RESEARCH GRANTS
How will we end Sarcoma?
We start by acknowledging the problem; due to the rarity, and complexity of the disease, Sarcoma treatments are limited, and the research seeking to improve them is underfunded.
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At the Northwest Sarcoma Foundation, we are working to change that. Our current research strategy is to direct funding to our most promising Sarcoma-focused researchers. Since 2011, we have provided over $374K to Sarcoma research, thanks to the generosity of supporters like you.
Past Grant Recipients
OHSU Knight BioLibrary
The Northwest Sarcoma Foundation's gift makes it possible for us to continue the important functions of banking and distributing Sarcoma tissue samples as we work to support OHSU researchers in their mission to find new cures for Sarcomas. Currently, the OHSU Knight BioLibrary has over 7,000 banked Sarcoma samples of all tissue types. Additionally, the BioLibrary employs staff members who find and consent criteria-appropriate patients prospectively, allowing us to meet the specific tissue needs of researchers (e.g. prior to the initiation of treatment or after failed treatment). Over 50 Sarcoma patients per year contribute to the repository, with each patient providing tumor tissue from biopsies, surgeries, and blood samples. Other BioLibrary staff members work directly with surgery personnel to insure tissue samples are obtained, preserved and transported in an optimal manner.
Your support of our work has allowed the publication of important work such as:
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• Comprehensive and Integrated Genomic Characterization of Adult Soft Tissue Sarcomas: The Cancer Genome Atlas Research Network, Nov 2 2017, In : Cell. 171,4, p. 950-965.e28
• An oncogenic NTRK fusion in a patient with soft-tissue sarcoma with response to the tropomyosin-related kinase inhibitor LOX0-101: Doebele, R. C., Davis, L. E., etal,., Oct 1 2015, In : Cancer Discovery. 5, 10, p. 1049-1057 9 p.
It is continuing partnerships such as ours that will help to one day make sarcoma a disease of the past."
- Gail Harper, Director of Business Development and Strategic Outreach
THE ONLY IMMUNOTHERAPY SARCOMA RESEARCHER IN AMERICA
Since 2001 NWSF has supported $130K in research through UW Medicine and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Supporting two main programs, the Casis Database and the tumor bank.
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Dr. Seth M. Pollack and his lab's basic science needs are part of that commitment.
"The tumor bank is absolutely critical. Without the data that the tumor bank has given us, I can think of at least 3 very promising clinical trials that we never would have been able to bring to Seattle. In terms of our own immunotherapy research, the tissue bank has allowed us to look at the expression of immunogenic antigens in patients' tumors, which is an absolutely essential part of our research effort." - Seth M. Pollack, MD
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See our 2019 progress report here.