Cancer Frontier Fund Supports Seven New Cancer Research Projects

Gifts to the Cancer Frontier Fund at The Foundation for Barnes-Jewish Hospital recently funded $1.5 million to support seven of eight projects through the Siteman Investment Program (SIP), a research grant program at Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine. SIP is a highly competitive, peer-reviewed grant program designed to accelerate innovation in cancer research.

SIP provides researchers with catalyst funding to test novel ideas and launch early-stage research necessary to secure larger federal grants and act on breakthroughs. SIP recipients have leveraged an additional $12 in federal grants for every $1 awarded through SIP. Grants are awarded bi-annually from SIP.

The Cancer Frontier Fund includes gifts from the Foundation’s annual Illumination Gala, Pedal the Cause’s annual bike challenge, as well as donations throughout the year. In total, Siteman Cancer Center disbursed $2 million from a variety of sources to support eight projects, seven of which were funded by the Cancer Frontier Fund.

“These projects will change the trajectory of cancer in powerful ways,” says Susan Ell, vice president and executive director of The Foundation for Barnes-Jewish Hospital. “We could not make this transformative, life-saving investment at Siteman Cancer Center without the support of our generous donors and our ongoing partnership with Pedal the Cause.”

Projects receiving SIP awards include:

• NeoTAILOR: A Phase II Biomarker-directed Approach to Guide Neoadjuvant Therapy for Patients with Stage II/III ER-positive, HER2-negative Breast Cancer
  Principal Investigator: Nusayba Bagegni, MD
   
• Phase I Study with an Expansion Cohort of EZH2 Inhibitor CPI-0209 (Tulmimetostat) in Patients with Mycosis Fungoides and Sézary Syndrome
  Principal Investigator: Neha Mehta-Shah, MD, MSCI
   
• Characterizing Rural Metastatic Breast Cancer Care: A Qualitative Analysis
  Principal Investigator: Ashley Housten, OTD, MSCI
   
• High Spatiotemporal Resolution Radioluminescent Dosimetry of Proton FLASH Radiotherapy for Pre-Clinical Studies
  Principal Investigator: Arash Darafsheh, PhD
   
• Clinical Molecular Imaging of the Prostate Cancer Microenvironment
  Principal Investigator: Joseph Ippolito, MD, PhD; Co-PI: Eric Kim, MD
   
• Understanding the Role of Mammogram Images in the Risk of Triple Negative Breast Cancer
  Principal Investigator: Shu (Joy) Jiang, PhD
   
• A Novel Feed-Forward Cycle that Drives Tumor Progression and Immune Evasion
  Principal Investigator: Jacqueline Payton, MD, PhD
   
• Intrinsic and Extrinsic Factors Driving Clonal Evolution and Disease Progression in Myeloproliferative Neoplasms
  Principal Investigator: Stephen Oh, MD, PhD

Availability of funding often determines the ability, success, and rate at which scientific discoveries can progress from an early idea to patient care and treatment making your support critical to ensure the fund is replenished and that each generation has access to the most innovative therapies. Make a gift to the Cancer Frontier Fund today.

Learn more about these projects.

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Additional SIP Funding
In addition to gifts to the Cancer Frontier Fund at The Foundation for Barnes-Jewish Hospital, further support for SIP comes from Swim Across America – St. Louis; Alvin J. Siteman Fund; National Cancer Institute; Director’s Discovery Fund; Daniel E. Corbin, Jr. Lymphoma Research Fund; and Barnard Trust. In total, eight projects were awarded $2 million during this funding period.