Season’s greetings from The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research!

As we close out 2024, we’re proud to reflect on a year of progress in the fight against cancer. Read on to learn about what we’ve achieved and our plans for 2025.

Investing in Early Career Scientists

We presented five remarkable scientists with Emerging Leader Awards in 2024. These three-year grants, worth a total of $750,000, help early-career researchers pursue their boldest, riskiest ideas. Learn more about their research. We’ll announce our 2025 cohort in January —stay tuned!

Making Bold Bets on Promising Reseach

In 2024, we awarded three ASPIRE II Awards to researchers spanning four countries:

Shom Goel MD, PhD, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (Australia)
Erik Sahai, PhD, and Helen Byrne, DPhil, Francis Crick Institute and University of Oxford (United Kingdom)
Denes Hnisz, PhD, and Xavier Salvatella, PhD,Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics (Germany) and Institute for Research in Biomedicine (Spain)

This follow-on funding allows awardees to advance work begun through previous ASPIRE grants.

Supporting Tomorrow’s Leaders

We supported the next generation of cancer researchers by awarding nine Momentum Fellowships to talented postdoctoral researchers in four countries to help them accelerate innovative projects.

Learn more about their research.

Driving Multidisciplinary Science

In 2024, we saw exciting progress from our multidisciplinary Centers.

At The Mark Foundation Center for Immunotherapy, Immune Signaling, and Radiation at the University of Pennsylvania, team members have made exciting progress in areas including interferon signaling, FLASH radiation, and CAR T-cell therapy. At The Mark Foundation Center for Advanced Genomics and Imaging at the Johns Hopkins University, researchers continue to advance our understanding of immunotherapeutic approaches to tumor treatment using cutting-edge image analysis tools and techniques.

FLASH radiation equipment at the UPenn Center

Moving the Field Forward

Our grantees have published a remarkable 204 peer-reviewed scientific papers so far in 2024, reflecting the breadth and quality of their work. Each quarter, we share a list of high-impact highlights —view our roundups from the first, second, and third quarters and look out for our fourth-quarter list in January.

Image from grantee Margaret Shipp’s January 2024 Nature Communications paper

Catalyzing New Collaborations

Precision Targeting of the Tumor Ecosystem Workshop

We held two interdisciplinary workshops this year, bringing together global leaders around emerging trends in cancer research. Targeted follow-on funding opportunities are allowing participants to pursue new collaborations launched at the workshops.

In February, we partnered with Takeda to host Precision Targeting of the Tumor Ecosystem, aimed at accelerating the development of novel therapeutics targeting the tumor-TME interface.

No Stone Unturned Workshop

No Stone Unturned: Relentless Pursuit of a Cure for Glioblastoma, which we co-hosted last month with the Sontag Foundation, focused on identification, validation, and drug discovery for new targets for this deadly cancer.

We’re already looking forward to several exciting workshops planned for 2025!

Tackling Grand Challenges

In March, we committed to funding our third Cancer Grand Challenges team. MATCHMAKERS, which we support alongside Cancer Research UK and the National Cancer Institute, is creating tools to predict T cell antigen specificity and unlock more more targeted and effective immunotherapies. The other two Mark Foundation-funded teams, SPECIFICANCER and NexTGen, also reported notable scientific progress in 2024.

Partnering to Support High-Impact Research

We regularly partner with other foundations to support individuals and projects at the cutting edge of cancer research. In 2024, those efforts included:

With the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation: Funding three grants focused on aging and cancer, one of which was also supported by the Melanoma Research Alliance
With the DeGregorio Family Foundation and the Torrey Coast Foundation: Issuing a call for ASPIRE Award proposals focused on gastric and esophageal cancers
With the European Association for Cancer Research: issuing a proposal for EACR-Mark Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowships to be awarded in 2025
With the European Association for Cancer Research and the Pezcoller Foundation: Awarding Stamatis Papathanasiou with the 2024 EACR-Mark Foundation-Pezcoller Foundation Rising Star Award
With the Damon Runyan Cancer Research Foundation: Supporting a recipient of the 2024 Physician-Scientist Training Award
With the Gabrielle’s Angel Foundation for Cancer Research: Jointly funding two collaborative grants addressing critical questions in blood cancer

Building Our Network of Experts

This year, we were honored to announce the appointment of four new Mark Foundation advisors: Sarah-Jane Dawson, Johanna Joyce, and Charles Swanton, who joined our Scientific Advisory Committee; and Wendy Young, who was appointed to the Industry Advisory Committee.

Read more about their backgrounds.

Looking Forward to 2025

2025 promises to be a busy and impactful year for The Mark Foundation.

In January and February, we’ll announce the recipients of our next Emerging Leader Award, Endeavor Award, and Mark Foundation Center grants and share news about exciting new partnerships. Later in the year, we’ll present new ASPIRE and Drug Discovery Awards. This April, we will gather in New York City for our Scientific Symposium, where we'll hear updates from our grantees. Throughout the year, we also look forward to convening, learning, and collaborating with many of you at upcoming workshops, conferences, and meetings around the world. We look forward to another year working together to transform the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer.

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