An initiative of the Lustgarten Foundation and Stand Up To Cancer

CHICAGO, April 15, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Lustgarten Foundation and Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) announced today at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, SU2C’s Scientific Partner, that they are entering into a formal strategic partnership to drive research to improve outcomes for pancreatic cancer patients. The Pancreatic Cancer Collective, funded by the Lustgarten Foundation and Stand Up To Cancer, will accelerate research for pancreatic cancer patients who desperately need better treatments. The initial funding commitment will be $25 million.

Serving as the Collective’s scientific leadership are Nobel Laureate Phillip A. Sharp Ph.D., chair of the Stand Up To Cancer Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) and Institute Professor at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and David Tuveson, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Scientist for the Lustgarten Foundation, Director of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Cancer Center and the Roy J. Zuckerberg Professor of Cancer Research at CSHL, and also a member of the Stand Up To Cancer SAC.

“This is a watershed moment in the field of pancreatic cancer research,” said Dr. Sharp. “Through the Collective, these two organizations are uniquely positioned to engage and influence medical institutions, researchers and companies to achieve meaningful results faster.”

Building on the successful outcomes of their multi-year history, these leading cancer research organizations will inspire new collaborators; leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI) approaches; improve and develop new diagnosis and treatments for pancreatic cancer; and support the next generation of pancreatic cancer investigators. Engaging thought leaders, researchers, institutions, and companies, the Collective will innovate and accelerate research on the edge of science.

“The Collective will utilize the breadth and expertise of existing SU2C-Lustgarten Foundation Research Teams and researchers to support new investigators coming into the field and expand the capacity for additional research,” Dr. Tuveson said.

The first request for applications (RFA) will seek projects focusing on pre-clinical development research to increase the number of innovative and effective therapies to treat pancreatic cancer. The Collective will welcome Teams currently supported by SU2C and the Lustgarten Foundation as well as researchers and institutions new to these organizations and the Collective.

HISTORY

Since 2012, the Lustgarten Foundation and Stand Up To Cancer have built a robust and collaboration, jointly funding more than 170 investigators across 28 leading research centers in both the United States and United Kingdom. These efforts include four Dream Teams, five Research Teams, including two Convergence Teams bringing together computational experts with clinical oncologists. Cancer Interception, research supporting the earliest diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, even before the cancer may have fully formed, is the focus of one of the Dream Teams and one of the Research Teams. All told, these collaborative teams have planned, started or completed 22 clinical trials. The Pancreatic Cancer Collective will build on this momentum and push the boundaries of what can be accomplished even further.