Fall 2026
By Kathy Clute
The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research has recently awarded $4.1 million in grants to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists targeting pancreatic cancer, acute myeloid leukemia, and pediatric brain tumors. The foundation supports groundbreaking science aimed at transforming the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer.
Brian Wolpin, MD, MPH, Jonathan Nowak, MD, PhD, and Andrew Aguirre, MD, PhD, received the Mark Foundation-AACR-Lustgarten Foundation Early Detection Award for a multi-institution project to discover and treat pancreatic cancer in its earliest stages. The disease is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States, largely because most patients are diagnosed after it has reached an advanced stage. Wolpin is the Robert T. and Judith B. Hale Chair in Pancreatic Cancer.
Wolpin, Nowak, and Aguirre are targeting small precancerous lesions in the pancreas called PanINs, which are driven by a gene called KRAS that promotes growth into invasive cancer. The team is investigating how to prevent pancreatic cancer from developing by treating with new KRAS inhibitors. They are also exploring early detection strategies using KRAS-targeted drugs combined with advanced molecular imaging.
The Mark Foundation’s Drug Discovery Award went to Eric Fischer, PhD, and Scott Armstrong, MD, PhD, for their work developing a new type of drug to defeat acute myeloid leukemia (AML), which is often incurable in adults. Fischer is the Joseph Deitch Family Chair and Armstrong is the Ted Williams Chair.
Cancer cells switch genes on and off by changing the way their DNA is packaged. Current treatments target DNA-packaging changes, but resistance to the drugs often develops. Fischer and Armstrong are targeting specific proteins within chromatin, the organized bundle of DNA and proteins within cells, to block a biochemical process called histone acetylation that makes certain genes easier for the cell to read and use. They have already created promising compounds to prevent the protein activity that keeps AML and some solid tumors growing.
Emerging Leader Award recipient Mariella Filbin, MD, PhD, is researching new therapeutic strategies for a pediatric brain tumor—diffuse midline glioma—that is resistant to radiation therapy. ASPIRE awardee Cigall Kadoch, PhD, is studying how flexible regions of proteins that lack a fixed shape may help drive cancer and reveal new treatment approaches.
An award for the Bridge Project—a collaboration among Dana-Farber, the Harvard Cancer Consortium and MIT—co-led by James DeCaprio, MD, will support local researchers working to create a two-part immunotherapy for neuroblastoma, an aggressive childhood cancer that is resistant to current therapies.
“We are proud to support these projects that pair bold science with a clear path toward better outcomes for patients,” said Ryan Schoenfeld, PhD, CEO of The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research.