Overview

Overview

Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute began its research efforts in 1993 and by 1998 achieved National Cancer Institute (NCI) designation. Today, research at Moffitt includes more than 135 investigators organized around six scientific programs, all with an emphasis on translation. In October 2006, the NCI renewed Moffitt’s Comprehensive Cancer Center status and its Cancer Center Support Grant for five years. Among the factors and accomplishments over the past five years that the NCI cited were:

• Doubling of overall research funding at Moffitt
• A 130-percent increase in new patients referred to Moffitt
• Development of early-phase Moffitt investigator-initiated studies
• An increase in accrual to therapeutic phase I, I/II and II clinical trials

The NCI also highlighted several of Moffitt’s strengths, including the expansion of basic research, especially in the areas of cancer prevention and control; the growth and maturation of translational and clinical research, active collaboration between bench and clinical scientists; and careful recruitment of basic scientists in molecular and cancer genetics.

In May 2007, Donald A. Adam donated $20.4 million to Moffitt to establish a Comprehensive Melanoma Research Center. Jeffrey Weber, M.D., Ph.D., joined the cancer center in May 2007 to lead the efforts and growth in Melanoma.

Project funding is critical to the success of cancer research and the Cancer Center’s total grant funding today totals more than $66 million. Moffitt is ranked No. 31 in the top National Cancer Institute grantee institutions based on NCI’s fiscal year 2006. Recent key grant highlights include:

• SPORE in Lung Cancer – Gerold Bepler, M.D., Ph.D., and his team achieved the best score on the recent NCI review of Lung Cancer SPOREs.
  This is the first SPORE for Moffitt Cancer Center. Click here for more information.
• Drug Discovery P01 – The NCI has funded a P01 project entitled “Targeting Signal Transduction Pathways for Cancer Drug Discovery.”
  The project, led by Saïd Sebti, Ph.D., Program Leader for Drug Discovery, is a collaborative effort among several Moffitt scientists and its long-term goal is to discover novel drugs for the treatment of cancer based on disrupting aberrant signal transduction pathways.
• Postdoctoral Training Grant – Julie Djeu, Ph.D., and her team were recently awarded an NCI T-32 training grant to develop a Tumor Immunology Training Program.
  The program will train postdoctoral fellows to enter the field of translational immunology and immunotherapy.

Recent Scientific Accomplishments

• Dmitry Gabrilovich, M.D., Ph.D., was recognized in the January 11 issue of Science, which published a news story on the role of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) in sustaining tumors. The story recognized Dr. Gabrilovich as one of the pioneers in the area. His efforts have been instrumental in linking MDSCs to cancer growth.
• Wenlong Bai, Ph.D., and colleagues, including Moffitt members Jiandong Chen, Ph.D.; Nancy Olashaw, Ph.D., Xiaohong Zhang, Ph.D.; and Santo Nicosia, M.D., published in the November issue of Nature Cell Biology (PubMed ID 17934453).
  This collaboration of members from Molecular Oncology and Experimental Therapeutics programs involved working with an important HDAC, SIRT1, which has important roles in diverse cellular processes, including transcriptional silencing, rDNA recombination, glucose metabolism and energy homeostasis, DNA repair and cell survival. The study showed that SIRT1 deacetylase activity toward p53 is regulated by sumoylation and suggest that SIRT1 sumoylation may be a novel target for intervention in aging and tumorigenesis.
• Hong-Gang Wang, Ph.D. and colleagues, including Moffitt investigators Drs. Coppola, Pledger, Cheng, Mulé, and Cualing, published in the October issue of Nature Cell Biology (PubMed ID 17891140).
  The team found that Bif-1 joins the UVRAG-Beclin 1 complex as a potential activator of autophagy and tumor suppressor.
• Paul Jacobsen, Ph.D. and colleagues, including Moffitt investigators Drs. Kristine Donovan, Brent Small, Heather Jim, and Pam Munster published in the October 15 issue of Cancer (PubMed ID 17847016).
  The team found that, compared with healthy women, breast cancer survivors reported more days of fatigue and more severe fatigue symptoms. These findings provide strong evidence that women with non-metastatic breast cancer treated with adjuvant chemotherapy are at significantly greater risk for severe fatigue.