Just as the study of a growing plant or animal must take into account its environment, cancer researchers must look beyond a tumor to understand how the surrounding tissue impacts its development. In the case of gliomas, the most common and aggressive type of brain tumor, this means looking at neurons—what signals they emit, and how these signals may play a role in brain tumor progression.  

The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation has named 14 new Damon Runyon Fellows, exceptional postdoctoral scientists conducting basic and translational cancer research in the laboratories of leading senior investigators. The prestigious, four-year Fellowship encourages the nation's most promising young scientists to pursue careers in cancer research by providing them with independent funding ($300,000 total) to investigate cancer causes, mechanisms, therapies, and prevention.

Damon Runyon scientists and industry partners gathered on Thursday, March 7, for the 2024 Accelerating Cancer Cures Symposium, hosted by AbbVie on their campus in South San Francisco.

Renal cell carcinoma ranks among the top ten most common cancers globally, with the clear cell subtype (ccRCC) accounting for the majority of metastatic cases. While some ccRCC tumors respond to immunotherapy treatment, it is often difficult to predict which patients will benefit.

The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation has announced eight recipients of the 2024 Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovation Award, established to support “high-risk, high-reward” ideas with the potential to significantly impact the prevention, diagnosis, or treatment of cancer. Five extraordinary early-career researchers will receive initial grants of $400,000 over two years, and each will have the opportunity to receive two additional years of funding (for a potential total of $800,000).

On Saturday, February 10, 2024, an intrepid team of twenty scientific luminaries led by biotech journalist and mountaineer Luke Timmerman embarked upon the trip of a lifetime—a hike to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro, the African continent’s highest peak. In advance of the expedition, the team trained for hiking at more than 19,000 feet above sea level, enlisted the support of friends and colleagues, and together raised more than $1 million to support Damon Runyon’s brave and bold cancer researchers.

The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital today announce the inaugural class of pediatric cancer research fellows. Each of the five fellows will receive funding for four years ($300,000 total) to support an innovative project in basic or translational research with the potential to significantly impact the diagnosis or treatment of one or more pediatric cancers.

Only about one percent of the human genome contains what we recognize as protein-coding genes: DNA sequences that are transcribed into RNA sequences and then translated into proteins. Much of the intervening space between genes consists of mobile DNA sequences, known as transposable elements, which have the ability to “copy and paste” themselves throughout the genome.

Metastatic pancreatic cancer is often resistant to chemotherapy-based treatments, and clinicians do not currently have a good way to predict whether a patient’s cancer will respond or not. At the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania, former Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovator Gregory L. Beatty, MD, PhD, and his colleagues are seeking to uncover the factors that determine response so that patients and clinicians can make better informed treatment decisions.

As many of our supporters know, Damon Runyon was an iconic sportswriter and journalist whose colorful stories served as the basis for the Broadway hit Guys and Dolls. The Foundation has preserved this connection with the theater throughout its 75-year history, primarily through our long-running Broadway ticket program.