Terri Brodeur Breast Cancer Foundation Visits with Research Grant Recipients

The vision of the Terri Brodeur Breast Cancer Foundation is to realize effective treatment options to eradicate all types of breast cancer. The Foundation’s core value is that 100 % of funds raised goes directly to breast cancer research. It is through this fundraising that the Foundation has been able to raise over $3M in nine years and provide 30 research grants to promising researchers.

The Foundation’s granting process is based on providing support to PhD, MD/PhD and MD physician scientists at early stages of their research careers to enable them to develop independent careers in breast cancer research. The award period is for two years with $50,000 per year.

Annually, these funds are allocated through the efforts of the Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) that reviews numerous submissions and selects final grant recipients. The Committee includes the following: Chair, Nicholas Saccomano PhD, Chief Scientific Officer, Array BioPharma, Inc.; Co-chair, John LaMattina, PhD, former President, Pfizer Global Research and Development; and members; Michael Garabedian, PhD, Professor and Course Director, New York University Medical Center; Grants Administrator, Stacey Gualtieri, CPA, President Doherty Beals and Banks; Susan Logan, PhD, Associate Professor, New York University Medical Center; and Mike Morin, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer Onkaido Therapeutic.

Dr. LaMattina states that, “TBBCF research grants are highly sought. This year was another great year in terms of both the quantity and quality of the proposals TBBCF received. The Foundation received 24 applications from scientists at such distinguished institutions as Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, NYU, Yale, Mt. Sinai, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories, Roswell Park, Dartmouth and Yeshiva….We had a hard time narrowing down to three winners. We could have funded five or six as the proposals are that good.”

Dr. Saccomano‘s passion as Chair of the SAC has resulted in achieving one of Norma Logan’s great dreams that significant grant money be directed to young, ambitious breast cancer researchers. In the process of granting these monies, the SAC has reviewed over 200 formal proposals and interviewed numerous candidates.

This year, representatives of the Terri Brodeur Breast Cancer Foundation visited with research scientists at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute which have received almost $1million and $1.4 million in TBBCF research grants respectively. Sandy Maniscalco, TBBCF Co-Founder and Interim Foundation Executive Director said, “The purpose of these visits was to add a personal touch to the grant process by having TBBCF Scientific Advisory Committee members along with TBBCF Board members personally meet with 2014 and 2015 grant recipients and to report at the local level on its research grants program”. In August, TBBCF representatives met with TBBCF Fellows, Priscilla Brastianos at Mass General in Boston and with Dr. Erin Hofstatter at Smilow Cancer Center at Yale.

On September 17 there will be a Research Symposium at the Lawrence + Memorial Cancer Center. Three TBBCF research recipients will talk about the research projects they are working on using TBBCF grant funding.

At Memorial Sloan-Kettering (MSK) Sandy Maniscalco and Stacey Gualtieri, TBBCF BOD Treasurer, Michael Garabedian, PhD and Susan Logan, PhD had discussions with three MSK TBBCF Fellows including Javier Carmona, PhD and David Page, PhD, 2014 grant recipients and Natalya Pavlova, PhD, 2015 grant recipient.

Dr. Carmona’s research focuses on the mechanisms of resistance to anti-HER2 therapy in breast cancer. Understanding the mechanisms by which cancer cells escape treatment is mandatory to design better therapeutic strategies. He will perform targeted exome sequencing on a clinical cohort of patients treated with HER2 agents that will uncover the genetic alterations triggering therapy refractoriness, and the mutations driving response to therapy. The validation of these findings will provide biomarkers useful for stratification of treatment regimens and identify potential new therapeutic targets.

Dr. Page’s research focuses on the use of immunotherapy which uses the patient’s immune system to fight the cancer – in essence treat the immune system not the cancer. Early indication shows promising results. The treatment combines a technique called cryoablation, or freezing of the tumor, with an immunotherapy drug. Dr. Page stated as he spoke at the TBBCF 2015 Annual Meeting, “Without funding from the Terri Brodeur Breast Cancer Foundation, my research would not be possible. I am so grateful for their support.”

Dr. Pavlova’s research focuses on the investigation of metabolic adaptations that drive breast cancer metastasis. Although this has been under intense investigation in recent years, we still lack a clear picture of how these alterations align with the multistep nature of tumor genesis. In particular, relatively little is known about metabolic adaptations which distinguish metastatic cancer cells from their non-metastatic counterparts.

At the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) TBBCF’s Howard Brensilver, MD and BOD Vice President, Sandy Maniscalco, Michael Morin, PhD, and Patricia Newborg, 10th Anniversary Walk Co-Chair and BOD Secretary, met with two DFCI TBBCF Fellows including Nina Ilic, PhD, Research Fellow at Han Laboratory and Eugen Dhimolea, PhD, Research Fellow in Mitsiades Lab, both 2015 TBBCF research grant recipients. Discussions were also held with Bill Hahn, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Medical Oncology and Constantine Mitsiades, MD Assistant Professor of Medicine. The visit included tours of the Harvard Institute of Medicine, and the Yawkey Center for Cancer Care. Lunch was shared with Eric Winer, MD, director of Breast Oncology at the Susan F. Smith Centers for Women’s Cancers.

In his thank you note to the Foundation, Dr. Winer states that, “Drs. Dhimolea and Ilic are two exceptional researchers conducting advanced studies of breast cancer under the guidance of some of our most esteemed mentors, Constantine Mitsiaded, MD and William Hahn, MD, PhD…The Foundation’s continued partnership with Dana- Farber has not only advanced the careers of many junior scientists, but also improved our overall understanding of breast cancer. The studies of Drs. Dhimolea and Ilic will explore potential therapeutic targets in bone microenvironments and PIK3C-mutant breast cancer respectively and will create meaningful advances in patient care at our Institute and beyond.”

Dr. Dhimolea’s research focuses why Estrogen Receptor (ER+) - positive cancer treated with antiestrogens after the removal of the tumor develop metastasis, frequently to the bone, that do not respond to treatment. His studies will focus on the role of the microenviroment, bone, in the role of metastatic disease. Dr. Dhimolea stated as he spoke at the 2015 TBBCF Annual Meeting, “I cannot describe how grateful I am to the Terri Brodeur Breast Cancer Foundation because without their support my research would not be done or it would take a lot longer to complete.”

Dr. Ilic’s research focuses on discovering mutant PIK3CA-specific vulnerabilities that promote the growth of these tumor types and exploring newly identified metabolic vulnerabilities to evaluate their potential for personalized treatment options for breast cancer patients.

Similarly, in 2013, the Dana-Farber Impact publication included the following comment about the work of Dr. Priscilla Brastianos, 2012 TBBCF Fellow, “Brastianos’ research explores the unique gene mutations that lead to brain metastases that occur in up to 30 percent of patients with metastatic breast cancer…Brastianos was selected to present her abstract at the Presidential Session of the European Society for Medical Oncology/European Cancer Congress Sept. 29…According to Brastianos, grant support from the TBBCF “provides the critical support necessary to initiate an international, collaborative, multidisciplinary effort to comprehensively study brain metastases,” which she calls “an area of extraordinary clinical need”.”

Please visit www.tbbcf.org for more information about the Foundation, our annual fundraising Walk Across Southeastern CT and for a listing of all TBBCF Fellows and their associated publications “TBBCF Funded Research Grant Publications”.

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