To accelerate breakthroughs, the Damon Runyon Foundation provides today's best young scientists with funds to pursue innovative cancer research.
August 26, 2005
Chad A. Cowan, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow '02-'05) and colleagues have developed a new technique for obtaining human embryonic stem cells. The researchers were able to induce adult skin cells to become embryonic stem cells by fusing them with existing stem cells. The new technique may permit researchers to create new human embryonic stem cell lines without using human embryos.
August 22, 2005
Preet M. Chaudhary, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow '95-'98) found that a human herpesvirus 8 (HHV8) protein previously thought to help the virus evade attack by the immune system has a direct role in the development of lymphoma. He finds that the protein, called vFLIP13, activates a key pathway involved in the production of lymphocytes and its expression can cause overproduction of these cells, resulting in a tumor.
August 21, 2005
Weidong Wang, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow '93-'95) has discovered a new gene, called FANCM, that is involved in the repair of damaged DNA. Mutation of this gene is responsible for a form of the childhood disease called Fanconi anemia, which causes increased susceptibility to many types of cancer.
August 1, 2005
The Damon Runyon Foundation has announced a new partnership with Berlex, Inc., a U.S. affiliate of Schering AG, Germany (NYSE:SHR). Berlex Oncology has committed $134,000 over three years to support Don X. Nguyen, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow '05-'08). Dr. Nguyen's research focuses on breast cancer and understanding the genetic basis of its often-lethal spread (metastasis) to the lung.
Siemens Medical Solutions Pledges $1.5 Million to Accelerate Clinical Cancer Research
Gift to the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation Demonstrates Commitment to Revolutionizing Diagnosis and Treatment of Disease
Malvern, PA (July 26, 2005) — Siemens Medical Solutions has committed $1.5 million to the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation in an effort to address a major impediment in the development of new technologies and treatments for cancer — the shortage of physicians conducting innovative translational research.
As a leading diagnostic imaging and therapeutic technology provider in cancer care, Siemens sees this gift as an investment in an essential workforce that is best equipped to move discoveries from the laboratory to patients. By supporting the Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Award, Siemens demonstrates its unwavering commitment to revolutionizing the diagnosis and treatment of human disease.
“Innovation in imaging technologies has enabled researchers to gain a deeper understanding of the cancer development process and promises to deliver an increasingly detailed look at the molecular events taking place when the very first cells become cancerous,” said Thomas N. McCausland, president of Siemens Medical Solutions, USA. “Biomedical imaging of cancer patients has become essential to modern oncology practice, and its usefulness will only increase as rapidly developing technologies make their way into practice."
McCausland continued, “With the recent formation of our new molecular imaging division, Siemens has intensified its focus on detecting biological processes at these early stages of disease development, when intervention is more likely to succeed. It is this kind of cutting-edge technology that will help today’s cancer researchers find tomorrow’s treatments.”
According to the recently issued Annual Report of the President’s Cancer Panel, the group charged by President George W. Bush to ensure execution of the National Cancer Program, the dearth of translational and clinical researchers—just two percent of the physician workforce nationwide—is a major factor contributing to the bottleneck that now limits the translation of cancer-related discoveries to patients. Young physicians who would like to pursue careers in clinical research often find themselves faced with overwhelming debt from medical school. Consequently, they choose to go into patient practice, as fewer institutions are able to commit the necessary funds to train young physicians in clinical investigation.
The Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Award addresses this alarming issue. Each year, an independent judging panel, consisting of some of the most worldrenowned physician-scientists, selects five awardees, each receiving a five-year $750,000 grant to help support their salaries and research expenses. This support protects at least 80% of their time so they can focus on cutting-edge translational research. The award also includes payment of up to $100,000 of their outstanding medical school debt.
This nationally recognized program began in 2000, and the Foundation has since given awards to 29 junior physicians from around the country. Award recipients are utilizing or developing advanced imaging technologies for use in cancer diagnosis and treatment.
“Advances in molecular imaging are absolutely essential if we are to make real progress in cancer diagnosis and treatment,” states Richard J. O’Reilly, MD, Chairman of the Department of Pediatrics and Chief of the Bone Marrow Transplantation Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and chair of the selection committee for the Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Award. “We are thrilled that Siemens recognizes the crucial need to attract more physicians into research that will make a difference for cancer patients and has partnered with us in such a meaningful way.”
About Siemens Medical Solutions
Siemens Medical Solutions of Siemens AG (NYSE: SI) with headquarters in Malvern, Pennsylvania and Erlangen, Germany, is one of the largest suppliers to the healthcare industry in the world. The company is known for bringing together innovative medical technologies, healthcare information systems, management consulting, and support services to help customers achieve tangible, sustainable, clinical and financial outcomes. Employing approximately 31,000 people worldwide and operating in more than 120 countries, Siemens Medical Solutions reported sales of 7.07 billion EUR, orders of 8.12 billion EUR, and group profit of 1.05 billion EUR for fiscal 2004. More information can be obtained at www.usa.siemens.com/medical-pressroom.
About the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation
Founded in 1946, the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation focuses on identifying and encouraging extraordinary young scientists to commit themselves to cancer research. The Foundation is dedicated to identifying generations of truly innovative investigators in cancer research—scientists that approach questions from totally new directions and challenge existing dogma. To date, the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation has invested over $170 million in cancer research, supporting nearly 3,000 of the most gifted scientists in the nation. It is currently funding approximately 175 investigators in 20 states and 2 foreign countries.
Over the past 59 years, scientists initially identified and supported by the Foundation have been instrumental in improving the understanding of cancer in its many forms and developing new approaches to prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. Damon Runyon scientists and physician-scientists, in leadership roles in the nation’s major research institutions and cancer centers, have made breakthrough discoveries that have and will continue to save countless lives.
CONTACTS
Lorraine Egan
Executive Director
Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation
212.455.0500
lorraine.egan@damonrunyon.org
Christine Foy
Siemens Medical Solutions
610.448.4745
christine.foy@siemens.com
July 13, 2005
Neal G. Copeland, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow '77-'79) and colleagues have discovered a new method that improves the accuracy and speed with which cancer-causing genes are found. Dr. Copeland developed the method in mice and first tested its ability to find genes involved in lymphoma. Application of the technique to human cancer cells has the potential to uncover cancer's weak points and lead to better treatments.
June 9, 2005
Gregory J. Hannon, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow '92-'94) found a new class of oncogene that plays a role human cancer development. Dr. Hannon was a key player in the recent discovery of a new class of gene regulators called microRNAs. Now Hannon and his colleagues show that microRNAs can serve as oncogenes in several types of human cancer.
May 27, 2005
Tom Curran, PhD, FRS (Damon Runyon Fellow '82-'84) was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge. Dr. Curran was honored for his work on the molecular basis of cancer and joins such distinguished scientists as Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Stephen Hawking.
May 24, 2005
Paul Talalay, MD (Damon Runyon Fellow '50-'52) was awarded the 2005 Linus Pauling Institute Prize for Health Research for his pioneering discoveries of dietary phytochemicals that protect against cancer. Dr. Talalay is the John Jacob Abel Distinguished Service Professor of Pharmacology and the Director of the Laboratory for Molecular Pharmacology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
May 14, 2005
Richard J. O'Reilly, MD (Damon Runyon Board Member) was the recipient of the 2005 Pediatric Oncology Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology for his groundbreaking work in the field of bone marrow transplantation.
May 3, 2005
Craig B. Thompson, MD (Damon Runyon Board Member) was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest honors that can be earned by a U.S. scientist. Dr. Thompson is the Scientific Director of the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, where he studies the genes that regulate apoptosis (cell death) and investigates their application in treating cancer.
April 6, 2005
Gregory J. Hannon, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow '92-'94) won the 2005 AACR Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cancer Research. He is a pioneer in the field of RNA interference (RNAi). One focus of his laboratory is to harness RNAi technology to search the human genome for novel therapeutic targets for cancer.
David Livingston, MD (Damon Runyon Board Member) was the winner of the 2005 AACR-G.H.A. Clowes Memorial Award. The award, sponsored by Eli Lilly and Company, recognizes outstanding recent accomplishments in basic cancer research.
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James J. Manfredi, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow '83-'85) discounted the role of SV40 virus in malignant mesotheliomas (cancers associated with exposure to asbestos). The possibility that SV40 virus might contribute to this type of cancer came to light when it was discovered that polio vaccines widely used in the 1960's were contaminated with the virus.
April 4, 2005
Ramesh Shivdasani, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon Scholar '98-'99) found a molecular pathway suspected in precancerous stomach lesions, which may lead to improved diagnosis and prevention of stomach-esophageal cancer.
March 21, 2005
Seven former Damon Runyon Fellows were selected as Investigators of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI): Andrew Camilli, PhD; Gregory Hannon, PhD; Linda Hsieh-Wilson, PhD; Erik Jorgensen, PhD; Alex Kolodkin, PhD; Dianne Newman, PhD; and Michael Rosen, PhD. These investigators were nominated by their institutions for demonstrating exceptional promise within 4 to 10 years of their becoming independent scientists and were among only 43 of the nation’s most promising biomedical scientists selected for this honor. HHMI Investigators are widely recognized for their creativity and productivity.
March 15, 2005
Charles G. Drake, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon-Lilly Clinical Investigator '04-'09) reported that earlier use of prostate cancer vaccines achieves more benefit in a mouse model of the disease. His results reveal that the immune system can be prompted to attack cancer cells much more efficiently when a vaccine is applied at the time of initial hormone therapy rather than later on when the mice become tolerant of the cancer.
March 10, 2005
John T. Grayhack, MD (Damon Runyon Fellow '52-'54) made a major breakthrough in cancer gene therapy by endowing immune cells with the ability to specifically target metastatic prostate cancer in mice. The therapy successfully infiltrated tumor tissues and prevented tumor spread without causing the toxic immune suppression that has been associated with earlier forms of cancer gene therapy.
March 9, 2005
Juli Feigon, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow '82-'85) determined the three-dimensional structure of a major domain of the protein, telomerase, which plays a key role in many types of cancer. The structure will provide insights into how telomerase works and aid in the design of new cancer drugs that inhibit its activity.
February 23, 2005
Joseph Opferman, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow '01-'04), showed that a protein that promotes survival of blood stem cells may provide clues about leukemia prognosis.
February 17, 2005
David Guertin, PhD, (Damon Runyon Fellow '03-'06) was part of a team from the Whitehead Institute reporting the identification of a protein complex that may be a key player in many malignant brain and prostate tumors. Blocking the formation of the complex represents a promising strategy for new cancer drugs.
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The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal reported that an experimental cancer vaccine called Provenge tripled the survival rate of men with advanced prostate cancer in a clinical trial. The treatment was developed by Dendreon, a Seattle-based biotechnology company. David Urdal, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow '81-'83) serves as Chief Scientific Officer and Vice Chairman of the Board of Dendreon.
February 16, 2005
A group led by Bruce Zetter, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow '74-'76) from Children's Hospital in Boston developed a new screening test for prostate cancer. In preliminary studies, the urine-based test appeared to be more accurate than PSA testing. Dr. Zetter also serves as Chief Scientific Officer of Children's Hospital.
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Brian Kuhlman, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow '99-'02) won the prestigious AAAS Newcomb Cleveland Prize for a paper he published in the November 21, 2003 issue of Science. The prize recognizes the most outstanding first-time publication of an author's work that appeared in Science during a given year and is the oldest award conferred by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). The paper described the development of a novel computer program for designing proteins.