News

New Discoveries December 17, 2025

Artificial sweetener may interfere with immunotherapy

New research from Damon Runyon-Dale F. Frey Breakthrough Scientist Abigail E. Overacre-Delgoffe, PhD, and her lab at the University of Pittsburgh suggests that sucralose—the sugar substitute found in many “sugar-free” sodas, yogurts, and snack foods—may interfere with cancer immunotherapy. Their findings indicate that the widely used artificial sweetener changes the composition of the gut microbiome in ways that weaken patients’ immune systems and blunt the effectiveness of immune checkpoint inhibitors, a class of drugs that unleash T cells to attack tumors.

New Discoveries December 10, 2025

How Damon Runyon scientists are making progress against pancreatic cancer

New Discoveries November 19, 2025

Clinical trial shows promising results for head and neck cancer drug

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is the sixth most common cancer globally, and treatment options for patients with advanced disease are limited.

Honors and Awards November 17, 2025

Damon Runyon scientists paved the way for the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

In October, the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Mary E. Brunkow, PhD, Fred Ramsdell, PhD, and Shimon Sakaguchi, MD, PhD, for their groundbreaking discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance, which keeps the immune system from attacking the body’s own issues. Together, the laureates identified and defined the “security guards” of the immune system, known as regulatory T cells (T_reg).

The Nobel Assembly highlighted how this landmark work stood upon decades of foundational discoveries—many made by Damon Runyon scientists.

New Discoveries November 10, 2025

The outsider advantage: how extrachromosomal DNA fuels cancer

A basic tenet of biology is that our DNA is stored in chromosomes, that familiar grid of Xs (and sometimes Ys) containing all the instructions for the creation and maintenance of a human body. Another tenet of biology is that all rules have exceptions.

Honors and Awards October 20, 2025

Damon Runyon announces newest class of SPARK Scholars

The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation has named the newest cohort of the Damon Runyon Scholars Program for Advancing Research and Knowledge (SPARK), a one-year cancer research internship for post-baccalaureate scholars. Launched in 2023, the program provides promising young talent with rigorous scientific training and a network of mentors and peers to support their next steps into graduate school and beyond.

New Discoveries October 16, 2025

Why some patients do not benefit from immunotherapy

Epithelial cells, which line the surfaces of the body, are fixed in place, while mesenchymal cells, which make up the body’s connective tissue, are loosely packed and can move around. During embryonic development and wound healing, cells can transform from epithelial cells into mesenchymal cells, a process known as mesenchymal transformation (MT). Unfortunately, MT is also a useful strategy for cancer cells, whose goal is to spread throughout the body.

New Discoveries October 13, 2025

A step toward overcoming treatment resistance in leukemia

Since the Food and Drug Administration approved the targeted therapy drug venetoclax in 2020, it has become a first-line treatment for acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a blood cancer. Unfortunately, some AMLs have proven resistant to venetoclax—including those caused by mutations in the RAS gene family, which account for 10-20% of all cases.

Honors and Awards September 8, 2025

Damon Runyon mourns loss of beloved Emeritus Board Member Steve Hayden

It is with great sadness that we share the news that one of our Board Members, Steve Hayden, passed away on Wednesday, August 27th, 2025, at the age of 78. A visionary advertising executive, Steve launched his career with Apple’s iconic “1984” Super Bowl ad and went on to become Vice Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of Ogilvy, where he was instrumental in guiding landmark campaigns for brands such as Kodak, Motorola, and Dove.

Honors and Awards September 3, 2025

Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation awards $4.8 million to exceptional early-career scientists

The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation has named 16 new Damon Runyon Fellows, brilliant postdoctoral scientists conducting basic and translational cancer research in the laboratories of leading senior investigators. This prestigious Fellowship encourages the nation's most promising young scientists to pursue careers in cancer research by providing them with independent funding ($300,000 total over four years) to investigate cancer causes, mechanisms, therapies, and prevention.

Damon Runyon News