Six new scientists to receive SWCRF grants for cancer research

Samuel Waxman Cancer Research FoundationJul 1 2011

This year, the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation awarded individual grants to six new researchers in addition to funding 18 collaborative grants and three ongoing individual grants. The Foundation expanded its scientific grants program to a total of more than $3.1 million.

"Scientists are moving new discoveries on how to reprogram the abnormal function of enzymes and genes into therapies to eradicate cancer stem cells," said Samuel Waxman, M.D., the Founder and Scientific Director of the SWCRF. "We hope you will be as excited as the members of Scientific Advisory Board who recommended these projects because they represent the best in cancer research."

The 2011-2012 collaborative research grant recipients are:

• Julio A. Aguirre-Ghiso, Ph.D., Eduardo F. Farias, Ph.D., Mount Sinai School of Medicine: Regulation of Disseminated Tumor Cell Fate by RARb and NR2F1 Signaling
• Robert Casero, Ph.D., Stephen Baylin, M.D., Cynthia Zahnow, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University: DNA Hypermethylation Module for Stemness in Cancer
• Anthony Capobianco, Ph.D., Alexander MacKerell, Ph.D., University of Miami; University of Maryland: Exploitation of the Notch Pathway to Develop Novel Anti-Cancer Therapeutic
• Ronald M. Evans, Ph.D., Reuben Shaw, Ph.D., Salk Institute for Biomedical Studies: Molecular Mechanisms and the Role of Inflammation in Diet-Induced Intestinal Cancer
• Paul Fisher, M.Ph., Ph.D., Devanand Sarkar, MBBS, Ph.D., Virginia Commonwealth University: LSF as Oncogene and Target for Therapies in Hepatocellular Carcinoma
• Doris Germain, Ph.D., Samuel Waxman, M.D., Mount Sinai School of Medicine: Proving the Activation of the Cyclin D1-STAT3 Network as a Biomarker of Response to Endocrine Therapy of Breast Cancer
• Alan Friedman, M.D., Albert Baldwin, Jr., Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill: Inducing Apoptosis in Cancer by Targeting NF-kB and C/EBP
• Shai Izraeli, M.D., John Crispino, Ph.D., Sheba Medical Center, Tel Aviv University, Northwestern University: CRLF2, JAK2 and Trisomy 21 in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia
• Yongkui Jing, Ph.D., Ruibao Ren, M.D., Ph.D., Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Brandeis University: Development of Novel a, b-unsaturated Carbonyl Compounds as Therapeutic Agents in Myeloid Leukemia
• Jonathan D. Licht, M.D., Wilson Miller, M.D., Ph.D., Northwestern University; Jewish General Hospital: Oncoproteins and the Response to Anti-Tumor Agents in Hematological Malignancy
• Josep M. Llovet, M.D., Mount Sinai School of Medicine: Liver Cancer
• Ari Melnick, M.D., Alexander MacKerell, Ph.D., and Gilbert Priv-, Ph.D., Weill Cornell Medical College, University of Maryland, University of Toronto: Therapeutic Targeting of Oncogenic Transcriptional Repressor Proteins
• Benjamin G. Neel, M.D., Ph.D., Garry P. Nolan, Ph.D., Ontario Cancer Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine: Characterization of Ovarian Tumor Initiating Cells by Mass Cytometry
• Frank J. Rauscher III, Ph.D., Arthur Zelent, Ph.D., Wistar Institute; Institute of Cancer Research, London: Targeting the Snail Machinery that Controls EMT Differentiation Program During Metastasis
• Yolanda Sanchez, Ph.D., Ethan Dmitrovsky, M.D., Duane Compton, Ph.D., Dartmouth School of Medicine: Overcoming Oncogene Addiction by Targeting Genomic Stability
• Yang Shen, Ph.D., Sai-Juan Chen, Ph.D., Zhu Chen, M.D., Ph.D., Ethan Dmitrovsky, M.D., Jiang Zhu, Ph.D., Samuel Waxman, M.D., Arthur Zelent, Ph.D., Shanghai Institute of Hematology, Dartmouth School of Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Institute of Cancer Research, London: Collaborative Grant between SIH and SWCRF
• William Weiss, M.D., Ph.D., Kevan M. Shokat, Ph.D., Mark Lemmon, Ph.D., Albert Baldwin Jr., Ph.D., University of California, San Francisco, University of Pennsylvania, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill: HER Family Kinases and Oncogene Addiction
• Arthur Zelent, Ph.D, Ming-Ming Zhou, Ph.D., Institute of Cancer Research, London; Mount Sinai School of Medicine: Modulating Transcription Repressor Sin3 for Targeted Epigenetic Cancer Therapy

The 2011-2012 individual research grant recipients are:

• Nabeel Bardeesy, Ph.D., Massachusetts General Hospital: Elucidation and Targeting of Epigenetic Reprogramming Pathways in Pancreatic Cancer
• Ravi Bhatia, M.D., City of Hope: Targeting the Leukemia Stem Cell in CML
• Christopher A. French, M.D., Jay Bradner, M.D., Brigham and Women's Hospital, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute: Targeting the Tumor Epigenome in NUT Midline Carcinoma
• Margaret Goodell, Ph.D., Baylor College of Medicine: Investigating the Role of DNMT3A in Development of Myeloid Malignancies
• Scott Hiebert, Ph.D., Vanderbilt University: HDAC3 as a Therapeutic Target in BCL6-dependent Lymphoma
• Warren Pear, M.D., Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania: Targeting Tribbles in Cancer
• Erwin G. Van Meir, Ph.D., Emory University School of Medicine: Reprogramming Ewing Sarcoma with a New Small Molecule Targeting the EWS-FLI1 Oncoprotein
• Robert A. Weinberg, Ph.D., Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research: Formation and Maintenance of Breast Cancer Stem Cells by Paracrine and Autocrine Signaling
• Xiong Yue, Ph.D., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill: Mechanisms of Oncometabolytes in Epigenetics and Cancer