BOG 2018: Harnessing Scientific and Clinical Research in Cancer Treatment

In a milestone for cancer research at Tel Aviv University, the Gail White and Anne and William Cohen Multidisciplinary Brain Cancer Research Program was inaugurated at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine. The program will leverage the ties between TAU's numerous cancer researchers and its 17 affiliated hospitals to generate clinical translations of research on glioblastoma, the most common form of primary brain tumor and one of the most aggressive forms of cancer.

Vice Dean of the Sackler Faculty of Medicine Prof. Karen Avraham discussed the urgency of finding a cure for glioblastoma. "Without treatment, the median survival from glioblastoma is around three months," she said. "Only 1.8% of patients survive more than three years. There are similar prognoses with brain metastases originating from other cancers.

"It is so much more complex to tease out all of the issues and problems related to cancer," Prof. Avraham said. "We really need top researchers to tackle these, and we are very fortunate to have them at TAU. They bring their specific expertise to the table."

Prof. Neta Erez, Prof. Ronit Satchi-Fainaro and Prof. Tami Geiger, some of TAU's preeminent cancer researchers, are slated to head the new cancer research program.

TAU Global Campaign Cabinet member and benefactor William Cohen said, "We are proud that we are able to support your work. We were so impressed with your research. You have my support, my wife's support, and that of my sister and my entire family. We are behind you 100 percent."

The new gift will support three international postdoctoral fellows every year; a large-scale collaborative project between Prof. Satchi-Fainaro, Prof. Geiger and TAU alum Prof. Zvi Ram, Head of Neurosurgery at the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, that will examine differences between tumors with the aim of identifying the proteins that enable long-term survival; and the development of models by Prof. Satchi-Fainaro and Prof. Erez for melanoma metastasis in the hopes of identifying key cancer regulators to prevent the invasion of melanoma into the brain.

TAU researcher Prof. Neta Erez gave a presentation on her research on cancer Metastasis.