Boston groups score prostate cancer research funds
Four research teams based in Boston are among eight groups that have garnered $19 million in grants from a foundation focused on discovering new treatments for recurrent prostate cancer.
The Prostate Cancer Foundation, a philanthropy based in Santa Monica, Calif., announced its 2008 Challenge Awards, which will be distributed to each program in three annual payments of $500,000 to $1 million.
The lead investigators from Boston, their institutions, and their projects are:
Dr. Steven P. Balk, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and Dr. Peter S. Nelson, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, University of Washington: studying the reduction of androgens, or testosterone hormones, in tumor tissues from patients who are taking a new form of androgen-production inhibitor.
Dr. Levi A. Garraway, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT; Dr. Todd R. Golub, Broad Institute; Dr. William C. Hahn, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Broad Institute: using genetic methods to discover new drugs to target cancer-promoting factors in normal prostate cells.
Dr. Daniel Haber, Massachusetts General Hospital: refining a system to measure tumor cells in patients' blood that would signal disease progression and improve treatment choices.
Dr. Matthew R. Smith, Massachusetts General Hospital: examining the side effects of androgen-reduction treatments for advanced prostate cancer -- obesity, diabetes, bone fractures, and heart disease -- and how to limit them with exercise, nutrition, and new medications.
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Elizabeth Cooney is a former
health reporter for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, where she also was a
business reporter and an editor. Earlier in her career, she edited medical
books and journals at Little, Brown, and worked for Boston magazine.Boston Globe Health and Science staff:
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