- The Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance declared the six winners of the first Pershing Square Sohn Prize for Young Investigators in Cancer Research. The recipients each receive $200,000 per year for up to three years to help them carry on their research. One of the prize winners, MSK’s Dr. Ross Levine, is evaluating how mutations in some specific epigenetic proteins contribute to cancer in humans. His aim is to find novel drugs to fight the cancers.
- Protea Biosciences Group, Inc. announced its collaborative research initiative with MSK and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The two institutions use Protea’s next generation LAESI direct molecular imaging technology to investigate cancer cells. The study will aid in the comprehension of cancer’s origins. MSK’s lead investigators for the research are Dr. Robert J. Downey and Dr. Andre Moreira.
- In an effort to fight two common childhood cancers, pediatric leukemia and neuroblastoma, The New York Genome Center and The Sohn Conference Foundation initiated the Sohn Collaborative for Pediatric Cancer Research, a multi-institutional endeavor. MSK is among the Founding Members which also include Columbia University, New York University School of Medicine, The Rockefeller University and Weill Cornell Medical College. The researchers will use genomic science to learn why some tumors respond to treatment, while other patients’ tumors do not respond to treatment or relapse occurs.
- Dr. David Pfister, chief of the Head and Neck Oncology Service at MSK recently gave a presentation on head and neck cancer risk factors. These cancers are in a vital area of the body since they affect the ability to speak, swallow and breathe. Dr. Pfister stated that the biggest risk factors for these cancers are tobacco and alcohol and unfortunately there are no standard screening tests. New developments in robotics are making surgery possible in previously unreachable locations.