Five cross-disciplinary research groups involving scientists from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, University of Washington School of Medicine, and Seattle Cancer Care Alliance have received $100,000 in awards from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center–based Seattle Translational Tumor Research to develop new precision-medicine approaches for leukemia and cancers of the bladder, ovary, prostate, and breast.
Each year, Seattle Translational Tumor Research’s granting program, made possible by philanthropic support and funding from the University of Washington Medicine, accelerates groundbreaking, innovative research with a strong focus on collaboration across disciplines and research institutions. This seed funding has provided pilot data for successful National Institutes of Health–funded projects, enabling its faculty members to advance their novel research.
Leukemia
Roland Walter, MD, PhD, MS, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and Brent Wood, MD, PhD, of the University of Washington, will test novel antibodies that recognize cancer cells in patients with acute myeloid leukemia and simultaneously recruit healthy immune cells within the patient to kill the cancer.
Bladder Cancer
Andrew Hsieh, MD, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and Bruce Montgomery, MD, of the University of Washington, are using their Seattle Translational Tumor Research funding to study why platinum therapy works in some patients but not in others.
Ovarian Cancer
Christopher Kemp, PhD, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, together with Elizabeth Swisher, MD, and Barbara Goff, MD, of the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, will focus their project on identifying abnormal genomic signatures unique to two specific forms of ovarian cancer.
Prostate Cancer
Peter S. Nelson, MD; Ruth Etzioni, PhD, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center; and Eva Corey, PhD, of the University of Washington, will pursue combination drug treatments in avatar models of advanced prostate cancer, in which human prostate cancer cells are engrafted and allowed to grow in mice.
Breast Cancer
Kevin Cheung, MD, and Peggy Porter, MD, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, together with Savannah Partridge, PhD, and Habib Rahbar, MD, of the University of Washington, will harness the power of an advanced form of magnetic resonance imaging with technology for creating lab-grown organoids to discover new cancer biomarkers and test promising new therapies. ■
