Overview
Funds for year four were released in February 2006 and the Period of Performance was extended to March 31, 2007. Funding was provided in the FY'05 Defense Appropriation.
During year four, the NFGC continued to focus on validating the concept that molecular signatures in tumors predict cancer risk, diagnosis, prognosis, and response to therapy, and worked further to identify new molecular targets for the development of more effective cancer prevention and personalized therapeutic care.
Our Affiliate network expanded to include both the Vanderbilt Medical Center's Advanced Proteomics Program and also the Southeast Nebraska Cancer Center's NFGC program.
At our 3rd annual meeting, our external advisory board strongly recommended that we select from among the most promising NFGC research projects and provide these scientists with additional support in order to validate the hypothesis that a molecular signature for cancer diagnosis, prognosis, and response to treatment can be identified. In addition to continuing to support Dr. Tim Yeatman's project, during year four we identified and funded a project proposed by Johnathan Lancaster, M.D. titled, “Tailored Chemotherapy for Ovarian Cancer: Genomic Analysis of FFPE Specimens.” The goal of this project is to develop and validate a gene expression profile that can predict response to chemotherapy for advanced-stage ovarian cancer using RNA extracted from formalin fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) specimens. This project began in April 2006.
In order to identify additional projects to fund, a request for proposals (RFP) was released on June 20, 2006. Twelve proposals were received and reviewed, and five projects were chosen. The NFGC secured a one-year no-cost extension (award extended to 3/31/08) in order to allow the projects at least one year to be completed.
We were excited by the successful recruitment of Dr. David Fenstermacher in December 2006 as Executive Director of Research Bioinformatics. Dr. Fenstermacher replaces Dr. Mary Edgerton who left in late 2006. We expanded the Proteomics core facility by hiring more scientists and purchasing new equipment, such as the Agilent HCT Ultra Ion Trap mass spectrometer and the AB QStar Elite quadropole TOF MS. A new project jointly funded by the NFGC and Beckman Coulter began in March 2007 to perform large-scale proteomic analysis.
Updated 6/19/09