Former Damon Runyon Fellow Pardis Sabeti, PhD, has been called one of the “top 100 living geniuses” for her unique approach to genetics and evolution. Adding to her accolades, Pardis was named a 2011 PopTech Science Fellow after being nominated by Damon Runyon Chief Scientific Officer Yung Lie, PhD. The PopTech program trains exceptional young scientists to become more effective at communicating their research to the public and to colleagues in other fields.

> Read the whole post: “Turning Exceptional Scientists into Exceptional Communicators”

In May, former Damon Runyon Fellow and current Board Member Elaine V. Fuchs, PhD, will receive the nation’s largest award in medicine and science, the $500,000 Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research.

Elaine, along with two co-recipients, has been a world leader in the study of stem cells, laying the groundwork for a field of research that is transforming the way diseases like cancer, diabetes, and Parkinson’s are approached.

> Read the whole post: Largest Award in Medicine & Science Goes to Former Fellow

Elaine V. Fuchs, PhD, a former Damon Runyon Fellow and current Board Member, was recently named president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research.  She sat down last week with The New York Times for a fascinating Q & A about her research and career.  Below are a few excerpts:

Q. Over the years, what has been the discovery you are most proud of?

A. We pioneered an unconventional approach to solving the genetic basis of human disease. In the past when geneticists were researching an inherited disease — cystic fibrosis, breast cancer —they would systematically study large families where it occurred and then search the DNA to find the defective gene. Eventually, they’d identify the culprit, let’s say BRCA1. But this didn’t tell them how encoded mutant proteins contributed to a person getting breast cancer.

In the early 1990s, in my lab, we took a reverse direction by studying what the proteins did and then figuring out what diseases they caused when defective. Our first breakthrough came while we were studying a rare inherited blistering skin disorder. Because it is rare, there were no large families to study. You couldn’t use the conventional methods to identify it.

What we did was to begin by studying keratins, the major proteins of the skin. When we engineered mice to express mutant keratins, we discovered that their skin blistered. Moreover, we were able to show how the mutation caused the blistering. So the next step was to compare the skin pathology of the mice to all the known blistering skin diseases in humans. We teamed with dermatologists to study skin samples from patients. This led us to the genetic basis of this inherited blistering disorder in humans. Since, our method has become a paradigm for guiding scientists to the genetic basis of other human diseases.

> Read the whole post: Board Member Elaine Fuchs Featured in New York Times Q & A

Three years ago, Andy Rachleff, a highly-successful investor, decided that he wanted to apply a venture capitalist approach to cancer research funding.  He and his wife Debra shared the belief that the vast majority of true breakthroughs will likely come from high risk, high reward research – unlike the safe, incremental research preferred by traditional funding institutions.  Andy also believed that this research should be carried out by young investigators, because they have the creativity, drive and open-mindedness to ask new questions.  

The resulting partnership is the Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovation Award, an annual grant of $1.35 million divided between three winning ideas by early career scientists.

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We’re blogging about the key issues in cancer research today

Welcome to the Damon Runyon Blog, a place to discuss and learn about the most pressing needs for and obstacles to finding new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat all forms of cancer.  We will be addressing issues such as the proposed federal research budget, ways to accelerate innovation in cancer research and research funding gaps.  We will also be identifying promising areas of research.  We welcome your comments and feedback.

You can also keep up to date on new discoveries and progress of the cancer researchers we fund by following us on Twitter or Facebook, or by signing up online for our email newsletters.