Weill Cornell Medicine has received major new funding to support collaborative research spanning clinical trials, precision medicine and drug target discovery with the potential to improve outcomes for patients with challenging cancers.
Dr. Effie Apostolou
Associate Professor of Molecular Biology in Medicine and member of the Meyer Cancer Center and of the Center for Metabolic Health at Weill Cornell
American Association for Cancer Research Trailblazer Award
Targeting Three-Dimensional Regulatory Nodes to Rewire Cancer Programs
Dr. Effie Apostolou
Dr. Apostolou has received $1 million over three years to investigate how the three-dimensional arrangement of DNA inside the cell's nucleus influences the genes that drive cancer growth. The AACR Trailblazer Cancer Research Grant for Mid-Career Investigators supports bold research with the potential to make transformative advances against cancer.
Dr. Apostolou is studying a key type of DNA sequence, called an enhancer, that can boost the activity of nearby genes when activated. In many cancers, enhancers become abnormally active, turning on genes that help cancer cells grow, spread and resist treatment.
Dr. Apostolou’s lab recently discovered clusters of enhancers that come together in three-dimensional space and work as coordinated control centers to regulate gene activity. In the current project, they will study how these hubs contribute to breast cancer and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, the most common type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Using advanced genome-mapping technologies, computer modeling, and CRISPR-based gene-editing tools, the team will identify which enhancer hubs most influence cancer cells and determine which are unique to certain cancers and which overlap across cancers. They will also identify the proteins that build and maintain these hubs, which could become promising targets for new cancer therapies.
Dr. Juan Cubillos-Ruiz
The William J. Ledger, M.D., Distinguished Professor for Infection and Immunology in Obstetrics and Gynecology, member of the Meyer Cancer Center at Weill Cornell and member researcher at the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy
Department of Defense Grant
Immuno-Activating Circuits Enabling Durable Control of High-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer
Dr. Juan Cubillos-Ruiz
Dr. Cubillos-Ruiz received a $1.05 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to study the biology of ovarian cancer progression and recurrence. Findings from this project could lead to new therapeutic strategies for high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma (HGSOC), the most common and deadliest form of ovarian cancer.
Previous research from Dr. Cubillos-Ruiz’s lab found that delivering an investigational immunotherapy called SD-101 directly into the abdominal cavity of a mouse model—the area where ovarian cancer typically spreads—eliminated tumors in most animals and protected them from cancer relapse. This finding suggests that SD-101, designed to stimulate the body's immune system to attack cancer cells, can help the body "remember" and fight the cancer if it returns.
Working with mouse models first, Dr. Cubillos-Ruiz’s lab will validate key findings in human HGSOC tumor specimens from Weill Cornell Medicine’s biobank. By identifying the immune cells and biological processes involved, the researchers hope to understand why ovarian cancer is resistant to existing immunotherapies and how SD-101 overcomes this resistance to build lasting protection.
Since SD-101 is being tested in clinical trials for melanoma, pancreatic cancer and liver-related tumors, researchers may translate the findings to ovarian cancer more quickly if the results continue to be encouraging.
Dr. Mohamad Hamieh
Assistant Professor of Immunology in Pediatrics, member of the Meyer Cancer Center and of the Drukier Institute of Children's Health at Weill Cornell, and member researcher at the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy
MERIT Award from the National Cancer Institute
Interrogating and targeting co-inhibitory and co-stimulatory molecules in CAR T-cell Therapies
Dr. Mohammad Hamieh
Dr. Hamieh has received a five-year, $3.5 million grant with a two-year extension to develop next-generation CAR T-cell therapies that are more durable, effective against resistant tumors and able to treat a wider range of cancers. The MERIT award, “Method for Extending Research In Time,” gives highly accomplished and promising early-career investigators longer-term grant support.
To create a CAR-T immunotherapy, researchers remove T cells from a patient's blood, genetically engineer them to recognize the cancer and then return the cells to the body. However, the engineered immune cells often do not remain active long enough to eliminate the cancer.
Dr. Hamieh’s lab has found that CAR-T cells can display or acquire ligand molecules that act like "off switches," weakening the cells' cancer-fighting abilities. Tumors also surround themselves with signals that suppress immune cells, further impairing CAR-T cell function.
His lab will investigate how these inhibitory signals from cancer cells affect CAR-T cells and whether they contribute to treatment failure. The researchers are also engineering novel synthetic receptors designed to turn these normally suppressive messages into signals that boost CAR T-cell activity, survival and persistence. Ultimately, this research aims to expand the reach and efficacy of adoptive cell therapy for patients with cancer.
Dr. Scott Tagawa
Gebroe Family Professor of Hematology-Oncology in honor of Morton Coleman, M.D., and member of the Meyer Cancer Center and of the Englander Institute for Precision Medicine at Weill Cornell
Department of Defense Grant
Targeted Therapies
Dr. Scott Tagawa
Dr. Tagawa has received a $2 million grant from the Department of Defense to lead Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian’s participation in the Prostate Cancer Clinical Trials Consortium (PCCTC), part of the DoD’s Prostate Cancer Research Program. This multicenter grant includes Weill Cornell, NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and the James J. Peters VA Medical Center. Together, this multicenter clinical research site will translate its prostate cancer expertise in targeted therapies, imaging, immunotherapy and correlative science into new therapeutic approaches that can then be tested across the institutions.
Weill Cornell Medicine has participated in the PCCTC since 2014. By further expanding access, the institution hopes to improve outcomes for all patients with prostate cancer, including individuals at higher risk of prostate cancer with less access to clinical trials and veterans.
The investigators plan to optimize and test novel therapies targeting tumors with radiation, cytotoxic drugs and immunotherapies; develop new therapies for neuroendocrine/small cell prostate cancer, a rare and very aggressive type of prostate cancer; and identify effective treatments and biomarkers based on the discovery of mechanisms of prostate cancer therapy resistance and sensitivity.