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Though the Runyon 5K, like so many things, looked a little different this year than it has in the past, participants were undaunted by the transition to a virtual race. Between August 24 and October 4, more than 450 participants walked, ran, hiked, or biked a 5K along a course of their choosing to raise funds and awareness for the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation.
Damon Runyon Fellow Tikvah K. Hayes, PhD, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, discusses the importance of creating a more diverse environment in STEM careers so that the next generation of under represented researchers will have mentors and colleagues who can better guide them through their shared experiences.
Lung cancer is often missed in its earlier stages and, as a result, is the leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States. To tackle this issue, Damon Runyon Fellow Aaron L. Moye, PhD, and colleagues have developed a platform to study early-stage lung cancer and to identify potential new treatments.
Faster, cheaper diagnostic tests for COVID-19 could potentially help control the spread of disease and facilitate safe openings of schools and businesses. Former Damon Runyon Innovator Feng Zhang, PhD, and colleagues have developed a CRISPR-based diagnostic for COVID-19 that gives accurate results in less than an hour and, in principle, could be made inexpensively to allow for regular testing at home.
COVID-19 has mobilized scientists across the globe in an unprecedented effort to understand the SARS-CoV-2 virus and stop this disease. Some Damon Runyon scientists have temporarily pivoted their research to contribute to this critical goal by investigating how the virus enters human cells, developing more efficient testing, and searching for treatments.
Former Damon Runyon Fellow John Blenis, PhD, and colleagues at Weill Cornell Medicine have discovered a molecule produced by our own cells that can accumulate in the blood as we age and help cancer cells spread from one site in the body to others. The researchers found that the level of methylmalonic acid (MMA)—a by-product of protein and fat digestion—is significantly higher in the blood of otherwise healthy people over the age of 60.
Former Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Andrew T. Chan, MD, MPH, and his colleagues at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, have published surprising new results that for older individuals with advanced cancer, taking aspirin may increase their risk of cancer growth and early death.
Damon Runyon Fellow Lindsay M. LaFave, PhD, and colleagues at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University, discovered that elevated levels of a protein called RUNX2 in human lung tumors predict a worse prognosis—a finding which could lead to new diagnostics and drug targets.
Fifteen early career scientists from across the country will receive grants totaling nearly $3.5 million to pursue brave and bold cancer research. The recipients of the Damon Runyon Fellowship are outstanding postdoctoral scientists conducting basic and translational cancer research in the laboratories of leading senior investigators.
Damon Runyon scientists Vinod P. Balachandran, MD, and Lydia Finley, PhD, have received the 2020 Pershing Square Sohn Prize for Young Investigators in Cancer Research. Recipients receive $200,000 per year for up to three years and opportunities to present their work to scientific and business audiences, helping to bridge the gap between the academic and business communities.
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