Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation

Groundbreaking advances by Damon Runyon alumni Catherine J. Wu, MD; Robert H. Vonderheide, MD; and Vinod P. Balachandran, MD, are making the long-held promise of cancer vaccines a reality.

Damon Runyon alum Eli Van Allen, MD, and colleagues have developed an experimental AI-based data sorting tool to help clinicians identify targeted therapies that may benefit a given patient. Learn about the tool and the considerations that go into applying AI to clinical work: https://bit.ly/3W3rfiM

We are proud to announce the newest cohort of Damon Runyon Fellows! These 14 exceptional postdocs will receive four years of independent funding to advance their investigation of causes, treatments, and prevention strategies for all types of cancer. Read more: https://bit.ly/4cj7Gby

Former Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Ralph J. DeBerardinis, MD, and his lab, including Damon Runyon SPARK Fellow Imani M. Williams, have illuminated a potential mechanism of chemotherapy resistance in cancer cells. Read more:

Over the weekend, we were thrilled to welcome the 2026 Illini 4000 team to our office for breakfast with current Fellows Wenzhi Song, PhD, and James Swann, VetMB, DPhil. They're off on their cross-country adventure raising funds for cancer research - wish them luck! 🗽 -> 🌉

We've begun our final segment of #ArvCon2026 to benefit @damonrunyon.org, with our annual DRCRF scientist TTRPG game--Timewatch, GM'ed by @therisingtithes.bsky.social! We're only $750 away from our goal, so please join us, enjoy the time shenanigans, and help us get that final amount! :D

Tune in now to meet some of our scientists during this special weekend-long fundraiser!

#ArvCon2026 to benefit @damonrunyon.org begins with our Pre-Show TOMORROW, Thursday the 21st at 7:30 p.m. ET...please mark your calendars for an event full of community, giveaways, surprises, interviews, music, and--of course--lots of TTRPGs! Please spread the word, and we'll see you tomorrow night!

New research from former Damon Runyon-Sohn Pediatric Cancer Fellow Katherine E. Gadek, PhD, traces the childhood cancer rhabdomyosarcoma to its origins in developing blood vessels—paving the way for better detection and prevention strategies. Learn more: https://bit.ly/4nbQ1qs

Nearly a decade after former Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Scott Armstrong, MD, PhD, demonstrated that leukemia cells depend on a protein called menin for survival, the FDA approved the menin inhibitor revumenib for treatment of acute myeloid leukemia. Read more: https://bit.ly/4vuSmR4

Congrats to @kinglhung.bsky.social from my lab on receiving a @damonrunyon.org Postdoctoral Fellowship! I was a Damon Runyon Fellow early in my career and know how much this recognition means. So proud! www.damonrunyon.org/news/damon-r...

We are thrilled to announce the newest class of Damon Runyon Fellows, 13 exceptional early-career scientists who are working to push boundaries and make breakthroughs in cancer research. Read more about their projects: https://bit.ly/4muFTsP

On March 24, clinically focused Damon Runyon scientists and industry partners gathered at Amgen in Cambridge, MA for the 2026 Accelerating Cancer Cures Symposium. The symposium aims to foster conversation and spark collaboration between academia and industry. Read more: https://bit.ly/47XXWkQ

Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Steven M. Corsello, MD, and his colleagues at Stanford have discovered a drug that can degrade nuclear pores—the passageways by which mRNA leaves the nucleus—in cancer cells, effectively inducing cell death. Read more: https://bit.ly/3NCJeZJ

Major breakthroughs in cancer research can come from the most unexpected sources. This World Cancer Day, we celebrate the curiosity that drives our scientists to look for answers in unusual places.

A pediatric patient was able to walk again after a groundbreaking discovery by Damon Runyon alumni Michael E. Pacold, MD, PhD, and Robert S. Banh, PhD, led to an experimental therapy for his neurodevelopmental condition.

Shoutout to first author, Isabella Alves, a @damonrunyon.org SPARK postbaccalaureate fellow and rising star in hematology. Very proud to see this work in print and honored to have had the opportunity to review the original article and learn more about the coolness of ferroptosis🩸🔮

Last month, Arlene Sharpe and Gordon J. Freeman (Damon Runyon Fellow '79-'81) received the inaugural edition of the Gretener-Thürlemann Prize for their foundational work on the immune system, widening the field of immunology and demonstrating how important basic science is to medical breakthrough.

No one organization can fill the gaps created by federal funding cuts to research. But as an independent funder, Damon Runyon is committed to ensuring that our scientists can continue their lifesaving work in 2026 and beyond. Until midnight, all gifts will be fully matched: damonrunyon.org/donate

Recent research from former Damon Runyon–Dale F. Frey Breakthrough Scientist Abigail Overacre-Delgoffe, PhD, suggests that sucralose—a common artificial sweetener—may interfere with cancer immunotherapy. Read more: https://bit.ly/3MZvzv1

Our scientists explain what support from Damon Runyon has meant during a turbulent year for cancer research. To everyone in our Damon Runyon community, happy holidays and thank you!

Pancreatic cancer remains one of the deadliest diagnoses, with a 5-year survival rate of about 12%. But even amidst a federal funding crisis, Damon Runyon scientists are working to advance methods of detection and treatment.

Congratulations to Damon Runyon scientists Omar Abdel-Wahab, MD, Wendy S. Garrett, MD, PhD, and David G. Kirsch, MD, PhD, for their election to the National Academy of Medicine last month! 👏 Read the full press release here: bit.ly/4hnDYDH

A study from Damon Runyon scientists Eirini Papapetrou, MD, PhD, Piro Lito, MD, PhD, Elli Papaemmanuil, PhD, and Elvin Wagenblast, PhD, explains why RAS-mutant leukemias behave differently, and may offer a clue to overcoming their treatment resistance. Read more: https://bit.ly/4p61B6k

Earlier this month, we proudly welcomed the newest cohort of Damon Runyon Fellows! These 16 brilliant postdocs will receive four years of independent funding to advance their investigation of causes, treatments, and prevention strategies for all types of cancer. Read more: https://bit.ly/4nc25Hq

The recipient of the 2025 Damon Runyon-Jake Wetchler Award for Pediatric Innovation, recognizing work with great potential to impact pediatric cancers, is Pu Zheng, PhD, a Damon Runyon-Fayez Sarofim Fellow working on new technologies to visualize cancer cell behavior within its native environment.

Wanted to give a proper shout-out to @txrwang.bsky.social for earning a @damonrunyon.org QBio Fellowship! He is a perfect example of the next gen of scientists who think deeply and creatively across disciplines of biology and ML/AI. I learned a lot from him. www.damonrunyon.org/news/entries... 1/2

Creative Ways to Back Young Scientists. Listen to Yung Lie and Andy Rachleff of Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation on The Long Run podcast. timmermanreport.com/2025/07/crea...

Damon Runyon mentor-mentee duo Piro Lito, MD, PhD, and Antonio Cuevas-Navarro, PhD, have developed a new approach to treating RAS-driven cancers, such as colorectal and pancreatic. Rather than inhibiting the cancerous protein, their drug restores its natural function. Read more:

The Clinical Investigator Award program was designed to increase the number of physician-scientists capable of translating discoveries in the lab into new treatments for cancer patients. @tanaya-shree.bsky.social was recognized as one of five new @damonrunyon.org Clinical Investigators in 2025.

Congratulations to Dr. Tanaya Shree on receiving the 2025 @damonrunyon.org Clinical Investigator Award! The recipients of this award are outstanding, early-career physician-scientists conducting patient-oriented cancer research under the mentorship of the nation's leading scientists and clinicians.

Honored to be selected as a Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator among this group of incredible scientists and appreciative of the support to conduct patient-centered mechanistic research. @ohsunews.bsky.social @ohsuknight.bsky.social #CancerImmunotherapy #LymphomaResearch