Federal Stimulus Funding Channels More Than $40 Million to Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

Federal Stimulus Funding Channels More Than $40 Million to Fred Hutchinson
Cancer Research Center

SEATTLE, Oct. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research
Center have been awarded 60 research grants totaling nearly $40.4 million
under the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009. The totals reflect
data available as of Oct. 1 and reported by the National Institutes of Health.

The individual projects range in amount from $4.8 million to $33,596 and
benefit every level of researcher at the Hutchinson Center, from
well-established principal investigators to predoctoral graduate students.

"It's a testament to the quality of the science we do and to the scientists
who conduct our research that the Hutchinson Center was so successful in
obtaining this level of stimulus funding," said Lee Hartwell, Ph.D., Center
president and director.

One of the key goals of the Recovery Act is job retention and job creation.

"We estimate that for every $100,000 in grant funding that the Center
receives, 2.3 jobs are retained or created internally and in the community by
our suppliers. This means that the stimulus funds we received will retain and
create about 920 jobs," Hartwell said.

The multiplier effect is backed by the National Institutes of Health and the
Hutchinson Center's own economic impact studies.

A wide range of scientific subjects is covered by the grants, including
developing assays to measure proteins expressed in cancer, cancer economics
and cord blood transplantation.

Among Center faculty, Amanda Paulovich, M.D., Ph.D., an associate member of
the Clinical Research Division, was awarded the single largest stimulus grant
at $4.8 million. Paulovich is an expert in cancer proteomics, and her project
is a pilot study to assess the feasibility and scalability of a human proteome
detection and measurement project.

"The lack of sensitive, specific assays that can measure multiple proteins at
the same time in a single sample is a major technical barrier that impedes
progress in the biomedical sciences by prohibiting hypothesis testing in
quantitative proteomics, where relationships between protein abundance and
biology are sought," Paulovich said. "If a robust, economical, and widely
diffused capability to measure all human proteins existed, the research
community would have the collective means to assess the utility of all human
proteins as biomarkers in hundreds of diseases and biological processes in the
most efficient way. This would likely have a profound impact on health care
costs and outcomes."

Ulrike Peters, Ph.D., an associate member of the Public Health Sciences
Division, received a $4.6 million grant to identify genetic variants
associated with colorectal cancer, the second leading cause of cancer death in
the U.S.

"As this multi-site project will be conducted in well characterized cohorts,
such as the Women's Health Initiative or the Health Professional Follow-up
Study, we will also be able to examine whether environmental factors,
including smoking, medications, alcohol, physical activity or diet change the
risk of colorectal cancer related to these genetic variants," said Carolyn
Hutter, Ph.D, a postdoctoral fellow working on this project.

"We expect our findings to enhance our understanding of the mechanisms
underlying colorectal carcinogenesis. In turn, this will lead to improved
prevention and treatment strategies," Peters said.

Scott Ramsey, M.D., Ph.D., an internist, health care economist and member of
the Public Health Sciences Division, will lead a $4 million project to develop
an infrastructure to support the "Center for Comparative Effectiveness
Research in Cancer Genomics," or CANCERGEN.

"Dozens of genomic tests for cancer are coming to market without the high
quality evidence that physicians and patients need to answer basic questions,"
said Ramsey, whose project will lay the foundation for designing research to
study cancer genetic tests in collaboration with the Southwest Oncology Group,
among others.

"Are patients living longer? Are they living better quality lives? Are there
cost-effective alternatives to the way we currently treat patients? We just
don't have those answers," he said.

Reducing the risk of infection and early death in patients who receive cord
blood transplants to treat tumors of the blood, such as leukemia and lymphoma,
is the goal of a $1.74 million grant to Colleen Delaney, M.D., an assistant
member in the Clinical Research Division. Patients undergoing a cord blood
transplant, who are often of minority or mixed ethnic background, are at
increased risk of infection and early death following the transplant because
of the significant delay in the recovery of white blood cells, particularly
cells called neutrophils. Neutrophils are the most common type of white blood
cell and are the body's first line of defense against infections. However,
using a novel culture methodology, Delaney demonstrated for the first time the
ability to generate increased numbers of cells from a single unit of cord
blood that are capable of rapid neutrophil recovery when infused in the
clinical setting.

"Further development of this product to confirm our initial promising results
requires additional clinical trials that, if successful, could change the way
cord blood transplantation is performed," Delaney said.

Note to editors/reporters: Dr. Scott Ramsey's grant and the subject of
comparative effectiveness research is discussed in more detail in another news
release distributed today, "$16 Million in Federal Stimulus Funding
Establishes Seattle as a Hub of Comparative-Effectiveness Research in Cancer."
Please contact Kristen Woodward if you would like to receive a copy.

At Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, our interdisciplinary teams of
world-renowned scientists and humanitarians work together to prevent, diagnose
and treat cancer, HIV/AIDS and other diseases. Our researchers, including
three Nobel laureates, bring a relentless pursuit and passion for health,
knowledge and hope to their work and to the world. For more information,
please visit fhcrc.org.

CONTACT
Kristen Woodward
206-667-5095
kwoodwar@fhcrc.org

SOURCE Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

Kristen Woodward of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, +1-206-667-5095,
kwoodwar@fhcrc.org