Research and Education
Solving the puzzle of cancer
Backing innovation for over 50 years
Many cancers today can be controlled or managed with new available therapies, but we are still looking for cures. When we started back in 1968, the word was barely spoken because of its deadly implications. Research has made that transformation possible, and our donors make those explorations happen.
Our donors back novel research by our grantees, giving them the time and resources needed to take an intuitive idea into innovative breakthroughs. And those discoveries can take significant amounts of time. Whether it is translating new scientific information into advanced cancer management approaches or improving treatment delivery for better outcomes and quality of life, The Foundation’s grantees are doing work that can change patients’ lives.
Early research
transforms lives
Gliomas can occur in the brain and in various locations in the nervous system, including the brain stem and spinal column. Some tumors, after several months, become treatment resistant. TCF researchers are looking at the mechanisms behind this resistance.
Antonio Iavarone, MD
Professor of Neurology
Professor of Pathology & Cell Biology
Columbia University Medical Center, Institute of Cancer Genetics.
Since 2008
The Chemotherapy+ Foundation is supporting Dr. Iavarone’s study of the link between stem/progenitor cells with cancer stem cells in the nervous system. Their findings show that transcription factors establish interconnected networks that start and maintain a defined tumor phenotype. Reconstruction of those networks in normal cells appears to be sufficient to confer the malignant properties associated with that phenotype. Their long-term goal is to understand the signaling systems involved in initiating and maintaining pediatric brain tumors. This could lead to identifying new targets for pediatric brain tumor therapy.
Our researchers are exploring different avenues to potentially more effective breast cancer treatments through hormone identification, radiation and immunotherapies, and the isolation of gene markers.
Sandra Demaria, MD
Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Professor of Radiation Oncology, Radiation Oncology
Weill Cornell Medical College
Since 2005
In the last decade, there has been huge progress in clinical oncology. New therapies can help our natural self-defense system, the immune system, fight cancer successfully. Backed by a grant from The Chemotherapy+ Foundation, Dr. Demaria and her lab uses a standard treatment, radiation therapy, to convert the tumor growing in a patient into a vaccine against itself (known as “in situ vaccination”). The radiation therapy appears to reprogram the tumor’s interaction with the immune system with signals that mimic a viral infection. By “lighting up” the tumor the immunity system identifies it and activates cancer-killing t-cells. This radiation-induced inflammatory response increases the ability of the immune system to detect the tumor. Clinical trials have begun and look very promising.
Doris Germain, MD
Professor of Medicine, Hematology, and Medical Oncology
Professor of Oncological Sciences
Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai
Since 2006
Long breastfeeding has been shown to be associated with decreased risk of breast cancer in humans, but the mechanism of this effect was also unknown.
Dr. Germain’s group studied mice, looking at Pappalysin-1, a protein encoded by the PAPPA gene in humans. They discovered that mice that express Pappalysin-1 in their mammary gland develop mammary tumors, but only following pregnancy. They also discovered that long but not short lactation inhibits this effect of Pappalysin-1. The Germain group reported that molecules produced during lactation can block the action of Pappalysin-1.
This is the very first mechanism that explains the protective effect of breastfeeding. Dr. Germain and her lab are working to isolate what they have now identified as a hormone that protects against breast cancer. Isolation and potential application of this hormone in a patient setting is the goal.
Sylvia Adams, MD
Professor of Medicine
Director, Breast Cancer Center
NYU Langone’s Perlmutter Cancer Center
An NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center
Since 2021
Joseph Saglimbeni, MD, PhD (Candidate)
NYU Grossman School of Medicine
The Chemotherapy+ Foundation’s grant supports a study in Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) and the identification of markers that will help reveal more effective avenues of treatment. TNBC is not as responsive to immunotherapy as other malignancies, making it a difficult condition to manage. In the study, patients will be compared before and after treatment, whether they responded to treatment or not. The goal is to identify differences in leukocyte organization and cell-to-cell interactions that are relevant to the response to therapy.
The relationship between irritable bowel disease and cancer has complicated treatment for patients. Our researchers are clarifying the approach.
Steven Itzkowitz, MD
Director of GI Fellowship Program
Division of Gastroenterology
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Since 2005
Patients with inflammatory bowel disease can have a complicated treatment path if they develop cancer. The Chemotherapy+ Foundation supports a study on patients with inflammatory bowel disease who have a history of cancer and receive immunosuppressant medicines for their IBD. Dr. Itzkowitz found that they are at no greater risk of new or recurrent cancer than those who did not receive these medicines. This should reassure patients and their doctors that their IBD can still be treated appropriately even with a history of cancer, improving their quality of life.
Blood cancers can be very resistant to treatment. Our researchers are tackling some of the basic science behind some of the genetic markers in order to find better treatments.
Samir Parekh, MD
Professor of Medicine
Director of Translation Research in Myeloma
Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai, Division of Hematology/Medical Oncology
Since 2008
Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is the most common blood cancer worldwide. Mantel Cell Lymphoma (MCL) represents about 6 percent of all non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Despite advances in chemotherapy and immunotherapy, most Mantel Cell Lymphoma (MCL) patients relapse and die of their disease. The Chemotherapy+ Foundation is supporting Dr. Parekh’s work on this stubborn killer. Dr. Parekh is studying the therapeutic development of molecular inhibitors of a human protein that is encoded by the SOX11 gene. This gene is a highly specific marker for MCL and other hematological cancers.
Our researchers are finding breakthroughs in the treatment of these lymphatic system cancers that show promise for solid tumors as well.
Ari Melnick, MD
Director, Sackler Center for Biomedical and Physical Sciences
Professor of Hematology/Oncology, Weill Cornell Medicine
Since 2005
Lymphoma cells reprogram their genomes to suppress the production of proteins, rendering them “invisible” to the immune system. Dr. Melnick and his lab have discovered this new cancer mechanism and a new drug that can reverse this effect. It restores the ability of the immune system to track down and destroy the tumor. These findings are important not only to Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphomas but also to solid tumors. Dr. Melnick and his collaborators are working to rapidly translate this novel therapeutic agent to a clinical setting, potentially providing a more cost-effective approach for harnessing the immune system to kill cancer cells.
We are backing basic research into the complex interactions and molecular pathways behind leukemia in both adults and children.
Iannis Aifantis, PhD
Chair, Department of Pathology
Hermann M. Biggs Professor of Pathology
NYU Grossman School of Medicine
Since 2008
T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) begins in the bone marrow and can spread to other organs. It is a subset of the most common form of cancer in children and tends to affect younger adults. The Chemotherapy+ Foundation is supporting a study to understand both pediatric and adult T-ALL. It builds upon Dr. Aifantis’ previous work on the importance of molecular pathways that act at the post-translational level to support cell homeostasis.
Exploring how the immune system does and doesn’t respond when there are genetic variations can help identify effective treatments in the future.
Iman Osman, MD
Rudolf L. Baer Professor of Dermatology
Professor, Department of Medicine
Professor, Department of Urology
NYU School of Medicine, Department of Dermatology
Since 2008
Treating cancer can require using immune checkpoint inhibitors, such as anti-PD-1 therapies. Immune checkpoints keep the immune system from killing healthy cells. In cancer patients, they can keep the immune system from attacking the tumors, and they must be turned ‘off’ with inhibitors.
There are preliminary findings that the pathogenic germline variant KDR Q742H is associated with a lack of response to immune checkpoint blockade in melanoma patients. The Chemotherapy+ Foundation supports validating these preliminary findings by acquiring 400 germline DNA samples from melanoma patients with anti-PD-1 therapy.
Current research
What we fund and why
The Chemotherapy Foundation understands that it takes decades for research to translate into treatment. Most of our researchers are funded for at least 5 to 10 years except for special one-time grants.
Our Medical Advisory Council creates a “Request for Proposals” in specific areas of oncology and contacts researchers and medical doctors at medical institutions in the Tri-state area. Our priority is emerging talent in oncology with a focus on funding translational and collaborative research projects that evolve into breakthrough interventions for changing the way cancer is treated. We do not accept unsolicited grant proposals.
A history of funding breakthroughs
Adolfo Ferrando, MD, PhD
Columbia University Medical Center,
Institute of Cancer Genetics.
Studies strategies to increase remission rates for Leukemia
Robert Fine, MD
Columbia University Medical Center, Division of Medical Oncology
(Clinical Research).
Developed treatment regimens for pancreatic cancer and was the first to exploit BRCA mutation.
Peter Brooks, MD
NYU School of Medicine,
Department of Radiation Oncology and Cell Biology
Basic research and innovative strategies for the early detection and treatment of malignant tumors.
Anna Ferrari, MD
NYU School of Medicine, Clinical Care Center
Genomic analysis of prostate cancer led to several trials of androgen receptor modulation.
Leonard Liebes, MD
NYU School of Medicine, Division of Medical Oncology
Developed a new method of delivering chemotherapy in treating ovarian cancer.
Joseph Locker, MD, PhD
Albert Einstein College of Medicine,
Department of Pathology
Studied tumor suppressor genes in adenocarcinoma and squamous cell cancers of the lung.
