Jon Chung PhD

The 2011 Fight Colorectal Cancer-AACR Fellowship, in memory of Lisa Dubow, has been awarded to Jon H. Chung, PhD  from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

His proposed research is Hedgehog Pathway Targeted Therapeutics for Metastatic Colorectal Cancer.

With the award, Dr. Chung will study alternatives to the traditional Hedgehog signaling pathway in colon cancer cells.  He will explore crosstalk within the cell between the Hedgehog and Wnt pathways and screen for drugs that block both pathways at the same time, potentially stopping cancer development. Read the rest of this entry »

Fight Colorectal Cancer is giving you the opportunity to talk to researchers and medical professionals in April and May through online webinars designed to bring the science of treating colorectal cancer down to the personal.

The latest news from the petri dish
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
8 – 9 PM Eastern

Dr. Yaeger at work in her lab

Dr. Rona Yaeger will discuss the research she has been conducting over the past year with the grant she received as part of Fight Colorectal Cancer’s Lisa Fund research program.

Dr. Yaeger’s research focused on inhibiting the AKT pathway in colorectal cancer cells. She conducted basic research to determine how inhibitors to the pathway might affect cells of patients who have mutated KRAS and are resistant to EGFR inhibiting drugs. Dr. Yaeger has also been conducting a phase II clinical trial with an AKT inhibitor for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer who have normal (wild type) KRAS.

If you are interested in learning more about the future of cancer treatments, or if you’ve ever donated to the Fight Colorectal Cancer Lisa Fund, do not miss this webinar!

Read the rest of this entry »

Each year, the Colorectal Cancer Coalition, in conjunction with the American Association for Cancer Research, awards a research grant to a scientist exploring cutting edge ways to combat late stage colorectal cancer.

Dr. Rona Yaeger at work in her lab

The grant is fully funded through donations to the Coalition’s Lisa Fund, named after one of our founders, Lisa Dubow. The 2010 grant went to Dr. Rona Yaeger, a researcher at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.

Coalition Board member Dr. Steven Depp, his wife Bonnie and Dr. Rona Yaeger

Last week, Coalition Board member Dr. Steven Depp, his wife Bonnie and I were invited into Dr. Yaeger’s lab. We watched her set up her gel electrophoresis apparatus to separate proteins. It is part of her goal to inhibit key signaling pathways in colorectal cancer.

Watching her research in action – especially research that we are responsible for – was a real thrill and we told Dr. Yaeger so. We all felt quite honored to be in that lab with her.

And, make no mistake, when I say “research we are responsible for,” I’m talking about every person who has contributed to the Lisa Fund. I wish we could have had all of you in there with us; you were certainly there in our hearts.

Help this research continue! Make a donation to the Lisa Fund today. Thank you so very much.

Dr. Chou discussing his poster at AACR

Both Dr. Jeffrey Chou and Dr. Yaguang Xi presented research posters at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting in Washington this week.

Dr. Chou is the 2009 Lisa Dubow Research Fellow, and Dr. Xi received the award in 2008.

Dr. Xi’s research found a micro-RNA (miRNA) that made colorectal cancer cells more sensitive to 5-FU and also predicted which cells, and potentially which patients, response best to treatment with 5-FU.

Dr. Chou studied whether treating colorectal cancer cells with decitabine (DAC) could produce cancer-testis antigen in the cells and make them sensitive to immunotherapy. Read the rest of this entry »

Rona Yaeger MD

Rona Yaeger, MD is the 2010 Lisa Dubow Research Fellow, receiving the 2010 American Association for Cancer Research – Colorectal Cancer Coalition Fellows Grant.

The Award will be made tonight at a special dinner in honor of AACR Fellows Fund grantees.

Dr. Yaeger is from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.  Her grant research will focus on inhibiting the AKT pathway in colorectal cancer cells. Read the rest of this entry »