A Progress Report on Stand Up To Cancer

We all remember the star studded evening, but what’s going on since the broadcast? The link below will give you an update on where the collection efforts are and some additional information on the availability of research grants.

After all the time and effort spent to create this evening, the committee is moving right along to get the funds out to where they are needed in cancer research. If you are involved in R and D, could be a good time to review and perhaps see what is available. BD

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.

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.