____________________________________
EVENTS
___________________________________
MAR. 31 & APR. 1
BIO LEGISLATIVE DAY FLY-IN
Four Points Sheraton
1201 K Street, NW
Washington, D.C.
____________________________________
APR. 9
INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES BREAKFASTS
7:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.
_______________________
APR. 29
DELAWARE BIO ANNUAL AWARDS GALA
DuPONT COUNTRY CLUB
5:30 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
___________________________
MAY 13 - 15
Loews Philadelphia
Hotel
Philadelphia, PA
___________________________
MAY 18 - 21
BIO 2009
Atlanta Convention
Center
Atlanta, GA
____________________________
JUNE 9 & 10
EARLY STAGE EAST
Applications close
April 24.
Hotel DuPont
Wilmington, DE
______________________________
Walter E. Washington
Convention Center
Washington, D.C.
____________________________________
SAVE THESE DATES!
2009 Upcoming BioBreakfasts
WEDNESDAY, MAY 13
Delaware Biotechnology Institute
15 Innovation Way, Newark, DE.
7:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. |
TUESDAY, JULY 14
John H. Ammon Medical Education Center
Christiana Care
Newark, DE
7:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.
|
|
|
|
 |
NEMOURS RESEARCH SUPPORTED BY
$1.02 MILLION IN GRANTS
|
The Nemours Center for Childhood Cancer Research in 2008 surpassed $1 million in outside grants, money that scientists say will help them in their quest to unlock the causes of many pediatric cancers. The Nemours cancer center was awarded four of the nine grants it applied for last year, totaling $1.02million.
"These grants are critical for us to continue to do the kind of work that we're doing," said Thomas Shaffer, associate director of biomedical research at Nemours. Shaffer said Nemours is working to pull in more research dollars in the upcoming years, with an
eventual goal of gaining recognition by the federal government as a pediatric cancer center.
The renowned St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., is now the only institution designated as a pediatric cancer center by the National Cancer Institute. Shaffer said Nemours got a big boost with the hiring of Ayyappan Rajasekaran and his wife, Sigrid, in July 2007. They had worked at the University of California, Los Angeles, and their studies into biomarkers -- which mark the presence or progression of a disease -- have been published in several prominent medical journals.
Sigrid A. Rajasekaran was awarded a four-year, $720,000 grant from the American Cancer Society to study the role of growth factors -- proteins involved in cell growth and cell division -- in cancer. Ayyappan Rajasekaran said that grant will be used to hire more researchers and collect data."This is a great thing because it will help us build a platform for pediatric cancer research in
Delaware," he said.
Senior research scientist Robert W. Mason was awarded a two-year, $200,000 grant from Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation to study a new approach to treat the cancer neuroblastoma. Researchers will use that grant to understand how a particular compound -- discovered by Nemours researchers -- kills neuroblastoma cells.
Drs. Anders E. Kolb and Eric Sandler also received $50,000 grants from separate foundations.
Nemours also will be applying for a Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence grant this year. Awarded by the National Institutes of Health, COBREs are designed to improve the competitiveness
of investigators in states like Delaware, which typically don't receive significant amounts of funding.
Cancer research centers can pull in millions of dollars in their first year, depending on the strength of their applications, said Dr. Alan Buchman, president of the American Federation for Medical
Research. "Winning grants has become more critical with fewer federal research dollars to go around."
Article by HIRAN RATNAYAKE
Excerpted from The News Journal
|
|
|
|
|
