A Progress Report on Stand Up To Cancer
November 24, 2008
To Our Members, SU2C Supporters, and the Cancer Community,
As you know, Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) kicked off on September 5th with a star-studded televised fundraising event that aired simultaneously on all three major U.S. television networks and, indeed, all over the world. The results were amazing: to date, more than $100 million has been raised for cutting-edge translational cancer research programs that hold great promise to improve the quality of patient care and save lives.
We and our colleagues on SU2C's Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) have been entrusted with the wonderful, albeit weighty, responsibility of selecting "Dream Teams" of investigators--groups of top researchers from institutions in the U.S. and abroad who will combine their multidisciplinary expertise to address critical areas in translational cancer research.
The call for ideas for Dream Team projects that was issued by SU2C's scientific partner, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), was quite novel, so none of us had an informed expectation about the response it would elicit. From every vantage point, the submissions were extraordinary:
- We received 237 ideas. Given that the teams can include a leader and up to eight principal investigators, as well as two patient advocates, that number reflects the input of thousands of scientists with a broad array of expertise. The process clearly inspired applicants to think creatively about how they could reach across natural boundaries, of both institutions and nations, to collaborate more effectively and accelerate progress.
- The ideas covered many different cancer sites and encompassed a wide spectrum of topics--from prevention, personalized medicine and targeted drugs, angiogenesis, immune therapy, stem cells, epigenetics, and microRNAs, to the use of emerging technologies such as molecular imaging and nanotechnology--that are increasingly important in cancer research.
One of Stand Up To Cancer's important goals is to assure that the projects we support have sufficient resources to really make an impact over the course of the grants' three- year duration. Seventy percent of SU2C's funds will go to translational cancer research Dream Teams. Depending on the scope of each project, the total grant for each Team may reach approximately $15 million over the three-year period, assuming that milestones and objectives are being satisfactorily pursued and achieved.
Making these recommendations is a formidable challenge that each of the 20 SAC members (scientists and clinicians who are experts in translational research, as well as two patient advocates) takes very seriously. We held an intensive two-day meeting last month where the discussion and analysis of the submissions was always rigorous and often spirited. Committee members initially ranked each submission. We then focused on the top 25, which was narrowed to a group of 16. Ultimately, we selected eight ideas to pursue further.
The three of us who serve as the SAC Chairperson and Vice Chairpersons then met with the prospective leaders of each of these eight highly rated Teams. It was a great privilege, during these conversations, to have an opportunity to share with them the Committee's suggestions to help shape the content of the ideas as well as the constitution of the Teams. We came away from these meetings thrilled with the quality of the science being proposed and impressed by the commitment of these prospective leaders to translate scientific discoveries to the clinic to improve patient care.
These eight groups have now been asked to submit comprehensive proposals describing their research plans, which the Committee will review within the next few months to make final recommendations about which of these exciting projects to fund. We anticipate that the final Dream Teams will be selected in the spring. Clearly, there will be much to do going forward to complete agreements and initiate the work of these multi-institutional teams.
Stand Up To Cancer is also offering Innovative Research Grants which will provide significant support for early career investigators whose novel, high risk ideas--while they may have great potential for translational application--are often not funded by conventional sources. The request for letters of intent for these grants has been issued by the American Association for Cancer Research, and is posted on the AACR website, www.aacr.org.
For those of us who have been involved in science for many years, being a part of Stand Up To Cancer is an exhilarating experience. The opportunity to confront many of the traditional barriers to research progress head-on doesn't come along often, and SU2C is designed to do just that. The scientific review process is rigorous and transparent, and a great deal has been accomplished in a short period of time. We believe that SU2C has the potential to quicken the pace of translational research by combining the talent, skills and experience of the nation's and world's top investigators to tackle some of the most critical issues confronting biomedical researchers today. In addition, it is likely that talented young investigators at these institutions will be involved with these important team science projects.
Rapidly moving new research discoveries out of the lab and into the clinic in order to save lives is what Stand Up To Cancer is all about, and it is a goal that honestly seems within reach. We will continue to provide you with periodic updates and progress reports.
Sincerely,
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Phillip A. Sharp, Ph.D. Chairperson, SU2C Scientific Advisory Committee Institute Professor David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA Watch Translating Science, a SUTV video with Dr. Sharp |
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Arnold J. Levine, Ph.D. Vice Chairperson, SU2C Scientific Advisory Committee Professor Institute for Advanced Study Cancer Institute of New Jersey Princeton, NJ |
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Brian J. Druker, M.D. Vice Chairperson, SU2C Scientific Advisory Committee Professor of Medicine Oregon Health Sciences University Cancer Institute Portland, OR Watch Finding A Better Way, a SUTV video with Dr. Druker |
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Raymond N. DuBois, M.D., Ph.D. AACR President Member, SU2C Scientific Advisory Committee Provost and Executive Vice President University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center Houston, TX Watch Taking A Chance, a SUTV video with Dr. DuBois Read Making It Personal, an article from Dr. DuBois in the SU2C Magazine |
Drs. Sharp, Levine, Druker and DuBois are members of the full Scientific Advisory Committee. Please click here for more about the committee.
