Doctor's Corner of the Edelman - Gardner Cancer Research Foundation

Edelman - Gardener Dr.'s Corner

July 2010 Update
On Monday of this week, the Board was invited to sit with the Doctors and discuss projects and what our 2009 donation of $50,000 has brought to the table. It was another awesome visit. They told us over and over again how greatful they were for the Edelman-Gardner Cancer Research Foundation. Our recent donation was used on a project that would utilize statistics and research data to build a math model that could some day help predict or treat cancer. The Wilmot Cancer Center is the only one of its kind to venture in this direction. They will be testing their model with the hopes of using the results to gain a larger grant to extend this project. They hope to share the preliminary results of this project in July. This is an extremely unique project hat could hold that very important key.
As someone that worked with you to raise money, it made me feel very proud of all the work that everyone has done.

Below is a brief explanation by Dr Anthony Almudevar
Currently, scientists describe cancer as a malfunction of a cell's gene regulatory network which results in uncontrolled tumor growth. The hope is that by identifying which gene interactions are affected, more powerful therapies can be designed. There are, however, over 30,000 genes in the human genome. Determining injuries to the gene network in cancer cells is thus a challenging task.
Due to novel genetic approaches developed in the laboratory of Dr. Hartmut Land at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC), genes which respond synergistically to multiple cancer gene mutations can be identified as highly likely to be involved in the gene regulatory network's malfunction.
Currently the Edelman-Gardner Foundation supports a research program lead by Dr Anthony Almudevar in the Department of Biostatistics and Computational Biology at URMC to mathematically model how these genes cooperate in regulating cell growth. The research will result in new techniques significantly improving the accuracy of gene network modeling. This will make it possible to investigate and understand cancer genetics at the regulatory gene network level.

The James P. Wilmot Cancer Center at the University of Rochester Medical Center is making great strides in the war on cancer. The support of the Sally Edelman and Harry Gardner Cancer Research Foundation allows our physicians and scientists to answer the many questions that cancer brings and enhances our oncologists' ability to provide the highest quality care to people with cancer in the Rochester and Western New York region.

Planting Seeds for Success
Funds from the Edelman/Gardner Cancer Research Foundation are being used by researchers - who bring scientific results from the bench to the bedside quickly. Their efforts are laying the groundwork for major federal funding to support further research into a number of areas in hematology - which is the science of treating cancers of the blood, such as leukemia and lymphoma.

Experimental Hermatology Program
Funds from the Edelman-Gardener foundation were distributed by the Experimental Hermatology Program (EHP) via a competitive grant process. Funds were awarded to support seven different collaborative research projects, with matching funds provided by the University of Rochester Medical Center. Collectively, Edelman-Gardner Funds contributed to the submission of five scientific papers and eight grant applications. To date, successful grant applications have resulted in about $1.4 Million in new research funds.

In Situ Antitumor Immunity and Effects of Radiation
(7/1/2006 - 6/30/2011)
The long term objective of this project is to investigate the interactions between tumor cells and host immune cells and to determine how hypoxia within the tumor alters cell infiltration and function. This recent grant is in the process of being funded for the amount of $250,000

Recently funded programs

These include A 3-D bioreactor system for long-term culture of hematologic samples, used to develop a novel three-dimensional bioreactor tissue culture system for the the culture of human peripheral lymphoid organ cells; Hematopoietic stem call and bone marrow stromal cell response to PTH, focus on the field of bone cell interactions with blood forming stem cells, data from this research has allowed the Wilmot Cancer Center to be recognized as a leader in hematopoietic-osteoblastic interactions. Investigations of protein kinase PKK in DLCL; data generated from this pilot fund will be used to submit another grant in the near future. Other programs: B-VCAm expression and function; Embryonic origin of the chondroclasts and osteoclasts; Cyclooxygenase expression and B-cell lymphoma/leukemia; and Farnesyl transferase and proteasome inhibition for leukemia therapy.

For more information:
http://www.stronghealth.com/services/cancer/