From The Daily: Researchers at Case Western Reserve University and partners in the United States and India are applying the investigative and predictive capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) to help physicians customize treatments for patients with oral squamous cell carcinomas.

Research shows that oral squamous cell carcinomas cancer is already the eighth-most common type worldwide and numbers are steadily increasing in the United States, India and other parts of Asia.

The National Cancer Institute awarded a five-year, $3.3 million grant to a group led by Anant Madabhushi, PhD, the Donnell Institute Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Case Western Reserve and head of the Center for Computational Imaging and Personalized Diagnostics (CCIPD), and James Lewis Jr., MD, a professor of pathology, microbiology and immunology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Dr. Madabhushi is a member of the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center.

In August 2020, the Prostate Cancer Foundation convened a working group to meet and discuss biomarkers for hormone-sensitive prostate cancer, the proceedings of which are summarized in this recently published article. This meeting covered the state of clinical and biological evidence for systemic therapies in the mHSPC space, with emphasis on charting a course for the generation, interrogation, and clinical implementation of biomarkers for treatment selection. This review article summarizes the work presented and discussed in the meeting with the hope that sharing this information will engage the broader prostate cancer research community in the effort to identify and validate clinically meaningful biomarkers that improve the treatment of men presenting with mHSPC.

The Cancer-focused Summer Undergraduate Research Program (CanSUR) helps highly motivated undergraduates prepare for the next stage of their careers through work with Case CCC researchers over the course of a 10-week program.

CanSUR is accepting applications through January 15, 2021.

Recent security measures across the Cleveland Clinic network have made the Case CCC Marketing and Communications Request Form inaccessible to members of our community.

The current submission form is currently being recreated on another platform and will be announced when it is complete. While the existing form is still available for use on private networks or mobile devices with browsing data, requests and submissions may also be sent directly to our communications team for review at cancer@case.edu in the interim. We apologize for the inconvenience and are working to resolve the issue as soon as possible.

The inaugural AACR-Exelixis Renal Cell Carcinoma Research Fellowship represents a joint effort to encourage and support postdoctoral or clinical research fellows to conduct renal cell carcinoma research and to establish a successful career path in this field. The research proposed for funding may be basic, translational, clinical, or epidemiological in nature and must have direct applicability and relevance to renal cell carcinoma.

This fellowship provides a two-year grant of $120,000 to support the salary and benefits of the fellow while working on mentored renal cell carcinoma research. A partial amount of funds may be designated for non-personnel expenses, such as research/laboratory supplies, equipment, publication charges for manuscripts that pertain directly to the funded project, and other research expenses.

The Bosarge Family Foundation-Waun Ki Hong Scholar Award for Regenerative Cancer Medicine represents a joint effort to encourage and support postdoctoral or clinical research fellows to conduct highly novel and provocative research in the field of regenerative cancer medicine and to establish a successful career path in this field. The research proposed for funding may be translational, clinical, or epidemiological in nature and must have direct applicability and relevance to enhancing the physiology or function of cancer survivors using regenerative medicine techniques.

This award provides a two-year grant of $120,000 to support the salary and benefits of the fellow while working on mentored research focused on regenerative cancer medicine. A partial amount of funds may be designated for non-personnel expenses, such as research/laboratory supplies, equipment, publication charges for manuscripts that pertain directly to the funded project, and other research expenses. Indirect costs are not permitted.

This is the first year of the fourth phase of the Case-Coulter Translational Research Partnership (CCTRP) to support collaborative translational research projects that address unmet or poorly met clinical needs. The CCTRP seeks to reduce the market risk of promising new clinical products arising from the research programs of BME and affiliated Case faculty. Successful projects will thus often focus on the development of prototype products, building relationships with companies, performing clinical feasibility studies, obtaining regulatory approval, and other activities that companies or business experts indicate are the essential last steps before a license can be negotiated or a startup launched. An overarching goal of the program is to foster research and development work likely leading to commercially relevant translational technologies within a three- to five-year horizon. Because the goals of all Coulter projects are to reduce market risk, all proposals are expected to reflect genuine business input, and all projects must include a “business advisor” as an important member of the decision-making team.

The CCTRP awards funding at 2 different levels, pilot and full projects:

Pilot projects up to $25,000 can be applied for on a rolling basis but will be considered quarterly. Pilot projects will typically be for a six-month period with specific milestones defined with the intent of participation in the annual full Coulter award cycle. Apply using the same instructions with a focus on the necessary steps that will position PI for a successful full CCTRP application the following year. The individual component sections can be scaled back, but the PI is responsible for making his/her case. There are no CCTRP OC presentations for pilot projects.

Full projects will typically be for an initial one-year period with specific milestones defined on a quarterly basis; in special circumstances, proposals can span more than one year but must be approved prior to submission. Continuation and renewal applications will be evaluated on a competitive basis with new applications, and must have a comparison of milestones achieved vs. those planned in the original award. An important part of the proposal is the commercialization opportunity and the idea or vision for the end product. Examples of preferred future outcomes include inventions, patents, improved diagnosis and treatment of disease, commercial products, licenses, commercial partnerships and start-up companies.