At the end of last year, Norman E. Sharpless, M.D., was appointed Director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI).  In this critically important role, he oversees the federal government’s $6 billion annual investment in cancer research.  We know him well, as Dr. Sharpless has served on the selection committee for the Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Award.  

The Damon Runyon-Jake Wetchler Award for Pediatric Innovation is given annually to a third-year Damon Runyon Fellow whose research has the greatest potential to impact the prevention, diagnosis or treatment of pediatric cancer. In its second year, Amanda Balboni Iniguez, PhD, received the award at the annual Fellows' Retreat.

Damon Runyon Broadway Tickets offers Broadway’s best seats and the opportunity to support cutting edge cancer research at the same time.

Some of our most loyal customers, like Rocco Staino, have been purchasing their Broadway tickets through us for years or even decades. Mr. Staino is the retired director of the Keefe Library of the North Salem School District in New York, and a contributing editor for School Library Journal and also writes for the Huffington Post.

Craig J. Ceol, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow '05-'07) of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, and colleagues, have identified a new protein that is involved in metastatic melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer. The protein, GDF6, is part of a class of proteins called “growth differentiation factors” that helps cells divide and differentiate into specific cell types.

Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation President and Chief Executive Officer recently spoke with the Huffington Post about current challenges and opportunities in cancer research.

Is America losing the opportunity to finally cure cancer? Maybe.

Chuan He, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow '00-'02) of the University of Chicago, Chicago, was named one of this year's winners of the 2017 Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research. The award recognizes promising investigators aged 45 or younger at the time of nomination for their efforts in advancing cancer research.

Matthew L. Meyerson, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow '95-'98), of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, and colleagues, reported a study that provides clues to the role Fusobacteria may play in the development of human colon cancers. Meyerson was one of the first scientists to discover that Fusobacteria, which normally inhabit the mouth, are closely associated with colon cancer cells but not normal colon cells. Researchers have now confirmed the presence of Fusobacteria in up to half of all colon tumors.

First- and third-year Damon Runyon Fellows look forward to our fall retreat as a time to come together from their separate labs around the country, meet their colleagues and share ideas. This September, Fellows gathered in Beverly, Massachusetts.

This month, Damon Runyon scientists published promising findings on “liquid biopsies.” This non-invasive method isolates and studies circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA)-- free-floating pieces of DNA found in blood plasma that are shed from tumor cells. These studies demonstrated that liquid biopsies are becoming an important tool for monitoring cancer progression, as well as identifying treatment strategies and drug resistance earlier than traditional approaches.

Ronald J. Buckanovich, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator ’08-’11) of the University of Pittsburgh, and colleagues, have developed a process that can grow hundreds of cultured cell masses, called spheroids, from just a few tumor cells derived from a patient. This 3D method yields cells that grow and multiply just as they would inside the body. Currently, researchers are limited to two-dimensional cells grown in petri dishes, which often do not respond to medicines the same way as ovarian cancer cells inside the body.