Current Grant Award
Release Date: July 10, 2008 The Limb Preservation Foundation to fund
Limb Preservation Foundation Announces 2008/2009 Competitive Pilot Research Grant Award Recipient
The Limb Preservation Foundation is pleased to announce that Dr. Valerae Lewis, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, has been selected as the 2008/2009 recipient of The Limb Preservation Foundation’s annual Competitive Pilot Research Grant Award. The Foundation will provide Dr. Lewis with seed funding for her investigative study into adult bone cancer.
“We are delighted to welcome Dr. Lewis onto our team to Save Limbs and Lives,” stated Limb Preservation Foundation Founder and President Dr. Ross Wilkins. “Dr. Lewis and her team at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have proposed a very innovative method to fighting bone cancer. We, as others, will be anxiously awaiting the results from this pilot study. .As has been said about fighting all types of cancer….’we need more bullets’. That is to say, new, innovative ways to deal with these limb threatening, often fatal diseases”
Dr. Lewis was selected from a national field of investigators who applied for the annual $50,000 grant award from The Limb Preservation Foundation. Dozens of investigators, from the US and abroad have applied for the award with the goal of increasing studies into the cause and the cure for adult bone cancer. Dr. Lewis’s application was lauded as “very exciting science” by the Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Committee who reviewed all grant submissions and recommended Dr. Lewis’s study to the Foundation’s Board of Directors as the recipient of the 2008/2009 Competitive Pilot Research Grant Award funding.
Dr. Lewis’s study will test the hypothesis that the presence of the IL-11Rx within osteosarcoma and the ability of the IL-11 mimic phage to home to the receptor can be exploited for the development of targeted therapy. She hypothesizes that systemic administration of the IL-11 targeted proapoptotic peptide will inhibit tumor growth.
The Lewis grant is the third annual Competitive Pilot Research Grant awarded by The Limb Preservation Foundation. The Foundation’s Board of Directors approved an annual allocation of $50,000 per year in 2005 with the goal of providing new investigators with seed funding for innovative bone cancer and extremity studies. The first Foundation Competitive Pilot Research Grant recipient was Dr. Nicole Ehrhart, of the Colorado State University Animal Cancer Center, who conducted a study on isolated limb perfusion to attempt to completely kill the cancer before removal. The second Foundation Competitive Pilot Research Grant recipient was Dr. Francis Eshun, of the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, who conducted a study on the hypothesis that the combination of anti-angiogenic agents with oncolytic viruses will improve their anti-tumor effect and decrease the relapse rate of bone cancer.
“The Limb Preservation Foundation is committed to investing in the future of scientific investigation to find the cause and the cure for bone cancers and other extremity diseases,” explained Dr. Wilkins. “There cannot be enough money allocated to assist in finding the cure for these dreadful diseases that are taking the limbs and the lives of children and adults. We are excited to play a part in the battle against bone cancer and extremity disease!”
The Limb Preservation Foundation is a charitable organization that was established in 1987. The mission of the Foundation is to support the prevention and treatment of limb threatening conditions due to trauma, tumor or infection. The Foundation funds patient treatment programs, educational programs and research with the goal of addressing the needs of individuals who are facing the potential loss of a limb. The Limb Preservation Foundation’s annual Competitive Pilot Research Grant is made possible by the individual donors and fund raising efforts of the Foundation. The purpose of the Foundation’s Grant Program is to support exceptional research projects that will help lead to better methods to save limbs in jeopardy. Considered studies involve any subject that is relevant to limb preservation or extremities at risk such as infection, tissue/bone healing, and tumors.
For more information on The Limb Preservation Foundation or the Competitive Pilot Grant Program, contact the Foundation offices at 303/217-0998.
