News Release

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center researcher one of five awarded $1 million distinguished young scholars grant

Grant and Award Announcement

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center

The W. M. Keck Foundation of Los Angeles announced today the recipients of its 1999 Distinguished Young Scholars in Medical Research Program. Bruce Clurman, M.D., Ph.D., a researcher at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center was among the five recipients. Each grant recipient will receive $1 million to support research activities over the next five years.

The W.M. Keck Foundation, which focuses its resources on high-impact medical research, science, engineering and higher education, launched the five-year, $25 million young scholar program this year to support the research of the nation's best and brightest young biomedical investigators.

Clurman, who earned his degrees from Cornell University 10 years ago is appreciative of the award that will provide five years of solid support. "The great thing about this award is that they let us pursue new ideas that remain difficult to pursue under different funding sources," says Clurman, a member of the Hutchinson Center's Clinical Research and Human Biology divisions. Clurman's research straddles the esoteric world of basic research and the arena of applied clinical research. He aims to continue his efforts into the fundamental processes that control cell division, and develop new treatments for diseases.

"The tricky part is to take the explosion of knowledge from basic research into the cell cycle and design cell cycle-based treatments," says Clurman. "Putting it all together is enormously complex."

Robert A. Day, chairman and president of the foundation, said in announcing the awards that they are designed to help researchers at a critical juncture in their careers.

"This program was developed in response to the difficulty many extremely talented young investigators have securing sufficient funding for their pursuit of very promising but unproven new ideas," he said.

The 39-year-old New Jersey native credits the influence of his uncle with sparking his interest in medicine. A pathologist, Clurman's uncle often showed him pictures and microscope slides of cancer and other diseases.

He graduated from the University of Virginia in 1981 with a degree in philosophy, and an eye on medical school. At Cornell University School of Medical Sciences in New York he began a research project aimed at understanding the molecular events following retroviral infections that lead to cancer. He earned a Ph.D. in medical sciences in 1988 and much to his mother's satisfaction a MD degree a year later. He served his residency at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston before starting an oncology fellowship at the Hutchinson Center in 1991.

He began his career at the Hutchinson Center as a postdoctoral fellow in oncology in a laboratory in the Center's Basic Sciences Division as part of the Molecular Medicine Training Program. His interest in cell cycle regulation led to collaboration with another laboratory at the Center.

Now with a joint appointment in the Clinical and Human Biology divisions, Clurman credits the Center's intellectual atmosphere with aiding his research. "I'm a good example of the Center's interdisciplinary research," he says. "I have (faculty) appointments in two divisions and trained in a third. And there is no question that there is no better place to do research on cell cycle regulation, and the clinical expertise here speaks for itself. The collegiality here is outstanding."

The others winners included Drs. Judith Frydman of Stanford University, Partho Ghosh of the University of California, San Diego, Phyllis Hanson, Washington University and Mark Gerstein, Yale University. The foundation will chose five additional investigators in each of the next four years for a total of 25.

The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center is an independent, non-profit research institution dedicated to the development and advancement of biomedical technology to eliminate cancer and other potentially fatal diseases. Recognized internationally for its pioneering work in bone marrow transplantation, the Center has four scientific divisions collaborating to form a unique environment for conducting basic and applied science. One of 35 National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centers in the country, it is the only one in the Northwest. For more information, visit the Center's web site at www.fhcrc.org.

Editor's Note: See the attached release issued from the W. M. Keck Foundation. Photos of Dr. Clurman are available upon request.

W.M. Keck Foundation announces first class of distinguished young scholars in medical research

-- $25 million program provides unprecedented support to nation's best and brightest young medical researchers

-- Program addresses lack of funding for new and unproven ideas

LOS ANGELES, JULY 19, 1999 -- The W. M. Keck Foundation, a leading supporter of high-impact medical research, science and engineering, and higher education, today announced the first five grant recipients under its recently established Distinguished Young Scholars in Medical Research Program.

A five-year, $25 million initiative, the Young Scholars program was designed to support groundbreaking research into the fundamental mechanisms of human disease by investigators who exhibit extraordinary promise early in their careers. Under the program, each grant recipient's institution will receive an award of up to a total of $1 million to support the scientist's research activities for a period of up to five years, as well as enable the institution to purchase necessary equipment and resources to facilitate the investigative process. Five additional investigators will be chosen in each of the next four years for a total of 25. The Foundation believes this is the largest program of its kind over a five year time period.

Robert A. Day, Chairman and President of the W.M. Keck Foundation, said: "This program was developed in response to the difficulty many extremely talented young investigators have securing sufficient funding for their pursuit of very promising but unproven new ideas. While many of these scientists are at a time in their careers when they have great creative potential, they lack the kind of substantial, flexible and largely unrestricted research funding that can enable them to make groundbreaking discoveries. We are very proud of this program. We believe it applies the Foundation's resources in an area where public sector funds are necessarily limited, and believe it has enormous potential to produce significant medical breakthroughs and create a new generation of leaders in the medical research community."

The 1999 Keck Distinguished Young Scholars are:

  • Bruce Clurman, M.D., Ph.D., Fred Hutchinson Research Center
    Dr. Clurman is a cancer biologist whose research focuses on the cell cycle of normal cells and the mechanisms responsible for the deregulation of cell cycle proteins in cancer cells. Dr. Clurman's research is aimed at understanding the deregulation of the cell cycle in cancer cells with the ultimate goal of developing new therapeutic approaches for the treatment of cancer. This important work may also be applied to the processes of wound healing, recuperation following bone marrow transplants, and to stem cell transplantation and gene therapy protocols.

  • Judith Frydman, Ph.D. Stanford University
    Dr. Frydman's background in biochemistry has led her to explore an emerging area of cell biology - how proteins fold within the cell. The importance of this work may be seen in light of recent findings indicating proteins that fail to fold correctly may lead to diseases such as Alzheimer's, Huntington's, cystic fibrosis, Creutzfeld-Jacob, and some forms of cancer. Dr. Frydman's research into protein folding inside mammalian cells is viewed as some of the most innovative in the chaperone/protein folding arena.

  • Partho Ghosh, Ph.D., University of California, San Diego
    Dr. Ghosh is a leading investigator in structural biology and a noted expert in protein crystallography and recombinant DNA expression biochemistry. The overarching aim of his research is to understand how pathogens gain entry to mammalian cell targets during disease processes. Dr. Ghosh's current research on the mechanisms of host cell invasion by various pathogens promises to elucidate the process of infection and subsequently to identify specific cellular targets for drugs or vaccines.

  • Phyllis I. Hanson, M.D., Ph.D., Washington University (St. Louis)
    Dr. Hanson, an investigator in cell biology, has earned a national reputation as a leader in the field of molecular neurobiology. Specifically, her work explores the protein-protein and protein-membrane interactions at neuronal synapses, including the secretions of substances across the membrane. This work has the potential to lead to an understanding of the molecular processes responsible for synaptic function, and ultimately, how neuronal secretion changes may impact the processes of learning, disease development, and therapeutic interventions.

  • Mark Gerstein, Ph.D., Yale University Dr. Gerstein's work has focused on solving key problems in structural biology and genomics using both computational and theoretical approaches. Dr. Gerstein plans to build a library of protein folds and compare genomes of various pathogenic organisms to create a broader understanding of disease processes at the level of the entire organism (rather than at the level of a singe gene or molecule). This important resource has practical applications in the design and use of drug protocols aimed at ameliorating specific pathogens.

Each applicant to the program was nominated by his or her academic institution. Applicants were then evaluated by the Foundation's Medical Research staff, a panel of external reviewers with specific scientific expertise, and the "Young Scholars" Scientific Advisory Committee. Chaired by William T. Butler, M.D., Chancellor of Baylor College of Medicine, the Advisory Committee also includes W. French Anderson, M.D., Professor of Biochemistry and Pediatrics, and Director of the Gene Therapy Laboratories at the University of Southern California, and Gerald R. Fink, Ph.D., Director of Whitehead Institute at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Committee carefully evaluated each of the program finalists and recommended the five winners. The recommendations of the Scientific Advisory Committee have been unanimously approved by the Foundation's Board of Directors.

Dr. Butler said: "Our Scientific Advisory Committee spent a great deal of time evaluating the first field of applicants. In selecting the finalists, we evaluated each investigator's aptitude for carrying forward groundbreaking medical research, potential for making significant impact in the field of biomedicine, and capacity for future academic leadership. The five individuals we selected clearly distinguished themselves in all three areas, though we would be remiss if we didn't say how extremely impressed we were with all of the candidates. This is an important program and one my colleagues and I on the Scientific Advisory Committee are proud to support."

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The W.M. Keck Foundation, one of the nation's largest philanthropic organizations, was founded in 1954 by the late W.M. Keck, founder of the Superior Oil Company. The Foundation's grant making is focused primarily on pioneering efforts in the areas of medical research, science and engineering and higher education. The Foundation also maintains a Southern California Grant Program that provides support in the areas of civic and community services, health care, pre-collegiate education and the arts, as well as a program for liberal arts colleges.

For more information about the W.M. Keck Foundation, please visit the Foundation's web site at www.wmkeck.org.



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