Joan Massagué co-winner of the 2015 Charles Rodolphe Brupbacher Prize and more…

Posted on February 4, 2015 by Dina

Some mentions of MSK in the news lately;

MSK’s Joan Massagué, and Irving L. Weissman of Stanford University, were awarded the Charles Rodolphe Brupbacher Prize for their contributions to cancer research. The prizes (each worth CHF 100,000) were presented at the “Breakthroughs in Cancer Research and Therapy” symposium in Zurich.

In a study published January 27, MSK’s Dr. Michael Zelefsky and colleagues determined that the likelihood of surviving prostate cancer for 10 recurrence-free years was 66.4 % among patients who had never smoked, 62.6 % for former smokers, and only 52.4 % among patients who were current smokers.

In a JAMA Dermatology paper, MSK’s Xinyuan Wu and co-authors reported on their study that showed it is feasible and effective to monitor patients’ moles via teledermoscopy over a short-term period.

Saying “No” to High Drug Costs and More…

Posted on January 21, 2015 by Dina

In his January 14 editorial in the NYTimes, MSK’s Dr. Peter B. Bach questioned the wisdom of legally requiring insurance companies and government programs to include coverage in their policies for all drugs, even prohibitively expensive ones, as we do in the United States. He described how just saying “no” has led to lower drug costs in other countries and even in a few cases in the US, in which a company, or in the case of MSK, a hospital, has taken a stand.
MSK recently partnered with Enumeral Biomedical Holdings, Inc. on a two-year project supported by a $999,967 Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract from the National Cancer Institute. In the project, Dr. Jedd D. Wolchok and his team will use an advanced, automated prototype system for human tissue immuno-oncology profiling developed by Enumeral.

Posted on January 7, 2015 by Dina

On December 31, Sir Murray Brennan, an international leader in cancer research who chaired the Dept. of Surgery at MSKCC for over twenty years, was bestowed the honor of Knight Grand Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, one of his native New Zealand’s highest honors, for his services to medicine.
On January 5, the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) announced that MSKCC will be awarded a $3.2 million grant, one of five awards (totalling $28.3M) made to researchers trying to understand how genes get turned on and off.
In a January 6 article in PMLive entitled “Organs-in-a-dish aid drug discovery”, the work of MSKCC researcher Dr. Yu Chen, whose team created prostate cancer organoids, was highlighted as an achievement that could someday aid drug discovery.
Recognized in a December 31 Daily News article were the best ways that Taylor Swift gave back to her fans in 2014, including dropping in on fan and cancer patient, Shelby Huff, who was shocked by Swift’s surprise visit to MSKCC last March.