The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research

Three Mark Foundation Community Members Elected to the National Academy of Medicine | The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research Yesterday, the National Academy of Medicine announced the election of 90 new regular members and 10 international members in recognition of their outstanding professional achievement and commitment to...

🎉Three members of The Mark Foundation’s community —
@charlesswanton.bsky.social, Michel Sadelin, and Victor Velculescu — were elected to @nam.edu yesterday!🎉

Learn more about their remarkable achievements:
themarkfoundation.org/blog/three-m...

“These kinds of game-changing results can only come from a unified approach to cancer research that is not limited by geography. That’s why we remain committed to funding the most innovative science, wherever it takes place.” - Mark Foundation CEO Ryan Schoenfeld, PhD #BreastCancerAwarenessMonth

While scientists have long known there was a link between pregnancy & breastfeeding and reduced cancer risk, it was assumed the mechanism was hormonal. This new finding opens up a new paradigm for cancer prevention and treatment.

ASPIRE Awardee Reveals How Pregnancy and Breastfeeding Protect Against Breast Cancer | The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research Since the 1980s, researchers have known that pregnancy and breastfeeding reduce women’s risk of later developing breast cancer — but the reason why has remained a mystery…

New in @nature.com: ASPIRE awardee @loisher.bsky.social of @petermaccc.bsky.social shows that pregnancy & breastfeeding cause long-lasting immunological changes that significantly reduce breast cancer risk, especially for triple-negative breast cancer. themarkfoundation.org/blog/aspire-...

📢Calling all Mark Foundation grantees (past and current) & advisors! 📢

Check your inboxes - you should have received your invite to our 2026 Scientific Symposium. Haven't seen it? Send us a note at events@themarkfoundation.org.

Huge congratulations to @rosslevinemd.bsky.social, who has been named @mskcancercenter.bsky.social's new Chief Scientific Officer! We’re deeply grateful to have his expertise on our Board of Directors and as Chair of our Scientific Advisory Committee.
www.mskcc.org/news-release...

Subclonal immune evasion in non-small cell lung cancer Dijkstra et al. investigate whether individual cancer subclones differ in their immune evasion capacity. They establish organoids representing distinct subclones from multi-region lung cancer biopsies...

Why does immunotherapy rarely lead to a complete cure?|

In @cellpress.bsky.social, ASPIRE awardee Charles Swanton tracks the lineages of tumor subclones & suggests that subclonal evolution allows some cells to evade immune attack. #CancerResearch #Immunology

www.cell.com/cancer-cell/...

This collaborative project would not have be possible w/o JP and our wonderful colleagues (many not on social), and support from @damonrunyon.org and @themarkfdn.bsky.social!

The Emerging Leader Award program “lets people follow where the science goes,” says 2019 winner Andrew Lane. That flexibility has allowed him to bring discoveries from bench to bedside with impressive speed. Learn more in our 2024 Annual Report: 2024.themarkfoundation.org/an-emerging-...

Their findings — published in new papers in @embojournal.org & @natureportfolio.nature.com Communications — will allow researchers to precisely map replication and understand its druggable checkpoints & will inform both predictive biomarkers and next-generation therapeutic strategies.

ASPIRE Awardees Uncover DNA Replication Dynamics with Unprecedented Precision | The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research DNA replication is a critical biological process that cells use to copy their genome – but when it goes wrong, those failures can have dire consequences. Missteps in the replication process are key…

A dual breakthrough in #CancerResearch: ASPIRE awardees Bennie Lemmens & Jira Bartek of @ki.se & @scilifelab.se developed tech to visualize DNA replication in stunning detail AND uncovered a key protein that acts as an “on-switch” for the replication process.
themarkfoundation.org/blog/aspire-...

The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research is making a huge impact - in the US and globally 🙌

Very grateful for their support 🙏 - for an #ASPIRE award that funded our microbiome research, and for two #Momentum Fellows in our lab @lbejarano.bsky.social & @ale-matera.bsky.social

@themarkfdn.bsky.social

$34.5 million in awarded grants. 7 new interventional trials. 212 peer-reviewed publications. Read our newly released 2024 Annual Report to catch up on our grantees’ achievements and discover how we’re accelerating progress in the fight against cancer. 
2024.themarkfoundation.org

Basal cell of origin resolves neuroendocrine–tuft lineage plasticity in cancer - Nature Basal cells, rather than neuroendocrine cells, have been identified as the probable origin of small cell lung cancer and other neuroendocrine–tuft cancers, explaining neuroendocrine–tuft heterogeneity and offering new perspectives for targeting lineage plasticity.

New in @nature.com: past ASPIRE Awardee Trudy Oliver identifies the likely origin of some SCLC tumors. This breakthrough discovery for an aggressive, hard-to-treat disease could enable therapies that target lineage plasticity—a major challenge in cancer.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The new Waxman Institute builds on a longstanding partnership between the two foundations, which have jointly funded workshops & research on aging and cancer for several years. Over the next 3 years, the Institute plans to distribute $15+ million in #researchfunding.

📣Introducing the Samuel Waxman Institute for Aging & Cancer! 📣

As today's NYTimes DealBook reports, the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation is joining us to launch a world-first institute focused on how the biology of aging drives cancer risk at all life stages.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/09/b...

Host Response to Cancer | The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research Most cancer research focuses on understanding the biology of the cancer cell, but tumors are composites of many cell types, not just cancerous ones. In addition, although cancers are usually…

Since 2020, Janowitz and co-investigator Semir Beyaz have been investigating the systemic processes behind cachexia. Their work has led to important new insights into the condition, some of which they shared earlier this year in @science.org.
themarkfoundation.org/portfolio/ho...

Of hope from fading will: Interoceptive signaling and the behavioral biology of cachexia This NeuroView explores how systemic cancer signals induce behavioral changes via brain-body communication pathways, framing cachexia as an adaptive yet unsustainable interoceptive response. Recognizi...

Sometimes, research is personal. In @cp-neuron.bsky.social, Endeavor awardee Tobias Janowitz shares how his late mother’s experience with cancer-associated cachexia, a debilitating wasting syndrome, continues to shape his perspective and research.
www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...

Please check with your grants office to ensure institutional eligibility prior to applying. We look forward to reviewing your proposals!

Endeavor | The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research

⏳Reminder: Letters of Intent for our next round of Endeavor Award funding are due next Wednesday, September 3! #ResearchFunding
themarkfoundation.org/endeavor/

“To accelerate cancer research, we need to invest in talented investigators and novel approaches,” said Mark Foundation CEO Ryan Schoenfeld, PhD. “The story of Interius BioTherapeutics is exactly the kind of trajectory we aim to foster.”

Interius has already advanced its first-in-class therapy, INT2104, into clinical trials in Australia and has approval for European trials. This treatment approach could make cell therapy more accessible, reduce treatment timelines, & spare patients harsh chemotherapy regimens.

🎉Mark Foundation portfolio company Interius BioTherapeutics
has been acquired by Kite Pharma!🎉 The move advances a game-changing in vivo CAR T-cell platform that originated with Saar Gill’s Emerging Leader Award project.
themarkfoundation.org/2025/08/kite...

Yesterday we wrapped up a 2-day scientific review meeting for the Mark Foundation Center for Advanced Genomics and Imaging at ‪@jhu.edu‬. The Center’s brilliant scientists are driving breakthroughs in genomics, imaging & data science that will make immunotherapy effective for more patients.

Submissions are open for the EACR - @themarkfdn.bsky.social Postdoctoral Fellowships until 20 August!

This funding is awarded for a period of three years to support excellent postdoctoral researchers in laboratories throughout Europe 🌍

Learn more: eacr.org/eacr-fellows...

Decoding the Dynamic Interplay between Hepatic Metabolism, the Nervous System, and Immune Response in Cancer Cachexia | The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research Cancer-associated cachexia (CAC) is a debilitating syndrome characterized by severe weight loss, muscle wasting, and fatigue that affects up to 80% of advanced cancer patients.

These findings could radically change outcomes for cancer patients and make treatment more effective. Learn more about how Erez and her Endeavor team’s work at the interplay of the nervous system, immune system, and liver led to the discovery: themarkfoundation.org/portfolio/de...

Erez shows that inflammation caused by cancer can dysregulate the vagus nerve, disrupting brain-liver communication & leading to a cascade of negative effects. But there’s good news: blocking the nerve (even non-invasively) led to significant improvement in a mouse model.

Vagal blockade of the brain-liver axis deters cancer-associated cachexia Vagal dysfunction mediates the impact of tumor on liver metabolism, leading to cachexia. Blocking the right cervical vagus nerve with various invasive or non-invasive approaches alleviates cachexia, d...

Cancer-related cachexia is responsible for ~1/3 of cancer deaths, yet its causes & treatments have proven elusive—until now. In @cellpress.bsky.social, Endeavor Award team leader Ayelet Erez identifies a cause for the syndrome—and a path forward for patients. www.cell.com/cell/abstrac...

Identification of Specific Dietary Fats that Fuel Cancer | The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research Obesity is a risk factor for 13 types of cancer. Obesity and a high fat diet can fuel tumor cell growth and at the same time, prevent the immune system from killing cancer cells. However…

Notably, she found that high-fat diets based on lard, beef tallow, and butter accelerated tumor growth while palm, coconut, and olive oils had no apparent effect. Learn more about Dr. Lynch’s work: themarkfoundation.org/portfolio/id...

The source of dietary fat influences anti-tumour immunity in obese mice - Nature Metabolism This study shows that animal-based high-fat diets accelerate tumour growth and impair anti-tumour response to melanoma in obese mice, whereas plant-based high-fat diets do not.

Do the types of dietary fats that patients consume impact cancer progression? In a new @nature.com paper, Emerging Leader Award winner @lydialynch.bsky.social shows that diets high in some types of fats suppress anti-tumor responses in patients with obesity.
www.nature.com/articles/s42...