Sarcoma Cancer is a rare disease, often misdiagnosed, often afflicting children and young adults.
The Karen Wyckoff Sarcoma Foundation is dedicated to Sarcoma Cancer research, support and education...and the fight to find a cure.

RIS Grant Awards for 2011 Announced

Posted Wed, 02/16/2011 - 17:01 by pete

Rein in Sarcoma is pleased to announce its 2011 grant awards to the University of Minnesota Masonic Cancer Center. Grant awards totaled $170,000, the largest grant round in the Foundation's history.  Thirteen proposals were submitted to the review committee and four were selected for support.

In addition to the four research grants,  two $3,000 scholarships will be offered to third  year medical students wishing to pursue further study of clinical or research aspects of sarcomas.  These scholarships will be managed by Dr. Katherine Dusenbery. 

Rein in Sarcoma is also pleased to announce that that the Foundation and its partners have awarded two grants, totaling $50,000,  as part of our All-University Sarcoma Translational Research Award competition. 2011 marks the third year of Translational  Research Awards, which are jointly funded by the Children's Cancer Research Fund and the Roby Thompson Endowment.

The 2011 KWRISF Sarcoma research grants are awarded to: 

Jamie ModianoPrincipal Investigator: Jaime F. Modiano, VMD, PhD
RIS 2011 Funding: $49,918
 
Results from this project will provide a mechanistic link to our clinical profiles and begin to point out markers that will help direct and design better treatment options for patients with osteosarcoma. For further information about this project, click here.
 
 
Principal Investigator: Xianzheng  Zhou,  MD,  PhD,  Assistant  Professor; Department of Pediatrics/Medical School,Division of Hematology/Oncology/Blood Marrow Transplantation.
RIS 2011 Funding:  $50,000
 
Employing the Sleeping Beauty transposon system ( a piece of naked DNA), the research is expected to lead to the development  of  a  novel cell  therapy  for  the treatment of a broad range of sarcomas including Ewing, rhabomyosarcoma, and osteosarcoma along with other types of solid tumor. For additional information, click here.
 
Principal Investigator: Michael R. Verneris, Associate  Professor, Academic Dept: Pediatrics
RIS 2011 Funding: $48,716 (additional match available)
 
The goals of this trial,which will be the first of its kind, are to test the safety and feasibility of using parental or sibling NK (Natural Killer) cells after high dose chemo therapy for patients with either Ewing sarcoma or Rhabdomyo sarcoma that have metastatic disease at diagnosis or who have relapsed after front-line therapy. For additional information, click here.
 
Principal Investigator: Amy P.N.Skubitz, Ph.D. Professor;  Academic Dept:  Laboratory Medicine and Pathology.
RIS 2011 Funding: $21,366
 
This study is significant for the field of sarcomas for two reasons.  First, AF (Agressive Fibromatosis)  has no well-defined treatment and its biology is not understood.  Second, our results suggest that some of the genes involved in aggressive fibromatosis may predict how sarcomas grow.  Therefore, these genes maybe potential drug targets for sarcomas. For additional information, click here. 
 

Sarcoma Cancer Translational  Research Awards Announced

Funded by Rein in Sarcoma in 2010, the all university Sarcoma Cancer Translational Research Awards for 2011 were announced in January 2011.  The objective of these awards is to support research in the biology, prevention, detection, diagnosis, and/or treatment of bone and soft tissue sarcomas. These awards are jointly funded by KWRISF, The Children's Cancer Research Fund, and the Roby Thompson Endowment.

The  $25,000 awards were presented in January 2011  to:

  • Dr. Subbaya Subramanian "Complete Genome Sequencing and Analysis of Human osteosarcoma" and
  • Dr. David Largaespada "Exploring intratumoral genetic heterogeneity in rhabdomyosarcoma and osteosarcoma."

In our first  ten years as a Foundation, Rein in Sarcoma has funded over $800,000 in sarcoma cancer research through the University of Minnesota Masonic Cancer Center. Our thanks to the thousands of you that have made this possible.

For Projects funded by the Foundation in 2010, click here

For Projects funded by the Foundation in 2009, click here

For Projects funded by the Foundation in 2007 and 2008, click here

For Projects funded by the Foundation and Fund through 2005, click here