Guest Author: Marissa Rashkovan, PhD, Damon Runyon-Sohn Pediatric Cancer Fellow

On my 14th birthday, my parents sat my brother and me down and let us know that my mom had cancer – non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma to be exact. At the time, I didn’t know what that was. 

Five Damon Runyon alumnae were elected to the National Academy of Sciences (the science “Hall of Fame”), one of the highest honors given to a U.S. scientist. This membership recognizes their distinguished and continuing achievements in biomedical research. The total number of Damon Runyon scientists who are members of the National Academy of Sciences is now 79. This is a milestone year with women comprising 40 percent of the 100 newly elected members and 25 foreign associates, the most ever elected in any one year since the Academy was established in 1863.

We recently hosted a Twitter chat with Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator, Joshua Brody, MD, of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai to discuss his latest breakthrough -  a promising new cancer vaccine that activates the immune system to fight tumors throughout the body. While Dr. Brody didn't have the time to answer all the questions about his exciting research during the hour-long Twitter chat, the full interview is presented here. 

Former Damon Runyon Fellow and Board Member Elaine V. Fuchs, PhD, and Former Fellow and Nobel Laureate James E. Rothman, PhD, have been elected foreign members of the Royal Society of the United Kingdom. In July, they will travel to London to sign the book that includes esteemed members such as Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, and Stephen Hawking.

Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Joshua Brody, MD, and his colleagues at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai report a promising new cancer vaccine that activates the immune system to fight tumors throughout the body. This exciting new reserach was published in Nature Medicine.

As high fructose corn syrup — common in soda and processed foods — has crept into everyday diets, rates of obesity and diseases like type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure have increased. Now, Former Damon Runyon Fellow Jihye Yun, PhD, and colleagues have discovered another reason to avoid the sweetener: consuming the equivalent of 12 ounces of sugary soda a day accelerated tumor growth in mice that were predisposed to colon cancer.

Nicknamed Canada’s Nobels, the Gairdner Awards for medical research celebrate the world’s best biomedical and global health scientists. This year Bruce W. Stillman, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow ’78-81’), President and CEO of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, received the honor for his work describing the exact sequence of events involved in DNA replication.

The American Association for Cancer Research announced the winners of this year's Scientific Achievement Awards, which recognize scientists and clinicians who have made significant contributions to our understanding of the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of cancer. Congratulations to three Damon Runyon Alumni for receiving this honor.

Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Priscilla K. Brastianos, MD, is driven to find a cure for metastatic cancer. Dr. Brastianos’s grandmother was 23 years old when she felt a breast mass during medical school training and diagnosed herself with breast cancer, only to pass away at 29 when the cancer had metastasized to the spine. Four decades later, her mother faced the same devastating diagnosis. After living through therapy after therapy that failed, she lost the fight to breast cancer that had metastasized to the brain.

By Joseph D. Mancias, MD, PhD, Damon Runyon Rachleff-Innovator at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
At the recent Accelerating Cancer Cures Symposium in New York City, I got an inside look at the cutting-edge cancer research presented by fellow Damon Runyon scientists. The unique symposium encourages networking with fellow awardees and pharmaceutical industry leaders.  Unlike solitary work in the lab, collaboration provides a synergy of ideas most likely to lead to unexpected paths of discovery.