The American Cancer Society is the largest non-government, not-for-profit source of funding for cancer research in the country. On April 1, 2008, the Society was funding 938 multi-year grants worth $458 million. In the Great Lakes Division alone, the American Cancer Society is currently funding 45 grants that total more than $23 million.

The American Cancer Society’s Research and Training Program has funded 42 Nobel Prize laureates since its inception in 1946, during which time it has invested more than $3.2 billion in cancer research. A great deal of those funds is focused on the work of promising new investigators.

This year, ACS has awarded 133 national research and training grants. Among the newly awarded grants approved for 2008 are five researchers in the Great Lakes Division.

James L. Ferrara, MD is the director of the Combined Blood and Marrow Transplant Program at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He is investigating ways to make bone marrow transplants safer. Dr. Ferrara is looking for genetic biomakers that will identify patients who are most likely to develop graft-vs-host disease.

Catherine E. Keegan, MD, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics - Division of Genetics at the University of Michigan. Her studies will advance the field of cancer biology by improving our understanding of how abnormal telomeres can affect the body’s functions. Determining how telomere proteins interact with telomerase may also lead to the development of future cancer therapies that could be targeted to telomere proteins.

Quintin Pan, PhD of the University of Michigan is investigating the role of PKCepsilon in the development of metastasis, a major clinical challenge in head and neck squamous skin cancer management. His experiments, which are the first of their kind, will provide an understanding of the cancer signaling process through PKCepsilon and advance the development of a treatment strategy against head and neck squamous cancer.

Xiaochun Yu, MD, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Molecular Medicine and Genetics at the University of Michigan. His lab focuses on the mechanisms of cell cycle checkpoint activation, the self-defense system of cells. When cells encounter internal or external hazards, these checkpoints sense damages caused by these hazards and stop cell cycle progression. Loss of cell cycle checkpoints will disrupt the repair process, trigger genomic instability, and ultimately lead to the development of tumors. His lab is studying the roles of several key players in the checkpoint pathways to uncover new ways to suppress tumors.

Cynthia J. Bell, MSN, BSN of Indiana University, Indianapolis, was awarded her second grant with ACS this year, for research exploring an adolescent’s subjective experience of living with advanced or incurable cancer. The long-term objective of her research is to develop appropriate and supportive end-of-life interventions that will assist in the quality of life at the end of life for adolescents with cancer and their families.

To learn more about American Cancer Society researchers and the research program, visit www.cancer.org/research.

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