A STAND UP TO CANCER inaugural Dream Team launched in 2009 to focus on epigenetic therapy will continue with a commitment of $7.5 million from the Van Andel Research Institute.
Peter Jones, the institute’s research director and chief scientific officer, and Stephen Baylin, deputy director of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at the Johns Hopkins University, will serve as leaders of the Dream Team.
The VARI-SU2C Epigenetics Dream Team will include top scientists from four other leading institutions: Charles Rudin, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; Jean-Pierre Issa, and Patricia Kropf, of Temple University and Fox Chase Cancer Center; Kirsten Grønbæk, of the University of Copenhagen; and Anthony El-Khoueiry, of the University of Southern California Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center.
“We are extremely excited to build on the foundations already laid by the Epigenetics Dream Team by moving promising therapies into clinical trials,” Jones said.
The original Dream Team, with Baylin as leader and Jones as co-leader, has received nearly $11 million in funding from SU2C, a program of the Entertainment Industry Foundation.
The team’s work has involved clinical trials investigating the response of patients with lung cancer to epigenetic therapy alone, or as a way to sensitize patients to subsequent chemotherapy. VARI’s support over three years will allow the team to move forward with more extensive clinical trials in other cancer types.
