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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.
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.
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.
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.
In 2022, the FDA approved the first therapy to target human leukocyte antigen (HLA), which has been implicated in a variety of cancers. (The approved drug, tebentafusp, treats uveal melanoma, an eye cancer.) Last year, another HLA-targeted therapy received FDA approval for the treatment of a sarcoma. There are now a plethora of clinical trials open to patients who are HLA-positive.
The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation has named five new Damon Runyon Clinical Investigators. The recipients of this prestigious award are outstanding, early-career physician-scientists conducting patient-oriented cancer research at major research centers under the mentorship of the nation's leading scientists and clinicians.
The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation held its Annual Breakfast at The Metropolitan Club in New York on Wednesday, June 11, 2025. The event raised over $1.1 million to support promising early-career scientists pursuing innovative strategies to prevent, diagnose, and treat all forms of cancer.
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