology and drive the discovery of new cancer immunotherapies, announced today that Mitchell H. Gold, M.D., president and chief executive officer of the Seattle biotech company Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN), will receive the 2011 Oliver R. Grace Award for Distinguished Service in Advancing Cancer Research. This annual award recognizes the contributions of exceptionally dedicated individuals whose leadership has had significant impact on medical research, patient care, or public education.

“The April 2010 FDA approval of sipuleucel-T active cellular immunotherapy, or Provenge®, to treat prostate cancer patients with advanced disease marked a historic milestone for tumor immunotherapy,” says Jill O’Donnell-Tormey, Ph.D., chief executive officer and director of scientific affairs at CRI. “As the first therapeutic cancer vaccine to receive FDA approval, sipuleucel-T not only represents a significant advance in bringing a new class of immune system-based treatments to cancer patients, but also has helped provide a developmental roadmap for other promising cancer immunotherapies now in clinical trials that we expect will lead to more approvals in the near future.”

As president and CEO of Dendreon Corporation, Dr. Gold provided critical leadership and vision to the company as it sought to bring sipuleucel-T to market. Despite setbacks, the company succeeded where others had failed before, clearing key regulatory hurdles and surviving unanticipated delays in the approval process. The company also captured the support of patient advocates and the prostate cancer patient community, many of whom looked to Dendreon for hope in the face of few to no other treatment options.

“I am humbled by this honor, and am committed to continuing to change the way that cancer is treated,” says Dr. Gold. “The fight against cancer is a personal one, and it’s one that I know we can win, through advancements such as cancer immunotherapy. Now is the time that we must double down on our efforts to finish what we started 40 years ago in the war against cancer.”

Dr. Gold will receive the Grace Award at an evening gala hosted by the Cancer Research Institute on October 3, 2011, at 583 Park Avenue in New York City.

CRI will also present a 2011 Grace Award to Hollywood producer and cancer advocate Laura Ziskin, whose commitment to cancer awareness, research, and immunotherapy and passion for helping cancer patients find new hope inspired her leadership of the widely televised Stand Up To Cancer entertainment industry campaign. Ziskin, who died from breast cancer earlier this year, will receive the award posthumously at the CRI dinner.

The dinner will also include the presentations of the 2011 William B. Coley Award for Distinguished Research in Basic and Tumor Immunology and the 2011 Frederick W. Alt Award for New Discoveries in Immunology. The Coley Award honors one or more scientists for outstanding achievements in the field of basic immunology and cancer immunology, and the Alt Award is presented annually to a former postdoctoral fellow of the Cancer Research Institute in recognition of outstanding success in academia or industry for research that may have a potentially major impact on immunology. CRI has not yet announced this year’s Coley and Alt Award winners.

More information about the event and the honorees will be made available on the Cancer Research Institute website at http://cancerresearch.org/events/awards-dinner-2011.

Media Contact:
Brian Brewer, Director of Marketing & Communications, Cancer Research Institute
(212) 688-7515, ext. 242 or bbrewer@cancerresearch.org

Event Contact:
Lynne Harmer, Director of Special Events, Cancer Research Institute
(212) 688-7515, ext. 238 or events@cancerresearch.org

About the Oliver R. Grace Award for Distinguished Service in Advancing Cancer Research
This award, established in 1995, recognizes the contributions of dedicated laypersons whose leadership has had a significant impact on cancer research. The award is named in memory of the late Oliver R. Grace, founding chairman of the Cancer Research Institute, whose vision, wisdom, and generosity benefited the Institute for nearly 40 years. Former Grace Award winners include, among other champions of cancer research: American fashion designer Michael Kors (2010); Andrew Witty (2010), CEO of GlaxoSmithKline; Fred Hassan (2009), chairman and CEO of Schering-Plough Corporation; Wade F.B. Thompson (2007), chairman, CEO, and co-founder of Thor Industries; Julian H. Robertson Jr. (2006), chairman, Tiger Management LLC; Katie Couric (2002), anchor of CBS Evening News; and Andrea Jung (2001), chief executive officer, Avon Products, Inc. To view a complete list of Grace Award recipients, go to http://www.cancerresearch.org/programs/annual-awards/oliver-grace.html.

About the Cancer Research Institute
The Cancer Research Institute (CRI), established in 1953, is the world’s only nonprofit organization dedicated exclusively to transforming cancer patient care by advancing scientific efforts to develop new and effective immune system-based strategies to treat, control, and prevent cancer. Guided by a world-renowned Scientific Advisory Council that includes three Nobel laureates and thirty-one members of the National Academy of Sciences, CRI has invested more than $200 million in support of research conducted by immunologists and tumor immunologists at the world’s leading medical centers and universities, and has contributed to many of the key scientific advances that demonstrate the potential for immunotherapy to change the face of cancer treatment.

To accelerate the pace of progress in the field, CRI convenes and coordinates global collaborations among academics, industry scientists and decision makers, regulatory representatives, and health research associations focused on discovery, development, and refinement of new cancer immunotherapies. A founding visionary and scientific leader in tumor immunology, CRI is helping to shape the emerging field of immuno-oncology, and is ushering in a new era of medical progress to bring more treatment options to cancer patients sooner.

The Cancer Research Institute has one of the lowest overhead expense ratios among nonprofit organizations, with more than 85 percent of its resources going directly to the support of its science, medical, and research programs. CRI meets or exceeds all 20 standards of the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance, the most comprehensive U.S. charity evaluation service, and has earned the GuideStar Exchange Seal, indicating our commitment to the transparency of our organizational information to donors, funders, those we serve, the public, and regulators. CRI has also received an ‘A’ grade for fiscal disclosure and efficiency from the American Institute of Philanthropy, as well as top accolades from other charity watchdog organizations. For more information, visit http://www.cancerresearch.org.

Let’s protect cancer research funds

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Posted 02 May 2011 — by James Street
Category Finance and Politics of cancer research and treatment, Research Centers

By MARK CLANTON, M.D. and JOHN MENDELSOHN, M.D.
HOUSTON CHRONICLE

May 1, 2011, 9:24PM

We are making unprecedented progress that is changing the way we prevent and treat cancer in this country, thanks in no small part to federal investments in cancer research.

Since the mid-1970s, five-year survival rates for all cancers have improved from 50 percent to 68 percent. Cancer incidence and mortality rates have been declining since 1991. Much of this progress can be attributed to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) providing long-term funding required to deliver innovative research from the laboratory to the clinic and the patient. The federal dollars directly support the cutting-edge research taking place at universities and cancer centers across the country, including The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

Medical research on treatments and potential cures is a marathon, not a sprint — countless small discoveries are often required before big breakthroughs can be achieved. The necessary funding to reach research’s highest potential must be sustained over long periods of time. On average, it takes more than a decade to bring a new drug or treatment from the lab to a doctor’s office for patient use. We celebrate incremental successes that improve early detection, prolong survival, make treatment more targeted and less toxic and, sometimes, cure or make cancer something to live with rather than die from.

Recent investments have created new opportunities in research, spurring innovation in areas such as genetics, immunotherapy and personalized medicine that will yield long-term benefits.

Dr. Patrick Hwu, chair of the Melanoma Medical Oncology Department at M.D. Anderson, is leading vaccine studies to treat advanced melanoma. Over the past decade, he and his team have been working to use the body’s own defense system to attack tumor cells and provide a mechanism for ridding the body of cancer without destroying healthy tissue.

Recent efforts have led to one of the first positive, randomized vaccine trials in cancer and the findings represent a significant step forward for treatment of advanced melanoma. Promising clinical trials like this one might ultimately be applied to other cancers and could make an enormous contribution to the overall fight against the disease. But much more research is needed, including long-term follow-up of clinical trial participants that can only be continued if NIH funding levels are sustained or increased.

Federal funding for projects like this melanoma vaccine has a dramatic impact on local communities. Nearly 85 percent of the money appropriated to NIH by Congress each year goes directly to fund research in all 50 states. In 2010, Texas received more than $1 billion in federal funding for research and more than 2,600 research grants from NIH. M.D. Anderson relied on more than $200 million in federal research grants and contracts last year.

Knowledge gained through research discoveries at the cancer center translates into social benefits such as improved treatments and economic effects that have an overall impact on the U.S. economy of $20.1 billion in annual spending and more than 112,500 jobs.

We must continue to capitalize on investments in local research projects that have resulted in the dramatic progress we have seen during the past 40 years against cancer.

It is our hope that Congress sustains the ongoing investments in cancer research. It is only with a comprehensive approach to the fight against cancer – preventing what we can and committing to find screening tools and treatments for the cancers for which we don’t have answers – that we will be able to one day eliminate suffering from this disease.

Clanton is chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, High Plains Division. Mendelsohn is president of The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Huntsmans give another $41 million to Huntsman Cancer Institute; donation fills patient with hope

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Posted 23 Apr 2011 — by James Street
Category Finance and Politics of cancer research and treatment, Foundations, genetic research, Human osteosarcoma research, Osteosarcoma Treatment Centers, Research Centers
Published: Friday, April 22, 2011 12:09 a.m. MDT

SALT LAKE CITY — Jon M. and Karen Huntsman gave $41 million in their fight against cancer on Thursday.

The latest donation to the Huntsman Cancer Institute comes on top of $300 million the couple has given to the institute since its founding in 1995.

“Except for my family and faith, there is no cause more important to me than fighting cancer,” Huntsman said in a statement Thursday. “I have committed the rest of my life to doing all I can to support clinical and research efforts to eliminate this disease.”

It’s a message that fills 26-year-old Daniel Hedlund with hope. He’s undergoing treatment of osteosarcoma at the institute. This is the cancer’s second return since his diagnosis three years ago.

“I think of all the good that money will do. Holy cow, how many more people can be treated? How many more research trials can be run because of this one man?” he said.

Hedlund was diagnosed three weeks after his marriage to his wife Melanie. All told, he’s spent 103 nights in the cancer hospital. “My wife’s been at my side for every one of them.”

The beauty of the Huntsman Cancer Institute, he said, is that it provides the latest advances in cancer treatment in an environment that nurtures the body and spirit.

After Hedlund’s diagnosis at age 23, he went to the Huntsman Cancer Institute for a second opinion. “As soon as we were there, we knew it was where I needed to be,” he said.

The institute has a unit that specializes in the treatment of sarcoma, which is a cancer of the bone and soft tissue.

It also has beautifully appointed patient rooms and provides meals in a room service type arrangement. “When you’re taking chemo, your stomach is fickle. Something that sounds good might not sound good in 10 minutes. Jon Huntsman understands that. He caters to that aspect of cancer.”

Much of the money the Huntsmans have contributed to fighting cancer has been invested in the cancer institute and hospital. But the family has also committed resources to hire — and retain — some of the nation’s top researchers and clinicians. Considerable resources have also been devoted to genetic research programs as well as educational and wellness programs for patients.

The HCI has been designated as a National Cancer Institute, meaning it meets the highest standards for cancer care and research. It is also a member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, a nonprofit alliance of the world’s leading cancer centers.

Hedlund counts Huntsman, a cancer survivor himself, as a hero.

Hedlund recently underwent another round of chemotherapy. He said he knows his odds of survival fall each time the cancer reoccurs but he’s undaunted by statistics.

“Statistics don’t take into account my determination. They don’t take into account my faith. They don’t take into account my will to live. That’s a completely different story,” he said.

When giving the inaugural gift of $10 million to form the cancer institute back in 1993, Huntsman said, “We view this gift as but a down payment to the end objective of whipping this dreaded disease.”

Huntsman has made good on that promise, something that buoys Hedlund’s optimism for the future.

“It gives me hope. It increases the odds they’ll find a cure one day,” he said. “Even if they don’t find a cure, it increases the quality of care I receive right now.”

Huntsman Cancer Institute Milestones

1993: Jon M. and Karen Huntsman donate $10 million to the University of Utah to establish a cancer institute.

1994: HCI receives custodianship of the Utah Population Database, a resource for biomedical researchers that contains health and vital statistics records from several generations of Utah families.

A High Risk Breast Cancer Clinic is established to conduct research into genetic causes of breast cancer.

1995: The Huntsman family pledges $100 million to construct a state-of-the-art cancer center.

1996: HCI breaks ground for a new 231,118-square-foot research, treatment, and education facility.

1997: HCI joins the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, a not-for-profit alliance of the world’s leading cancer centers.

Familial Colon Cancer Clinic established to research genetic causes and inheritance patterns of colon cancer.

1999: HCI building is dedicated; Patient Care Center opens.

2000: Jon M. Huntsman pledges $125 million to fund cancer research and construct the Huntsman Cancer Hospital.

2001: Special Populations Outreach to minority communities established.

Familial Melanoma Research Clinic established to conduct research into genetic causes and inheritance patterns of skin cancer.

2002: Sarcoma Array Research Consortium established to study molecular genetics of rare soft tissue and bone tumors.

Familial Pancreatic Cancer Registry opens, aiming to discover a genetic cause of pancreatic cancer.

2003: National Cancer Institute awards HCI $12.5 million grant to identify colon cancer genes.

2004: Huntsman Cancer Hospital opens, featuring first full-field digital mammography unit, first PET/CT imaging unit, and first facial prosthetics lab in the Intermountain West.

2005: HCI and Intermountain Healthcare join forces to create the Huntsman-Intermountain Cancer Care Program, opening research opportunities to advance cancer care.

2006: Cancer Clinical Research Database established.

2007: Cancer Center member Mario Capecchi, PhD., wins Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for gene targeting research.

Utah Blood and Marrow Transplant and Myeloma Program opens, combining clinical research with patient care to offer a unique and promising approach to the treatment of multiple myeloma.

2008: Major hospital expansion begins.

HCI and Intermountain Healthcare Cancer Services announce research alliance that links records found in the Utah Population Database to IHC medical records.

2009: Jon M. and Karen Huntsman establish five Presidential Professorships in Cancer Research to commemorate HCI’s 10th anniversary.

2010: The National Cancer Institute renews HCI’s designation as a Cancer Center; the only such designation in the Intermountain West.

HCI is awarded $12.2 million to identify and test new ways to prevent, detect and treat colon cancer.

2011: Pediatric Late Effects Clinic established, the first in the Intermountain West to treat adult survivors of childhood cancer.

Huntsman Cancer Hospital Expansion opens.

Source: Huntsman Cancer Institute

Email: marjorie@desnews.com

Cancer research takes center stage at MIT symposium

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Posted 18 Mar 2011 — by James Street
Category Finance and Politics of cancer research and treatment, Foundations, General Cancer Research, Human osteosarcoma research, Mathematical and Physical Modelling, NanoTechnology, Osteosarcoma, Politics and Finance of Child Cancer research, Research Centers

Thursday, March 17, 2011

By Lori Valigra, Mass High Tech correspondent

 

Cooperative nanoparticles, vaccines, and targeted “cancer bomb” therapies were among the research discussed at a cancer symposium at MIT Wednesday that focused on conquering cancer by converging science and engineering.

“There are still major things we don’t know about cancer,” said Phillip Sharp, an institute professor in the new David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT, which opened in 2010 and was dedicated on March 4 of this year.

The new Koch institute, according to MIT President Susan Hockfield, has 27 faculty labs with 100 undergraduate, 150 graduate, and 150 postdoc students. The cancer symposium was the second of six such events celebrating MIT’s 150th anniversary.

Sharp and other speakers talked about the difficulty of tackling cancer, which can spread rapidly — such metastasis are responsible for about 90 percent of cancer deaths — and that can become resistant to treatment, which is difficult to get into the cancer cells in the first place.

“Worldwide, about two-thirds of cancer deaths are preventable, theoretically, and a significant percentage are manageable or curable,” said Nancy Hopkins, biology professor at MIT and also with the Koch center. She pointed to vaccines that are coming along and could prevent upwards of 90 percent of cervical cancer and eliminate the need for pap smears. Cancer research has come a long way since President Richard Nixon declared the war on cancer in 1971, she said. “We are chipping away at it effectively,” said Hopkins, herself a cancer survivor, but “the discoveries we’ve made need to be exploited better.” This can be done by bringing engineers into biological research projects.

Douglas Lauffenberger, head of MIT’s biological engineering department, said advances can be made with a new type of engineering — biological engineering — that thinks about biology as molecular circuits and systems. He pointed to Cambridge-based Merrimack Pharmaceuticals Inc., where he sits on the scientific advisory board, as a “poster child” for the fusion of engineering and biology. The company’s lead product, MM-121, is currently in Phase 1 clinical trials for treating oncology patients.

“Biology is a different type of science than physics or chemistry, which have laws and known variables. The variables aren’t known in biology, so it’s hard to develop a preventative engineering model. It’s a brand new type of thinking,” Lauffenberger said.

One engineer with a long track record in biological research is Robert Langer, Koch member and professor of chemical and biological engineering at MIT. Langer began his work in the lab of Judah Folkman, noted for his research on stopping angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels that spreads cancer.

“Folkman thought if you could stop angiogenesis, maybe you could stop a tumor,” said Langer. They initially worked with cartilage they got from a meat packer in South Boston but later changed to the rabbit eye and isolated the first angiogenesis inhibitor in 1976, and described it in a paper in Science magazine that year. It wasn’t till about 20 years later that the first angiogenesis inhibitor drug was approved — Avastin, for colorectal cancer, in 2004, he said.

Langer subsequently formed his own lab, from which dozens of startup companies have sprung, including Cambridge-based Bind Biosciences Inc., started in 2007 with backing from Flagship Ventures, Polaris Venture Partners, ARCH Venture Partners, NanoDimension and DHK Investment. The company targets cancer drugs to tumor cells to improve the efficacy of chemotherapy and reduce its side effects. It uses engineered nanoparticles to deliver drugs to specific cancer cells. Langer said the company started its first clinical trials this January of its lead compound BIND-014.

Another approach uses two cooperative nanoparticles that communicate, one binding to the tumor and the other carrying a payload of therapy in an effort to deliver more drug to molecular “zip codes” or peptide sequences, said Sangeeta Bhatia, MIT professor and director of the Laboratory for Multiscale Regenerative Technologies.

“Most cancer drugs are poisons with side effects, and less than 1 percent of them are absorbed,” she said. “So we can use nanotechnology to decrease the side effects and get more drug into the tumor.”

Asked if there has been a game-changing technology, Langer related a story told by David Koch at the opening of his institute. Koch said that as a young man he went to the Kentucky Derby and wanted to win, said Langer, so he bet on every horse to win. “I think that’s a good approach to cancer,” said Langer.

New cancer research centre opens in Oxford

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Posted 15 Mar 2011 — by James Street
Category General Cancer Research, Research Centers

15 March 2011 Last updated at 06:03 ET

A new cancer centre has opened in Oxford to bring together the city’s different research institutions.

The building on Roosevelt Drive is part of a network of 16 units across the country funded by Cancer Research UK.

This centre, which will link the University of Oxford, Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust and the charity, will cost £2.8m in the first year.

A university spokesman said the centre will train the next generation of world-leaders in cancer detection.

Michael Kinane, 70, from Bicester, was diagnosed in September 2010 with bowel cancer which had spread to the liver.

He said: “I’ve been lucky to benefit from the excellent research which already takes place in Oxford and it’s good to know that this will become even better with the new centre.”

New Study Details Increasing Cost Of Cancer In Texas And Economic Impact Of Texas’ Cancer Prevention And Research Institute

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Posted 03 Mar 2011 — by James Street
Category Finance and Politics of cancer research and treatment, Foundations, Politics and Finance of Child Cancer research, Research Centers

24 Feb 2011

A new report recently released by the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) confirms the devastating effects of the cost of cancer in the state of Texas. Annual direct medical costs and the costs of morbidity and mortality losses associated with cancer in Texas now total $25.3 billion, a 15.8% increase since 2007. In contrast to this spiraling increase, the report also estimates that CPRIT-funded programs in cancer research and prevention in the state have a total economic impact in Texas of $852.3 million in output.

“None of us are surprised by these findings. Unfortunately, cancer affects the lives of more and more Texans each year. This report confirms that the state of Texas is attacking this unrelenting disease head-on – by funding research and prevention efforts to eradicate cancer in our lifetime,” stated Jimmy Mansour, chairman of CPRIT’s governing board.

The report, prepared by The Perryman Group, also points out that funds expended for CPRIT operations and programs are estimated to generate $265.6 million in annual state revenue, as well as $169.7 million in annual revenue to various local governments. These gains, though focused specifically on business activity through CPRIT investments, might be just the beginning. Research could lead to better prevention, diagnoses and treatments that lessen the cost of cancer and yield spinoff companies.

“Once again, Texas leads the country in its commitment to defeating cancer,” said CPRIT Executive Director Bill Gimson. “We are saving lives, preventing cancer cases and bring a return back to our state.”

Texas voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment in 2007 establishing the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) and dedicating up to $3 billion to invest in groundbreaking cancer research and prevention programs and services in Texas. CPRIT’s mission is to expedite innovation and commercialization in the area of cancer research and to enhance access to evidence-based prevention programs and services throughout the state. CPRIT accepts applications and awards grants for a wide variety of cancer-related research and for the delivery of cancer prevention programs and services by public and private entities located in Texas.

Source:
Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT)

Article URL: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/217328.php

Main News Category: Cancer / Oncology

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