Ivy Foundation Awards Six Leading Institutions Funding for New Brain Tumor Research

Largest Private Brain Tumor Funder Commits $10.4M to Advance Patient-Focused Research in 2008

PALO ALTO, January 15, 2009 – Today, the Ben and Catherine Ivy Foundation (Ivy Foundation), announced awards for five new patient-focused research projects, totaling more than $7 million focused on improving the survival and quality of life for all people with brain tumors.  These funds are in addition to the $3.4 million awarded to brain tumor research projects by the Ivy Foundation earlier in 2008, its initial year of operation.

“As part of our commitment to directing funding toward improving diagnostics and treatments for patients, we contributed a significant amount of funding to a small number of targeted,  multi-year research projects with the potential to expedite new discoveries that can impact the care and survival of patients,” said Catherine Ivy, Founder of the Ivy Foundation.  “We determined that in our inception year, we would focus our annual awards on high-risk, merit-based projects that keep the patient and relevant clinical issues front and center.”

The 2008 Research Projects were evaluated by The Ivy Foundation Scientific Reviewer Network, a group of researchers from academia and industry who volunteer their time to provide scientific critiques of research proposals.  These independent reviewers ensure that the research projects funded by the Ivy Foundation will be of the highest merit and will have the greatest potential to impact patient care.  “Given these tough economic times, we believe the influx of new multi-year projects funded by the Ivy Foundation can have a significant impact on advancing brain cancer research and, more importantly, the lives of patients, ”said Dr. Catherine Nutt, Assistant Professor in Pathology, Harvard Medical School and Ivy Foundation Scientific Reviewer Network member. 

The Ivy Foundation 2008 Awards represent research areas on the cutting edge of scientific inquiry, including biomarkers and signaling pathways, cancer stem cells, and gene expression profiling.  “It was exciting to be a part of the review for these proposals – both because of the opportunity to work with highly reputable, careful and strategic reviewers representing both industry and academia; but also because the process resulted in five projects that hold the potential to move the needle forward in scientifically significant ways,” said Dr. David R. Parkinson, President and Chief Executive Officer, Nodality, Inc. and Ivy Foundation Scientific Reviewer Network member. 

2008 Ivy Foundation Award Recipients

• Allen Institute for Brain Science and the Swedish Neuroscience Institute                 
  Ralph Puchalski, PhD and Greg Foltz, MD, “The Ivy GBM Atlas Project: Anatomic gene expression atlas of human glioblastoma”

• M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
  Ken Aldape, MD and Fred Lang, MD, “Glioma cancer stem cells and tumor-derived mesenchymal stem cells: role and crosstalk in human gliomas”

• University of Calgary
  Peter A. Forsyth, MD, FRCPC, “p75ntr is a rational drug target for malignant glioma”

• University of California, Los Angeles
  Paul Mischel, MD and Tim Cloughesy, MD, “Development and implementation of novel molecular diagnostic tools to guide combination therapy for malignant glioma patients”

• University of Pennsylvania
  George Coukos, MD, PhD, “Targeting glioblastoma through endothelial marker-1(TEM-1)”

About The Ben and Catherine Ivy Foundation

The Ivy Foundation is the nation’s largest privately funded foundation dedicated to improving survival and quality of life for people diagnosed with a brain tumor.  Our approach is to fund research on gliomas leading to the development of better diagnostics and treatment for patients.  In its inception year, 2008, The Ivy Foundation granted more than $10M in brain tumor research.

The Ivy Foundation is committed to funding research projects which embody the concept of Patient-Focused Research.  Patient-Focused Research (PFR) keeps the patient and relevant clinical issues at the center of every research project and encompasses three main components:

• Exchange – Fosters collaboration between institutions and disciplines and creates an on-going, back and forth dialogue between the lab and the clinic.
• Urgency – Each Ivy Foundation project expedites processes to get results focused on improving the lives of patients. 
• Personalization – PFR advances cancer research beyond the one-size-fits-all approach by addressing the differences among tumors with the aim of improving diagnostics and treatments for each patient with a brain tumor.

For more information, visit the Foundation’s web site at www.ivyfoundation.org.