Canary Foundation Researchers Receive Department of Defense Grants for Over $2 Million to Fund Prostate Cancer Research

SAN JOSE, Calif., July 7, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Canary Foundation's Canary Prostate Team has been awarded two Department of Defense (DOD) grants issued by the United States Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity (USAMRAA). Totaling $2.25 million, these grants will help fund prostate cancer research led by Peter Carroll, MD, Ziding Feng, PhD, and James Brooks, MD.

Dr. Carroll of The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) has received the DOD Prostate Cancer Research Program Impact Award. This grant is awarded to an exceptional project proposal that focuses specifically on reducing or eliminating the over-treatment of primary prostate cancer. As Principal Investigator, Dr. Carroll will use his allotted funds over the next three years to support his research project entitled "Predicting Prostate Cancer at Time of Diagnosis." The results of his research will bear significant influence on the diagnostic assessment and decision-making process related to the treatment of early stage prostate cancer.

Dr. Feng of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC) and Dr. Brooks of Stanford University have been awarded the DOD Prostate Cancer Research Program Synergistic Idea Development Award. This grant is awarded to an innovative project proposal that approaches prostate cancer research by using synergistic and complementary perspectives and encouraging new and existing partnerships. As Principal Investigators, Dr. Feng and Dr. Brooks will jointly use the allotted funds over the next three years to support their research project entitled "Validation of Biomarkers for Prostate Cancer Prognosis."

Heidi Auman, PhD, Scientific Program Manager at Canary Foundation, says of these awards, "In an extremely competitive funding environment, winning these awards is a testament to the strong foundation built by the Canary team." Dr. Carroll's award will take advantage of the Prostate Active Surveillance Study (PASS), the Canary Foundation supported clinical trial enrolling over 1,000 men newly diagnosed with prostate cancer. The award to Drs. Feng and Brooks will utilize the Prostate Tissue Microarray Resource with over 1,000 prostate cancer tissues assembled by the multi-institutional Canary team. Continues Dr. Auman, "Like the Canary Foundation Prostate Program, the aim of these awards is to develop tools to distinguish patients at high risk for developing lethal prostate cancer in comparison to those with non-lethal disease."

In addition to his role as Canary Prostate Team member, Dr. Carroll is the Chair of the Department of Urology at the UCSF School of Medicine, the Ken and Donna Derr-ChevronTexaco Distinguished Professor in Prostate Cancer, as well as Associate Dean of the UCSF School of Medicine. He is a urologic surgeon and co-leader of the Prostate Cancer Program at the UCSF-Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Feng is a Full Member of the Biostatistics and Cancer Prevention Programs at the FHCRC and an Affiliate Professor in Biostatistics at the University of Washington. In addition, Dr. Feng is head of the coordinating center of the Early Detection Research Network (EDRN) at FHCRC. Dr. Brooks is an Associate Professor of Urology at Stanford University School of Medicine and a urologic surgeon practicing at the Stanford Cancer Center. He is Co-Principal Investigator of the Stanford EDRN grant that focuses on developing imaging and nanotechnology platforms for detection of prostate cancer molecular biomarkers and serves on the editorial board of The Prostate, Prostate Cancer, and is editor-in-chief of The Open Prostate Cancer Journal.

About Canary Foundation

Canary Foundation is a non-profit dedicated to the goal of identifying cancer early through a simple blood test and then isolating it with imaging. Since 2004, Canary has raised over $30 million to support early detection research. Its collaborative research programs span multiple disciplines and institutions. One hundred percent of donations go to early detection research activities. For more information, please visit http://www.canaryfoundation.org.

SOURCE Canary Foundation