Kudos:

Department of Defense Awards Grants to Five Scripps Research Investigators
Five scientific investigators at The Scripps Research Institute were recently awarded research grants totaling almost $3.4 million from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Breast Cancer Research Program, which aims to promote research to eradicate breast cancer. They are:

• Ralph A. Reisfeld, who was awarded a DoD Breast Cancer Research Program Idea Award of $563,100 for his proposal, ''An Oral DNA Vaccine Encoding Endoglin Eradicates Breast Tumors by Blocking Their Blood Supply.'' Reisfeld seeks to develop DNA vaccines that will prevent or slow breast cancer metastasis by choking off the blood supply to tumor cells, leading to their starvation and death.
  
  
• Jiing-Dwan Lee, who was awarded a DoD Breast Cancer Research Program Idea Award of $563,100 for his proposal, ''Molecular Action of a Potential Tumor Suppressor in Mammary Carcinogenesis.'' Lee is investigating how the expression of a human tumor suppressor protein called Tid1 has the ability to suppress the growth of malignant breast cancer tumors.
  
  
• Roberto G. Baccala, who was awarded a DoD Breast Cancer Research Program Idea Award of $563,100 for his proposal, ''Homeostatic T Cell Expansion to Induce Anti-Tumor Autoimmunity in Breast Cancer.'' Baccala is exploring how to enhance the natural ability of the immune system's T cells to attack and kill breast cancer cells specifically.
  
  
• Floyd E. Romesberg, who was awarded a DoD Breast Cancer Research Program Idea Award of $563,100 for his proposal, ''Inhibition of Mutation: A Novel Approach to Preventing and Treating Cancer.'' Romesberg is attempting to identify the genes in yeast and human cells that induce mutations, which can transform normal cells into cancer cells.
  
  
• Subhash C. Sinha, who was awarded a DoD Breast Cancer Research Program Concept Award of $140,775 for his proposal, ''HerTax, A Novel HER2-Targeting mAb Construct.'' Sinha will aim to increase the efficacy and reduce the side effects of the breast cancer drug taxol by combining taxol with an antibody that targets the HER2 protein, which is abundant on the surface of 25-30 percent of breast cancer cells.

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women, and it inflicts a heavy burden on our society. One in eight women in the United States will develop breast cancer in their lifetime: according to the American Cancer Society, this year 215,990 American women are projected to be diagnosed with breast cancer; and some 40,000 are expected to die from the disease.

Scripps Research Sponsors Charity Golf Tournament
Scripps Research is a major sponsor of the Ronald McDonald House Charities of San Diego’s 15th Annual Golf Tournament at the Fairbanks Ranch Country Club on Monday, November 15. Individual tournament participants will be treated to lunch, buffet dinner, and cocktails, plus an exclusive gift bag. Guests will also enjoy an auction and an opportunity to win one of four automobiles on each of the par-three holes for a hole-in-one.

For more information or to enter the tournament go to: http://www.sdmcdonalds.com/golf/index.html

Send comments to: mikaono[at]scripps.edu