Team led by Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Kimberly Stegmaier receives SU2C Sharp Award from Stand Up To Cancer
May 15, 2019
Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) announced on May 2 that a team led
by Kimberly Stegmaier, MD, Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood
Disorders Center, and Sarah Tasian, MD, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, was
awarded a two-year grant totaling $250,000. Their SU2C Sharp Award is titled:
Precision combinatorial immunotherapeutic targeting of thymic stromal
lymphopoietin receptor (TSLPR) signaling in pediatric and young adult CRLF2-rearranged
ALL.
This team will test a novel hypothesis that
multi-antigen-specific CAR T-cells targeting two or more neoantigens presented
by the cancer cells will have superior anti-leukemia efficacy in preclinical
models of childhood Down syndrome-associated ALL and Ph-like ALL, prevent
resistance mechanisms observed with single antigen-targeted CAR T-cells, and
facilitate more durable leukemia remissions in these medically fragile
populations.
“These new studies bring together outstanding researchers from
different teams to make use of the extraordinary talent we have across the SU2C
community,” said Arnold J. Levine, PhD, vice chair of the SU2C Scientific
Advisory Committee (SAC). “We’re building on previous research at the same time
we are tackling tough new questions.”
Stegmaier is a 2009 Innovative Research Grant recipient, while
Tasian is a young investigator on the St. Baldrick’s Foundation-SU2C Pediatric
Cancer Dream Team.
The Phillip A. Sharp Awards for Innovation in Collaboration
are named for Phillip A. Sharp, PhD, a Nobel Laureate and molecular biologist
at MIT who serves as chairperson of the SAC, in recognition of his relentless
emphasis on collaboration across research institutions and among different
teams as a way to bring fresh perspectives to questions in cancer research.
This grant was funded with support from the Emily Whitehead
Foundation, named for the first pediatric patient to receive chimeric antigen
receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy for leukemia. Emily was seven years old when she
received the groundbreaking treatment in 2011 and is thriving today with no
evidence of disease.
The grant program is unique in its speed and simplicity.
Scientists attending the annual SU2C Scientific Summit in Santa Monica,
California, are invited to submit applications consisting of a 250-word outline
of their idea. A committee meets the next morning to review the applications,
and the preliminary winners are announced that afternoon. Each winning team
submits a more detailed application before the grant is confirmed.
The leaders of each team cannot be from the same existing SU2C
research team. The inclusion of early-career investigators in the team is also
encouraged, another distinctive SU2C touch.
About Stand Up To Cancer
Stand
Up To Cancer (SU2C) raises funds to accelerate the pace of research to get new
therapies to patients quickly and save lives now. SU2C, a division of the
Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF), a 501(c)(3) charitable organization,
was established in 2008 by film and media leaders who utilize the industry’s
resources to engage the public in supporting a new, collaborative model of
cancer research and to increase awareness about cancer prevention as well as
progress being made in the fight against the disease. As SU2C’s scientific
partner, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and a Scientific
Advisory Committee led by Nobel Laureate, Phillip A. Sharp, PhD, conduct
rigorous, competitive review processes to identify the best research proposals
to recommend for funding, oversee grants administration, and provide expert
review of research progress. For more information about Stand Up To Cancer,
visit www.StandUpToCancer.org.
About the American Association for
Cancer Research
Founded
in 1907, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) is the world’s
first and largest professional organization dedicated to advancing cancer
research and its mission to prevent and cure cancer. AACR membership includes
42,000 laboratory, translational, and clinical researchers; population
scientists; other health care professionals; and patient advocates residing in
120 countries. The AACR marshals the full spectrum of expertise of the cancer
community to accelerate progress in the prevention, biology, diagnosis, and
treatment of cancer by annually convening more than 30 conferences and
educational workshops, the largest of which is the AACR Annual Meeting with
more than 21,900 attendees. In addition, the AACR publishes eight prestigious,
peer-reviewed scientific journals and a magazine for cancer survivors,
patients, and their caregivers. The AACR funds meritorious research directly as
well as in cooperation with numerous cancer organizations. As the Scientific
Partner of Stand Up To Cancer, the AACR provides expert peer review, grants
administration, and scientific oversight of team science and individual
investigator grants in cancer research that have the potential for near-term
patient benefit. The AACR actively communicates with legislators and other
policymakers about the value of cancer research and related biomedical science
in saving lives from cancer. For more information about the AACR, visit
www.AACR.org.