Print this Page
News
Ovarian Cancer Research Fund Awards Fox Chase Researchers an Ovarian Cancer Program Project Grant
PHILADELPHIA (November 2, 2005) -- The Ovarian Cancer Research Fund (OCRF) has honored faculty members of Fox Chase Cancer Center with an Ovarian Cancer Program Project grant for $900,000 for three years. Andrew K Godwin, PhD, a group of Fox Chase scientists will explore new ways to study and treat ovarian cancer by addressing the tumor stroma. The stroma can be thought of as a complex group of non-cancerous cells and cell products that intermingle with a tumor.
"Research into the tumor microenvironment is essential to improving treatment for ovarian cancer," Godwin explains. "This grant will help us evaluate novel therapies and combinations of drugs that target all the components that make up a tumor, not just the epithelial cancer cells themselves."
Project members will work to assess the role of the stroma in the cause, development and treatment of ovarian cancer.
"Epithelial ovarian cancer represents more than 90 percent of ovarian cancers and remains the most lethal gynecologic cancer in the United States," Godwin says. "Our ultimate goal is to translate our findings into more effective clinical trials, contributing to control of this serious disease."
OCRF was founded in 1994 by Sol Schreiber to honor his wife, Ann, who died of ovarian cancer. The organization also pays tribute to Liz Tiberlis, former editor-in-chief of Harper's Bazaar, who served as OCRF's president from 1997 to 1999 before her death from ovarian cancer. OCRF supports research to formulate an early diagnostic tool, treatment programs and outreach efforts to raise public awareness of the disease.
Fox Chase Cancer Center, part of Temple University Health System, is one of the leading cancer research and treatment centers in the United States. Founded in 1904 in Philadelphia as one of the nation’s first cancer hospitals, Fox Chase also was among the first institutions to receive the National Cancer Institute’s prestigious comprehensive cancer center designation in 1974. Fox Chase researchers have won the highest awards in their fields, including two Nobel Prizes. Fox Chase physicians are routinely recognized in national rankings, and the Center’s nursing program has achieved Magnet status for excellence three consecutive times. Fox Chase conducts a broad array of nationally competitive basic, translational, and clinical research and oversees programs in cancer prevention, detection, survivorship, and community outreach. For more information, call 1-888-FOX-CHASE (1-888-369-2427).
