A team of scientists at Yale University School of Medicine, led by former Damon Runyon Innovator Jason M. Sheltzer, PhD, recently cracked a century-old scientific mystery: the role of aneuploidy, or abnormal chromosome number, in driving cancer. As far back as the 19^th century, scientists looking under a microscope noticed that when cancer cells divide, the chromosomes sometimes split unequally, resulting in two aneuploid daughter cells.

Glioblastoma, the most common and aggressive form of brain cancer, is notoriously difficult to treat. Once arisen, the tumor rapidly invades healthy brain tissue, making removal by surgery nearly impossible and chemotherapy or radiation therapy success short-lived. Even immunotherapy drugs, increasingly relied upon when first lines of treatment fail, have proven ineffective, leaving glioblastoma patients with very few options. But this may change soon.

The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation is delighted to announce a new partnership with the Timmerman Traverse, an adventurous initiative that brings leaders and investors in biotech together to scale extraordinary physical—and philanthropic—heights. Since 2017, biotech journalist and mountaineer Luke Timmerman has led expeditions up Mt. Everest, the Matterhorn, and the seven highest peaks in the White Mountains, raising over $7.6 million to combat cancer and poverty. Participants in the 2024 Timmerman Traverse will summit Mt.

In 2018, the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) established the FNIH Trailblazer Prize for Clinician-Scientists to recognize “the outstanding contributions of early career clinician-scientists” whose research “translates basic scientific observations into new paradigm-shifting approaches for diagnosing, preventing, treating or curing disease.”

More than 1,200 people from the five boroughs of New York City and beyond took part in the Runyon 5K at Yankee Stadium on Saturday, July 29, 2023, to support the nation’s brightest young scientists as they pursue breakthroughs in cancer research. Since the inaugural event in 2009, the Runyon 5K has raised more than $6 million.

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T therapy, in which a patient’s own immune T cells are genetically engineered to target and kill their tumor cells, have been the subject of intensive research efforts since the first patients were treated in 2011. Fueled by the promise of immune cells that can serve as a “living drug” against cancer, scientists are committed to making CAR T cells safe and effective for more patients.

Adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) is a rare but aggressive cancer that usually develops in the salivary glands and is often diagnosed in younger adults. Because of its rarity, ACC has received relatively little attention from cancer researchers, and as a result, there are no approved therapies for the disease.

The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation has named 13 new Damon Runyon Fellows, exceptional 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 to investigate cancer causes, mechanisms, therapies, and prevention.

Craniopharyngiomas are a rare type of brain tumor that arise near the pituitary gland and are very difficult to treat, whether surgically or with radiation therapy, without inflicting vision loss, memory loss, or hormone disruption. Even in cases when the tumor is successfully removed, craniopharyngiomas are notorious for coming back.

The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation has named six 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.