SU2C Dream Teams
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Meet the SU2C Dream Teams
In May 2009, SU2C launched its first five scientific Dream Teams. Today, ten teams of incredible scientists are already hard at work, driven by the same principles that laid the foundation of the Stand Up To Cancer model: collaboration, innovation, acceleration, targeted therapy, and translational research. Leaders from across disciplines, institutions, and specialties are finally competing against cancer instead of each other, as research moves from bench to bedside to benefit patients more quickly. Each team in its own way is changing the face of cancer research and pushing the dream of ending cancer closer to reality.
SU2C Dream Teams at a Glance
SU2C-St. Baldrick’s Pediatric Cancer Dream Team: Immunogenomics to Create New Therapies for High-Risk Childhood Cancers
John M. Maris, M.D.
Crystal L. Mackall, M.D.
The Stand Up To Cancer-St. Baldrick’s Pediatric Dream Team led by Maris and Mackall will bring together world-class researchers in two highly impactful disciplines, genomics and immunotherapeutics, to establish a collaborative, scientifically rigorous, multidisciplinary program to develop novel, targeted immunotherapeutics for childhood cancers that are among the most challenging to cure. The aim of this project is to establish the foundation for a sustained effort to maximize pediatric cancer cure rates through a genomics-anchored immunotherapeutic program.
“In the past 20 years, very few new therapies have been developed for pediatric cancer. This Dream Team has deep expertise in each of the most lethal pediatric cancers and includes thought leaders in the fields of genomics and immunotherapeutics. It is our goal, indeed our expectation, that we will initiate a sustained effort to maximize pediatric cancer cure rates through a genomics-anchored immunotherapeutic program.”— John M. Maris, M.D.
More on the SU2C-St. Baldrick’s Pediatric Cancer Dream Team: Immunogenomics to Create New Therapies for High-Risk Childhood Cancers
SU2C-CRI Dream Team: Immune Checkpoint Blockade and Adoptive Cell Transfer in Cancer Therapy
James P. Allison, Ph.D.
Antoni Ribas, M.D., Ph.D.
Drew M. Pardoll, M.D., Ph.D.
Cassian Yee, M.D.
Cancer immunologists have long hypothesized that specific interventions could stimulate and “re-educate” patients’ own immune systems to attack their cancer. A type of white blood cell called the T lymphocyte can recognize and kill cancer cells, but limited numbers of T lymphocytes are activated and can be blocked by inhibitory molecules called checkpoints, some of which are expressed by the cancer cells themselves. This Dream Team will focus on two approaches to overcome these obstacles: checkpoint blockade, where the checkpoints are removed using antibodies; and multiple adoptive cell transfer (ACT), where a large army of T lymphocytes is generated from a cancer patient’s blood samples and given back to the patient. The clinical impact of this project lies with the potential synergy of combining both of these immunology-based therapeutic approaches to treat a range of tumor types to improve the lives of patients with cancer.
“The patient’s own immune system can be harnessed to treat some cancers. The SU2C-CRI Dream Team grant will help develop this mode of treatment to more broadly benefit patients.” – Antoni Ribas, M.D., Ph.D
More on the SU2C-CRI Immunology Dream Team
SU2C-PCF2 Dream Team: Targeting Adaptive Pathways in Metastatic Treatment-Resistant Prostate Cancer
Eric J. Small, M.D.
Owen N. Witte, M.D.
The Stand Up To Cancer Dream Team led by Small and Witte will explore the idea that resistance to hormone therapy is a result of the prostate cancer cells using common cellular responses, called adaptive pathways, to escape current therapies. The team believes that by identifying these pathways and inhibiting them, they will be able to overcome treatment resistance and profoundly improve survival and quality of life for these patients.
“We are incredibly excited about this project. Despite an unprecedented increase in the number of drugs that have been approved for the treatment of advanced Prostate Cancer, our patients still develop resistance to these agents, and still die from progressive disease. This project will help identify the causes of resistance in an individual patient, and help us tailor therapy for that patient.”
- Team Leader Eric J. Small, M.D.
SU2C-PCF Dream Team: Precision Therapy for Advanced Prostate Cancer
Arul M. Chinnaiyan, M.D., Ph.D.
Charles L. Sawyers, M.D.
Prostate cancer, like other types of cancer, is not a homogeneous disease. For example, up to 50 percent of treatment resistant metastatic prostate cancer (CRPC) patients have a genetic aberration called a “gene fusion” that involves two genes including ETS genes. Another 50 percent of patients may have a “deletion” or loss of an entire gene called PTEN. This diversity of prostate cancer suggests that treatment decisions will require a personalized or precision approach — matching treatment to specific characteristics of a tumor. The premise for this proposal is that information about the genetic makeup of an individual’s CRPC may guide the doctor to choose a “personalized” treatment for that patient.
“Utilizing this Dream Team grant, we will be able to bring together great scientists and clinicians from around the world to join in the fight against metastatic prostate cancer. We hope this unique model of research will lead to patient benefit in the short term.”
— Dr. Arul M. Chinnaiyan M.D., Ph.D.
SU2C-MRA Dream Team: Personalized Medicine for Patients with BRAF Wild-Type (BRAFwt) Cancer
Jeffrey M. Trent, Ph.D., F.A.C.M.G.
Patricia M. LoRusso, D.O.
The SU2C-MRA Melanoma Dream Team will investigate the utility of personalized target/therapy identification in patients with BRAFwt metastatic melanoma – a subtype of melanoma for which there are currently few treatment options. The team hopes that an individualized medicine approach to the treatment of BRAFwt metastatic melanoma will not only lead to therapeutic benefit for this patient population, but may also be beneficial to many other tumor and disease types.
“Melanoma has been a success story in the past year, but that success affects about half of the patients, at best. We just said, we’ve got to go after that group that just desperately needs our help.” - Dr. Jeffrey M. Trent, Ph.D., F.A.C.M.G.
More on the SU2C-MRA Melanoma Dream Team
An Integrated Approach to Targeting Breast Cancer Molecular Subtypes and Their Resistance Phenotype
Joe W. Gray, Ph.D.
Dennis Slamon, M.D., Ph.D.
The Breast Cancer Dream Team has created a fully integrated translational research approach which is rapidly moving toward more effective, less toxic therapies for the three major breast cancer subtypes.
“What keeps me going is that this is an illness that affects many, many, many people, and my goal in life, along with all of my colleagues, is to turn it from a disease of great concern to a disease that can be readily controlled or even cured so that individuals can go on to live out the rest of their lives.” - Dr. Joe W. Gray, Ph.D
More on the Breast Cancer Dream Team
Bringing Epigenetic Therapy to the Forefront of Cancer Management
Stephen B. Baylin, M.D.
Peter A. Jones, Ph.D., D.Sc.
The Epigenetics Dream Team is delivering on the promise of epigenetic therapy in clinical practice. The team is developing biomarkers that can predict and monitor the efficacy of epigenetic therapies, and conducting clinical trials that will bring epigenetic therapy to the forefront of cancer management.
“There’s a time for individual competition and a time for teamwork. And I think this is the time for teamwork in this particular area. We’ve competed against each other for years… We really need to get together now and make a big push.” - Dr. Peter A. Jones, Ph.D., D.Sc.
More on the Epigenetic Therapy Dream Team
Bioengineering and Clinical Applications of Circulating Tumor Cell Chip
Daniel Haber, M.D., Ph.D.
Mehmet Toner, Ph.D.
The CTC Dream Team is using a novel and radically different approach to detecting and isolating Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs), pursuing revolutionary diagnostic and treatment strategy tools. The fundamental technology involved takes advantage of microscopic fluid dynamics to construct a chip with 100 times greater sensitivity than existing technology.
“...there’s been almost a combination of all the discoveries over so many years in terms of our understanding of what triggers cancer, and now for the first time we can translate that into tools to treat cancer.” - Dr. Daniel Haber, M.D., Ph.D.
More on the CTC-Chip Dream Team
Cutting the Fuel Supply: A New Approach to the Treatment of Pancreatic Cancer
Craig B. Thompson, M.D.
Daniel D. Von Hoff, M.D.
The Pancreatic Dream Team is attacking the lethal problem of pancreatic cancer with a dual approach: exploring advanced imaging techniques to determine what nutrients pancreatic cancers require to grow and survive; using the results of these tests to design individualized treatment combinations that will cut off the fuel supply to pancreatic tumors with the hope of increasing survival and quality of life for pancreatic cancer patients.
“Every single person on this team has lost somebody to pancreatic cancer… many of us see patients with it every single day… We can do things, we can help with their pain, we can improve their survival some. But we want to do something dramatic.” - Dr. Daniel D. Von Hoff, M.D
More on the Pancreatic Cancer Dream Team
Targeting PI3K in Women’s Cancers
Gordon B. Mills, M.D., Ph.D.
Lewis C. Cantley, Ph.D.
The PI3K Dream Team is developing clinical techniques that may lead to therapeutic combinations able to hit multiple targets in the complex pathways that contribute to cancer cell growth in a variety of women’s cancers, such as breast, ovarian, and endometrial.
“I’m fully convinced that cancer is a logical disease. That there is a logic to how the cancer develops, and if you understand the logic you can understand how to tackle it. So know your enemy. Cancer is our enemy…” - Dr. Lewis C. Cantley, Ph.D.
More on the PI3K Dream Team
Meet the Dream Teams
- SU2C-St. Baldrick’s Pediatric Cancer Dream Team: Immunogenomics to Create New Therapies for High-Risk Childhood Cancers
- SU2C-CRI Dream Team: Immune Checkpoint Blockade and Adoptive Cell Transfer in Cancer Therapy
- SU2C-PCF2 Dream Team: Targeting Adaptive Pathways in Metastatic Treatment-Resistant Prostate Cancer
- SU2C-PCF Dream Team: Precision Therapy for Advanced Prostate Cancer
- SU2C-MRA Dream Team: Personalized Medicine for Patients with BRAF Wild-Type (BRAFwt) Cancer
- An Integrated Approach to Targeting Breast Cancer Molecular Subtypes and Their Resistance Phenotype
- Bringing Epigenetic Therapy to the Forefront of Cancer Management
- Bioengineering and Clinical Applications of Circulating Tumor Cell Chip
- Cutting the Fuel Supply: A New Approach to the Treatment of Pancreatic Cancer
- Targeting PI3K in Women’s Cancers
