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Proposal Leverages and Highlights the Importance of the Cancer Genome Atlas Initiative
09/03/2008
On Friday, September 5th, STAND UP TO CANCER!
Over 50 of the most renowned personalities in TV, film, sports and music will come together to make history. In an unprecedented television event, NBC, ABC, and CBS will simultaneously devote 1 hour of commercial-free prime time to raise funds for the fight against cancer on Friday, September 5th at 8PM.
From the stand up to cancer website http://su2c.standup2cancer.org/, Stand Up To Cancer is forging a new way to develop breakthroughs that will end cancer. We’re putting together the best and the brightest minds in cancer research – those on the edge of accomplishment – investing in their projects and taking the bureaucratic obstacles out of their way. We are building interdisciplinary “Dream Teams” of scientists, clinicians, technicians and other experts, who will focus on a specific cancer problem. We’ll track their progress in real time, so that everyone who invests can see how their participation is creating real change.
An exciting proposal for one such ‘Dream Team’ is being assembled by Lynda Chin MD of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Alfred Yung of MD Anderson. In this “TCGA Dream Team”, Chin and Yung propose to combine the power of systematic genomics and cancer biology with the clinical translational forces within the The Cancer Genome Atlas http://cancergenome.nih.gov/ research network to elucidate resistance mechanisms to standard therapies and to develop rational combination strategies that can minimize or prevent resistance in one of the deadliest of brain cancers, glioblastoma. The power of this approach has recently been demonstrated and the results of the pilot program will be featured in Nature online http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html on September 4th. Other team members include Al Yung, Eric Lander, Joe Gray, Stephen Baylin, Peter Laird, Cameron Brennan, Tom Mikkelson, Eric Perakslis and Dellann Elliott.
This proposal is especially exciting as, through the Cancer Genome Atlas initiative, it can and will serve as the “translational arm” to bring genomic discovery to the bedside, leveraging an already robust interdisciplinary network. It will populate, codify and unlock the entire cancer genome which can enable the acceleration of progress across all cancer types. Around the country and the world, there are many brilliant and dedicated researchers working to unlock and apply the power of the human genome towards the war on cancer. The Cancer Genome Atlas can serve as a unified repository and access point that enables the innovative approaches of individuals to be leveraged in an efficient manner by bringing the output of all these approaches together into a single, robust framework.
On Friday, September 5th, please tune in to STAND UP TO CANCER and express your support for this historical event!
For more info please contact: Eric D Perakslis PhD: 610.240.8476