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MD Anderson Cancer Center Receives $ 22.3 Million for Cancer Research
The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas ( CPRIT ) awarded the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center $ 22.3 million to support cancer research . The awards include $ 16.3 million for individual , investigator-initiated research , including work in the fields of pediatric cancer , computational biology , clinical translation , and prevention and early detection . The remaining funds will support recruitment efforts and an award recognizing work in the prevention of colorectal cancer .
The investigators receiving this funding are studying cancer biology , genetics , epidemiology , and approaches to treatment , including inhibiting oxidative phosphorylation in leukemia .
Source : The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center news release , February 21 , 2018 .
Stand Up To Cancer Funds Research Into Artificial Intelligence and Immunotherapy
Stand Up To Cancer ( SU2C ) announced a “ Convergence 2.0 ” research initiative that is awarding $ 11 million to seven multidisciplinary research teams that are investigating the use of artificial intelligence to further their immunotherapy research .
The program is supported in part by Microsoft , and each team will have access to the company ’ s experts in machine learning and artificial intelligence . This will allow SU2C researchers to use multiple data sets , including information on the patient ’ s genome , imaging studies , and medical and medication records to study the immune system ’ s response to cancer . These data will then be analyzed to identify factors such as DNA mismatch repair , tumor-specific proteins , cytokine function , and natural killer cells that may affect how a patient ’ s disease responds to treatment .
Each research team will be comprised of experts in life sciences , physical sciences , mathematics , and engineering .
“ Our first convergence research cohort , announced in 2016 , established the effectiveness of a broad multidisciplinary approach for creating models for how cancer grows and reacts to treatment ,” said Arnold J . Levine , PhD , chair of the SU2C Convergence Initiative , co-vice chairman of the SU2C Scientific Advisory Committee , and professor emeritus of the Institute for Advanced Study . “ Through the collaboration with Microsoft and using well characterized , de-identified patient data , we will look at how individuals vary in their immune responses to an array of therapies .”
Source : Stand Up To Cancer press release , January 30 , 2018 .
Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation Announces Newest Research Fellow Recipients
The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation named 15 new Damon Runyon Fellows ; the recipients of this four-year award are post-doctoral scientists conducting basic and translational cancer research in the labs of leading senior investigators in the U . S . The Fellowship encourages young scientists to pursue careers in cancer research by providing $ 231,000 in project funding .
This year ’ s fellows who are working within hematologic malignancies include :
Aleksey Chudnovskiy , PhD
Aleksey Chudnovskiy , PhD , with his sponsor Gabriel D . Victora , PhD , at The Rockefeller University , is studying “ antigen presentation ,” where a heterogeneous group of immune cells mediate the cellular immune response by processing and presenting antigens for recognition by certain lymphocytes such as T cells . This work aims to help develop successful immunotherapies .
Christopher P . Lapointe , PhD
gene expression .
Christopher P . Lapointe , PhD , with his sponsor Joseph Puglisi , PhD , at Stanford University School of Medicine , is studying how regulation that originates at the “ tail ” end of a messenger RNA affects the start of translation . He hopes to reveal and analyze underlying pathways to control
Esen Sefik , PhD , with her sponsor Richard A . Flavell , PhD , at Yale University , is examining the connection between obesity , cancer , and the microbiome . She will analyze how a high-fat diet and
Esen Sefik , PhD obesity-associated intestinal bacteria change intestinal immunity in mice with the human immune system and microbiota .
Christina M . Termini , PhD , with her sponsor John P . Chute , MD , at the University of California , Los Angeles , is studying how pretransplant radiation affects stem cell repopulation following hematopoietic cell transplantation .
Christina M . Termini , PhD
She hopes to identify molecular targets that can be used to accelerate patient recovery following transplantation .
Linda T . Vo , PhD , with her sponsor Jeff A . Bluestone , PhD , at the University of California , San Francisco , is studying T cell – based cancer immunotherapy as a transformative therapeutic approach .
Linda T . Vo , PhD Pluripotent stem cells ( PSCs ) have the capacity to generate any cell
type and may be clinically useful , and , using a novel strategy to promote the continuous generation of T-cell progenitors from PSCs , Dr . Vo will engineer
T cells with improved tumor-recognition capability from stem cells .
Jing Lin Xie , PhD , with her sponsor Daniel F . Jarosz , PhD , at Stanford University , is focused on uncovering mutation-independent mechanisms of drug resistance in cancer . Her goal is to identify
Jing Lin Xie , PhD and characterize the heritable “ molecular memories ” that can
confer a fitness advantage during future exposure to chemotherapeutics and other stresses .
The Foundation also named six new recipients of the Damon Runyon-Dale F . Frey Award for Breakthrough Scientists , which provides additional funding to those completing a Damon Runyon Fellowship Award who have been deemed most likely to make paradigm-shifting breakthroughs that transform the prevention , diagnosis , and treatment of cancer . Each awardee receives $ 100,000 to be used toward their research . The recipients who are working within hematologic malignancies include :
Liron Bar-Peled , PhD , Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla , California Dr . Bar-Peled ’ s research focuses on understanding how cells sense and respond to specific changes
Liron Bar-Peled , PhD in their environment by activating singling pathways that lead to
uncontrolled growth .
Matthew P . Miller , PhD , University of Washington in Seattle Dr . Miller is investigating how cells ensure the correct partitioning of genetic material during cell division . His research is focused
Matthew P . Miller , PhD on elucidating the mechanisms of both accurate and defective chromosome segregation .
Shruti Naik , PhD , The Rockefeller University in New York Dr . Naik is investigating the interaction among the immune system , microbes , and adult skin tissue stem cells . Her goal is to
Shruti Naik , PhD understand how inflammatory signals provide adult stem cells
with rapid , sensitive , and context-specific information , and how this process can potentially predispose stem cells to cancer .
Neel H . Shah , PhD
Neel H . Shah , PhD , University of California , Berkeley Dr . Shah seeks to identify new activities and modes of regulation that distinguish oncogenic and non-oncogenic tyrosine kinases , with the goal of identifying more specific drug targets . ●
Source : Damon Runyon Foundation press release , February 5 , 2018 .
18 ASH Clinical News May 2018