Schwarz Elected Officer of Radiation Research Society
Siteman Cancer Center
Julie K. Schwarz, MD, PhD, a Washington University professor of radiation oncology at Siteman Cancer Center, has been elected vice president of the Radiation Research Society. She will go on to serve as president beginning in October 2022.
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Farma Recognized as Master Surgeon Educator
Fox Chase Cancer Center, Temple Health
Fox Chase Cancer Center’s Jeffrey Farma, MD, FACS, was recently admitted to the American College of Surgeons Academy of Master Surgeon Educators. He is chief of the Division of General Surgery at Fox Chase and co-director of the Melanoma and Skin Cancer Program.
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5 For the Fight Announces Inaugural Class of Fellows
Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah
5 For the Fight, a global movement inviting everyone to give $5 for the fight against cancer, has announced the inaugural recipients of the 5 For the Fight Cancer Research Fellowship in partnership with Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah.
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Martin Awarded New Endowed Professorship
University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center
Breast cancer researcher Stuart S. Martin, PhD, has been installed as the inaugural Drs. Angela and Harry Brodie Professor in Translational Cancer Research. The endowed professorship honors the late Angela H. Brodie, PhD, who, with her husband, Harry Brodie, PhD, pioneered the development of aromatase inhibitors.
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Sylvester Receives Landmark $126 Million Gift
Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Miami
A landmark gift of $126 million to the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine will accelerate advances in finding cures for cancer and expand treatment options for patients. The anonymous donation, made in honor of Sylvester Director Stephen D. Nimer, MD, is the largest in the University of Miami’s 95-year history.
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$111 Million NIH Grant Awarded to Prevent and Treat HIV-Associated Cancers
Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Cancer Center
For 25 years, the AIDS Malignancy Consortium has led national and international efforts to prevent and treat of HIV-related cancers. Now, Montefiore Health System and Albert Einstein College of Medicine have received a five-year, $111 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to lead this research consortium. Joseph Sparano, MD, is principal investigator on the grant.
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'Exceptional' Score Earned With NCI-Designated Comprehensive Center Renewal
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC) has received an overall "exceptional" score from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) for its research impact and patient care excellence. The center's renewal of its NCI Cancer Center Support Grant provides more than $36 million in funding over the next five years. This is VICC's fifth overall renewal and third with Jennifer Pietenpol, PhD, as the center's director.
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Tisch Gets Second Consecutive NCI Designation
The Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai
The Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai has been awarded $13 million as part of the renewal of its National Cancer Institute cancer center designation. The funding complements $53 million in current cancer research grants. Ramon Parsons, MD, PhD, is the center's director.
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Effort to Combat Melanoma Gets $13 Million Boost
UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center
UCLA researchers have received a $13 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to find new ways to overcome melanoma resistance to some of the most promising targeted therapies and immunotherapies.
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NIH Funds Research on Differences in Glioblastoma Between Males, Females
Case Comprehensive Cancer Center
A Case Comprehensive Cancer Center-led team has secured $10.4 million over five years from the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute to explore at the molecular level the differences in glioblastoma between males and females.
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Ohio State to Study Impact of COVID-19 in First Responders With $10 Million Grant
The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute
Researchers at The Ohio State University College of Medicine and The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center have been awarded a five-year, $10 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to study the long-term, longitudinal impact of COVID-19 on first responders, health care workers, and the general population.
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$5.7 Million Awarded to Study Chemo-Induced Hearing Loss, Toxicities
Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center
Lois B. Travis, MD, ScD, at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center, has been awarded a five-year, $5.7 million National Cancer Institute grant to evaluate long-term health outcomes for cancer patients who receive platinum-based chemotherapies.
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$3.7 Million Awarded to Address Genetic Testing Among Families
University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center
A $3.7 million grant, part of the Beau Biden Cancer Moonshot Initiative, will support a clinical trial designed to test a personalized family genetic risk navigation support platform. The trial will be extended to all first- and second-degree relatives of 900 patients in Georgia and California in whom genetic testing identified a variant indicating an elevated hereditary cancer risk.
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$3.1 Million Grant Supports Exploration of Immune Response to Cancer Mutations
Rutgers Cancer Institute
With the aid of a $3.1 million, five-year National Institutes of Health grant, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey leaders Eileen White, PhD, Edmund Lattime, PhD, and Shridar Ganesan, MD, PhD, will collaborate on translational research exploring the immune response to cancers that feature a high number of mutations.
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Fighting Breast Cancer With Nanotech, Immunotherapy
Case Comprehensive Cancer Center
Efstathios "Stathis” Karathanasis, PhD and William Schiemann, PhD are leading a team of researchers from the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center and Duke University combining nanotechnology with immunotherapy to treat metastatic breast cancer. The team received a five-year, $3 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to continue research into the engineering of nanoparticles that can wake up "cold" tumors so they can be located and attacked by the immune system.
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$2.9 Million Grant Will Look at Impact of HPV on Head and Neck Cancer
University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center
Researchers from the Rogel Cancer Center have received a $2.9 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to look at how HPV behaves in patients with head and neck cancer and how that could help identify who might benefit from less aggressive treatment. Principal investigator is Maureen Sartor, PhD.
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$1.9 Million Grant Funds DNA Damage Research
UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute
A $1.9 million grant from the National Institute of General Medical Studies will allow Justin Leung, Ph.D., at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, to advance his research of DNA damage response in cancer and genetic disorders.
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Grant to Fund Gene Imaging Research
Yale Cancer Center, Yale School of Medicine
The National Institutes of Health has awarded an Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant to fund 3D gene imaging research at Yale Cancer Center. The three-year, $1.2 million R33 award will help support research on multiplexed imaging of chromatin folding and RNA profiles in cancer and lead to new biomarkers for cancer diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment.
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$1.1 Million Grant Awarded to Develop Metabolomics Data Analysis Tools
UK Markey Cancer Center
The National Science Foundation has awarded a three-year, $1,163,869 grant to the University of Kentucky to develop state-of-the-art metabolomics data analysis tools that will derive new data, knowledge, and interpretation from the active metabolic state of organisms and ecosystems with broad biological and biomedical applications.
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Osborne Steps Down as Director
Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center at Baylor College of Medicine
After 15 years in the role, C. Kent Osborne, MD, has stepped down as director of the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center at Baylor College of Medicine. He will stay on at Baylor as founding director of the center. Helen Heslop, MD, DSc (Hon), director of the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, will serve as interim director.
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Gruber to Head Center for Precision Medicine
City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center
Cancer geneticist Stephen Gruber, MD, PhD, MPH, has joined City of Hope as the director of its newly founded Center for Precision Medicine. He will lead a team of more than 14 researchers who will work across the institution to pioneer personalized cancer prevention and treatment plans.
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Patel Appointed as Caspar Wistar Fellow
Ellen and Ronald Caplan Cancer Center of The Wistar Institute
The Wistar Institute has appointed Ami Patel, PhD, as a Caspar Wistar Fellow in the Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center. Her research focuses on strategies to combat emerging infectious diseases, including engineering vaccines and immunotherapies against viral and bacterial pathogens.
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Expert in Early-Phase Cancer Research Tapped to Head Clinical Investigation Team
Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
Having dedicated his career to developing better treatments for cancer, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Igor Puzanov, MD, MSCI, FACP, has been promoted to senior vice president of clinical investigation.
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Lim to Lead Department of Neurosurgery
Stanford Cancer Institute
Michael Lim, MD, has been appointed chair of the Stanford University School of Medicine’s Department of Neurosurgery. He joined Stanford from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Lim succeeds Gary Steinberg, MD, PhD, who is stepping down after 25 years as department chair.
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New Leadership Roles to Focus on Quality and Safety
Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Jefferson
The Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson Health (SKCC) has announced two leadership roles focused on quality and safety in cancer care. Mark Hurwitz, MD, FASTRO, FACRO, is the new SKCC enterprise cancer quality and safety officer and Valerie Csik, MPH, CPPS, was appointed director of cancer quality and care transformation.
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Chief of Gamma Knife Service Named
Siteman Cancer Center
Jiayi Huang, MD, has been named chief of the central nervous system/Gamma Knife service at Washington University School of Medicine and Siteman Cancer Center. He had been serving as interim chief since October 2019.
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Population Health Expert Joins Cancer Center
The University of Kansas Cancer Center
Elizabeth Calhoun, PhD, MEd, has been named associate dean for population health at the University of Kansas Medical Center. She also joins The University of Kansas Cancer Center’s Cancer Prevention and Control research program.
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Braithwaite Appointed Associate Director for Population Sciences
University of Florida Health Cancer Center
Dejana Braithwaite, PhD, has been appointed as associate director for population sciences at the University of Florida Health Cancer Center, starting November 1. Since 2017, she has led the cancer screening group at the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.
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Associate Chief Medical Officer for Radiation Oncology Appointed
Yale Cancer Center, Yale School of Medicine
James B. Yu, MD, MHS, has been promoted to associate chief Medical officer for radiation oncology for Smilow Cancer Hospital and Smilow Cancer Hospital Network. Dr. Yu specializes in treating genitourinary cancers.
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Department of Medicine Chair Named
Wilmot Cancer Institute, UR Medicine
Ruth O’Regan, MD, chief of Hematology, Medical Oncology and Palliative Care at the University of Wisconsin, has been named the next chair of medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center’s School of Medicine and Dentistry. She succeeds Paul Levy, MD, who is stepping down after a decade as chair.
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Prominent Researchers, Physicians Join Faculty
Cedars-Sinai Cancer
Cedars-Sinai Cancer is continuing to expand its clinical and investigative research staff with the addition of several new faculty scientists who bring a breadth of expertise to cancer patients. Dan Theodorescu, MD, PhD, is the center's director.
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KRAS Inhibitor Sotorasib Appears Safe, Achieves Durable Clinical Benefit in Early Trial
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
In a Phase I clinical trial for patients with advanced solid cancers marked by KRAS G12C mutations, the KRAS G12C inhibitor sotorasib (AMG 510) resulted in manageable toxicities and durable clinical benefits. David S. Hong, MD, is lead author on the study.
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Two Million Americans Buy Prescription Drugs Outside the Country
University of Florida Health Cancer Center
Buying prescription drugs from other countries is one way some Americans have coped with rising drug prices. A new University of Florida study finds that 1.5 percent of adults, or more than two million Americans, purchase their prescription drugs from outside the U.S. to save money.
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VICC Leading First Global Study of MDS/MPN Overlap Syndrome
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center
Overlap syndromes are distinct blood cancers that have features of both myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN). The most common of these syndromes is chronic myelomonocytic leukemia. MDS/MPNs are difficult to treat and typically have poor prognoses. Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center is leading the first cooperative international trial for these rare cancers. Michael Savona, MD, is principal investigator.
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Shifting Liver Cancer Cells Away From Migratory State Could Reduce Their Drug Resistance
Fred Hutch Cancer Center
Whether a liver cancer cell is primed to grow or move affects its ability to resist cancer drugs, according to new work from researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the University of Washington. They identified key molecules that orchestrate these different cell states in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In lab dishes, experimental compounds that target these molecules can shift drug-resistant HCC cells toward drug sensitivity.
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Study Highlights Need for Genetic Testing for Patients With Lung Cancer
UK Markey Cancer Center
A study led by researchers at UK Markey Cancer Center highlighted differences in patient diagnosis and treatment in those with non-small cell lung cancer across the state of Kentucky. The study used Kentucky Cancer Registry patient data from 2007-2011 to identify trends in epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation testing and the usage of the EGFR inhibitor, erlotinib.
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Study Finds Savings in Blue Cross, Blue Shield Value-Based Primary Care Programs
UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute
Overall health care costs decreased for patients at clinics participating in Arkansas Blue Cross and Shield value-based primary care programs, according to a study by the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. The study also found reductions in inpatient stays and use of emergency departments.
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Study Educates Oncologists on LGBTQ+ Health Concerns
Moffitt Cancer Center
Moffitt Cancer Center is launching a nationwide study to help educate oncologists and address health care disparities among LGBTQ+ patients. The study’s findings will inform the groundbreaking COLORS Training Program (Curriculum for Oncologists on LGBTQ+ populations to Optimize Relevance and Skills), which Moffitt developed in 2018.
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Black People More Likely to Die From Colorectal Cancer Spreading to Liver
City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center
Analyzing data for about 16,500 advanced colorectal cancer patients, City of Hope researchers found that Black people are more likely than other ethnic groups to die from the disease, especially if it had spread to the liver. They noted that Black people were the least likely to receive chemotherapy and had a 17 percent higher chance of death compared to white people.
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Cancer Cells Take Over Blood Vessels to Spread
Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University
In laboratory studies, Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and Johns Hopkins University researchers observed a key step in how cancer cells metastasize. Trying to determine how groups of cells migrate to other parts of the body, the scientists used tissue engineering to construct a functional 3D blood vessel and grew breast cancer cells nearby.
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NCORP Clinical Trial Accrual Goals Exceeded
The University of Kansas Cancer Center
The University of Kansas Cancer Center’s status as a community site of the National Cancer Institute’s Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP) has been renewed following a successful first year. The cancer center team exceeded clinical trial accrual goals by more than 22 percent.
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Smoking Associated With Worse Outcomes for Bladder Cancer After Surgery
USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center
Patients treated for bladder cancer with a surgery known as radical cystectomy have worse outcomes if they are smokers, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis by Keck Medicine of USC. Giovanni Cacciamani, MD, is lead author of the study.
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To Reduce Colorectal Cancer Disparities Among African Americans, More Intervention Research is Needed
Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah
Of any racial group, African-American men have the lowest five-year survival rate for colorectal cancer. A major contributing factor is low adherence to recommended early detection screening, like colonoscopy and home-based stool testing kits. Yet published research on effective strategies to increase screening for this group is minimal.
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Scientists Engineer DNA-based Nanotechnology to Stimulate Potent Antitumor Immune Responses in Preclinical Models
Ellen and Ronald Caplan Cancer Center of The Wistar Institute
Combining their expertise in protein engineering and synthetic DNA technology, scientists at The Wistar Institute successfully delivered nanoparticle antitumor vaccines that stimulated robust CD8 T cell immunity and controlled melanoma growth in preclinical models. Study results support exploration of this immunotherapy approach for other cancer types.
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Genetic Testing Cost Effective for Newly Diagnosed GIST
UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center
Researchers at Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego Health have reported that genetic testing is cost-effective and beneficial for newly diagnosed patients with metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST), a type of soft tissue sarcoma that develops in specialized nerve cells in the wall of the digestive system.
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Rubbery Properties Help RNA Nanoparticles Target Tumors Efficiently and Quickly Leave Body
The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute
A new study by researchers at OSUCCC – James shows that RNA nanoparticles have elastic and rubbery properties that help explain why these particles target tumors so efficiently and why they possess lower toxicity in animal studies.
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Cancer Discovery Reveals Key Process in Tumor Formation
University of Virginia Cancer Center
A discovery from the University of Virginia School of Medicine may open the door to an entirely new approach to treating cancer: by disrupting a vital condensation process inside cancer cells. Researchers discovered that cancer cells are exceptionally dependent on the proper condensation of a particular protein, AKAP95, during tumor formation. Blocking this process halted the cancer cells in their tracks.
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Combination Immunotherapy Benefits Subset of Patients With Advanced Prostate Cancer
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Results from a Phase II trial led by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center suggest that a combination of ipilimumab (anti-CTLA-4) plus nivolumab (anti-PD-1) can generate durable responses in a subset of patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), an "immune-cold" cancer that does not typically respond well to immunotherapy.
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Deep Look at Immune Cells in Patient Tumors Reveals Insights on Timing for Treatment Combinations
Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
Research from a team from Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center explains how radiation helps boost the immune system’s ability to fight cancer in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors — and provides new evidence that the timing of these therapies can make a big difference in how effectively they work together.
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Investigating Disparities in Eye Cancer Treatment
Stanford Cancer Institute
There are currently two main ways of treating ocular melanoma: radiation therapy or removal of the eye. Prithvi Mruthyunjaya, MD, and Darius Moshfeghi, MD, are investigating whether there are any patterns linking patients' racial, ethnic, or socioeconomic status with which treatment they received and how long they lived after diagnosis.
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Researchers Identify Driver of Further Metastasis in BRAF Inhibitor Resistant Melanoma
Moffitt Cancer Center
Targeted therapy with BRAF-MEK inhibitors is effective against advanced melanoma that cannot be surgically removed or has spread to other areas of the body. However, many patients become resistant to the therapy, often leading to further metastasis. Moffitt Cancer Center researchers who helped develop this type of combination therapy are now working to better understand what leads to this resistance.
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New Initiative Aims to Put Postponed Cancer Screenings 'Back on the Books'
Prevent Cancer Foundation
To help encourage routine cancer screenings, especially as patients have postponed or canceled them during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Prevent Cancer Foundation has launched a public service announcement campaign, "Back on the Books," to remind people to reschedule their appointments.
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Winn Part of AACR Congressional Briefing on Cancer Disparities
VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center
As a member of the steering committee that contributed to the American Association of Cancer Research’s inaugural "Cancer Disparities Progress Report," VCU Massey Cancer Center Director Robert Winn, MD, recently participated in a virtual congressional briefing on the report’s findings.
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City of Hope, Chimeric to Develop CAR T Cell Therapy
City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center
City of Hope has licensed intellectual property relating to its pioneering chlorotoxin chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy to Chimeric Therapeutics Limited, an Australian biotechnology company. The center has also dosed its first patient in its innovative chlorotoxin CAR T cell therapy trial.
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Free Genome Sequencing Now Available to All UCSF Patients
UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center
UC San Francisco scientists have launched a precision medicine initiative to offer free voluntary whole genome sequencing to all UCSF Health patients. The goal of the initiative, called the UCSF 3D Health Study (for "Data, Discovery, and Diversity") is to build a genomic database that matches the diversity of UCSF Health’s patient population.
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Innova Therapeutics Receives Rare Pediatric Disease Designation From FDA for Osteosarcoma Treatment
Hollings Cancer Center, Medical University of South Carolina
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Innova Therapeutics Inc., rare pediatric disease designation for IVT-8086 for the treatment of osteosarcoma. MUSC Hollings Cancer Center researcher Nancy Klauber-DeMore, MD, was instrumental in the development of the research that led to the therapy.
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Women Surgeons Earn Their Cut of NIH Funding and Then Some
University of Virginia Cancer Center
Women are underrepresented in the field of academic surgery, but women surgeons are earning a disproportionate share of research grants from the National Institutes of Health, a new study has found. Women comprise 19 percent of surgery faculty at academic health systems, but held 26.4 percent of R01 grants, the researchers found.
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Clinical Trial Will Examine Short- and Long-Term Outcomes for Patients With COVID-19 and Cancer
VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center
A nationwide clinical trial funded by the National Cancer Institute and now open at VCU Massey Cancer Center will examine the short- and long-term outcomes of patients with COVID-19 and cancer to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the impacts of infection.
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