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American Brain Tumor Association Awards $2.6 Million for Brain Tumor Research

CHICAGO – The American Brain Tumor Association (ABTA) awarded $2.6 million in the 2008-2009 fiscal year – the largest amount ever granted in one year during the organization’s 35-year history – to support adult and pediatric tumor research throughout the United States and Canada.

 

The funding includes Research Fellowships awarded to young, talented scientists working to further decode the origins of specific brain tumors, and ultimately, to find new and effective treatments. Each Fellow will receive $80,000 over a two-year period. In addition, nine grants ($50,000 each) were awarded to scientists investigating promising laboratory research for potential further study and eventual clinical (patient) use. Another 10 awards were granted to outstanding medical students. They will each receive $2,500 stipends allowing them to work alongside prominent brain tumor researchers.

 

“Through its research awards, ABTA is encouraging scientists to enter or remain in the field of brain tumor research,” said ABTA President, Michael Sharkey. “This is critical as brain tumor research is evolving at a rapid pace. Today’s scientists are studying the cellular structure of brain tumors toward developing future, successful treatments.”

 

“We are hopeful that the research we fund today will lead to more effective treatments, better delivery methods, and a greater understanding of the causes of brain tumors,” said ABTA Board President Michael Sharkey. “We are often asked: ‘How is ABTA making a difference?’ We simply need to look at the 360,000 people in the United States who are living with a brain tumor. They are proof that progress is being made through research.’”

 

Founded in 1973, ABTA seeks to eliminate brain tumors through research while meeting the education and social service needs of brain tumor patients, their families and caregivers.

 

Each fall, ABTA requests applications for its annual research awards. The applications are then evaluated by the organization’s prestigious 21-member Scientific Advisory Council, which includes some of the nation’s most prominent neurosurgeons, neuro-oncologists and neuroscientists. The council makes funding recommendations to the ABTA Board of Directors based on the quality of the individual applicants, their training programs, and research projects.

2008-2009 ABTA Research Fellows

 

·        Veerakumar Balasubramaniyan, Ph.D., M.D. Anderson Cancer Center,

Houston, Texas, “Role of balab2 in Self-Renewal and Differentiation of Glioblastoma Stem Cells”

·        Bipin Bobby Bhatia, Ph.D., Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, N.Y., “Targeting mRNA Translation Machinery in Medulloblastoma”

·        Anne-Marie Bleau, Ph.D., Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, N.Y., “The Chemoresistance of CD133+ Cancer Stem Cells in Mouse Gliomas”

·        Yuntao Chen, Ph.D., University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center,

Dallas, Texas, “Analysis of the Functional Influence of microRNAs in Malignant Astrocytoma”

·        Milan Chheda, M.D., Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Mass., “Analysis of the Functional Influence of microRNAs in Malignant Astrocytoma”

·        Robert Dejournett, Ph.D., M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, “Role of Alix T745 Phosphorylation in EGF and Cisplatin mediated EGFR endocytosis”

·        Katherine Dunn, Ph.D., Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Mass., “Telomeres and Telomerase in the Initiation and Progression of Glioblastoma Multiforme”

·        Galina Gabriely, Ph.D., Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, Mass., “A Role of McroRNAs in Cancer Progression of Brain Tumors”

·        German Gomez, Ph.D., Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, LaJolla, Calif., “MicroRNAs Regulated by EGFR Signaling in Glioblastoma”

·        Shawn Hingtgen, Ph.D., Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, Mass., “Engineering and Real-time Imaging of Targeted Anti-tumor Therapies Using ES Derived Neural Stem Cells”

·        Craig Horbinski, M.D., Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Pa., “Genetic and Biomarker Profiling of Juvenile Pilocytic Astrocytomas”

·        Bin Hu, Ph.D., The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, “Fibulin-3: A Novel Target for Brain Tumor Therapy?”

·        Ahmed Idbaih, M.D., Ph.D., Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Mass., “Stem and Progenitor Cell Transcription Factor Networks as Therapeutic Targets in Malignant Glioma”

·        Maria-del-Mar Inda, Ph.D., “Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, La Jolla, Calif., “Dissecting the Crosstalk Between wt and Mutant EGFR in Glioblastoma Multiforme”

·        Rahul Jandial, M.D., Burnham Institute for Medical Research, LaJolla, Calif., “Lineage Mapping of a Brain Tumor”

·        Avadhut Joshi, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md., “Evaluating Cardiac Glycosides for Glioblastoma Therapy”

·        Ming Li, Ph.D., Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, LaJolla, Calif., “Dissection of the Role of EGFR-Mediated hGBP1 Expression in Glioblastoma”

·        S. Kyun Lim, Ph.D., University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas, Texas,“Identifying Oncogenic Pathways in Mouse Brain Tumor Model”

·        Dan Liu, M.D., Ph.D., M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, “Role of Tie2 in the Invasive Phenotype of Malignant Gliomas”

·        Kan Lu, Ph.D., University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, Calif., “Functional Significance and Recruitment Mechanisms of Bone Marrow-Delivered Cells in Glioblastoma Multiforme”

·        Janine Lupo, Ph.D., University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, Calif., “Development of Advanced MRI Methods for Non-Invasively Characterizing Changes in Brain Tumor Microvasculature”

·        Joydeep Mukherjee, Ph.D., Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada,  “Regional Variations in Molecular Regulators of Angiogenesis, Invasion/Migration and Apoptosis in Glioblastoma Multiforme”

·        Theodore Nicolaides, M.D., University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, Calif., “Combination Targeted Therapy for Malignant Glioma”

·        Ryan Nitta, Ph.D., Stanford University Medical Center, Palo Alto, Calif., “The Role of JNK2alpha2 in Glial Tumorigenesis”

·        Michal Nowicki, Ph.D., The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, “Investigating the Role of GSK-3 in Glioma Invasion”

·        Tatsuya Ozawa, M.D., Ph.D., Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, N.Y., “The Functional Analysis of a Novel Fusion Receptor Tyrosine Kinase in Glioma”

·        Donald Williams Parsons, M.D., Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md., “A Comprehensive Mutation Analysis of the Medulloblastoma and Glioblastoma Genomes”

·        Anders Persson, Ph.D., University of California-San Francisco, San Francisco, Calif., “Use of Aurora Kinase Inhibitors to Target Tumor-Initiating Glioblastoma Cells”

·        Jennifer Rahn, Ph.D., University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, “Molecular and Cellular Characterisation of Glioma Invasion and Vascularisation”

·        Renee Read, Ph.D., The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, LaJolla, Calif., “A Novel Genetic Screen for Modifiers of Glioma Invasion and Proliferation”

·        Ayguen Sahin, Ph.D., Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Mass., “Improved Strategies for Adoptive Immunotherapy Against Glioblastoma Through ‘3^rd Generation’ Chimeric Receptor Engineered T Cells”’

·        Eric Sulman, M.D., Ph.D., M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, “Functional Role of Podoplanin in Malignant Gliomas”

·        Massimo Squatrito, Ph.D., Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, N.Y., “Investigating the Role of Chk2 in Gliomagenesis and Cancer Stem Cell Resistance to Irradiation”

·        Peng Sun, M.D., Ph.D., John Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md., “Acyl-COA Synthetase VL3 (ACSVL3) and Glioma Malignancy”

·        Stacey Thomas, Ph.D., Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, Mich., “PTEN Regulation of SPARC-Mediated Glioma Cell Invasion and Survival”

·        Jialiang Wang, Ph.D., Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C., “Brain Tumor Stem Cells Resist Cytokine-induced Apoptosis by Activating NF-kappaB”

·        Xiaochong Wu, Ph.D., Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, “In Vivo Functional Genomics of Metastic Medulloblastoma”

·        Thomas Wurdinger, Ph.D., Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, Mass., “MicroRNA-Mediated Inhibition of Glioma Angiogenesis”

·        Haoqiang Ying, Ph.D., Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Mass., “The Role of Putative Tumor Suppressor MIG6 in Glioblastoma Development”

·        Qian Zhang, Ph.D., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N.C., “Investigation of EGFR Activation in GBM Development in a Mouse Model and Exploration of the Mechanism of Compensatory Activation of PDGFR Loss”

·        Donghong Zhao, Ph.D., City of Hope & Beckman Research Institute, Duarte, Calif., “Improving Targeted Therapeutics for Malignant Glioma by Human Neural Stem Cells”

·        Haotian Zhao, Ph.D., St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, Tenn., “BMP-Math1 Pathway, a Novel Target in Medulloblastoma”

 

2008-2009 ABTA Research Grants

 

·        Nathalie Agar, Ph.D., Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, Mass., “Intraoperative Molecular Diagnosis of Gliomas for Personalized Treatment”

·        Nabil Ahmed, M.D., Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, “Adoptive Immunotherapy for Glioblatoma Multiforme”

·        G-One Ahn, Ph.D., Stanford University, Daly City, Calif., “The Role of Myelomonocytic Cells in Radiosensitivity of Brain Tumors”

·        Markus Bredel, M.D., Ph.D., Northwestern University, Chicago, Ill., “A Network of Endogenous Modulators of Nuclear Factor-kappaB in Treatment Resistance of High-Grade Gliomas”

·        Joseph Lasky, III, M.D., University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, Calif., “Immunotherapeutic Targeting of Stem Cells in Pediatric Brain Tumors”

·        Ichiro Nakano, M.D., Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles, Sherman Oaks, Calif., “Targeting the Key Signaling Pathways in Brain Tumor Stem Cells”

·        Sridhar Nimmagadda, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, Md., “Radiolabeled Analogs of CXCR4 for Brain Tumor Imaging”

·        Baogang Xi, Ph.D., Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Antioch, Tenn., “Identification of Potential Plasma Protein Markers for Early Detection of Glioblasoma Multiforme and Recurrence”

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