The Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) announced today that John A. Martignetti, of Mount Sinai School of Medicine’s Department of Genetics And Genomic Sciences, is a recipient of one of the 2006 Competitive Awards Program grants. Sixty-three research investigators from four countries received a total of $6.1 million in awards.
The Competitive Awards Program is an innovative venture-style research funding program that provides financial support to high-impact research projects with the greatest potential to improve survival and reduce side effects and death for men with advanced prostate cancer. The awards are granted to projects in a variety of areas, including biomarkers, genetics and genomics, nutrition, cancer immunotherapy, new drug discovery and survivorship.
Martignetti’s research, conducted with Analisa DiFeo, a graduate student, and in collaboration with Dr. Simon Hall, Director of the Deane Prostate Health and Research Center at Mount Sinai, and Dr. Devin Leake at Thermo Fisher Scientific, focuses on the potential therapeutic role of using siRNA to inhibit the expression of a novel gene, KLF6-SV1, in metastatic prostate cancer
Said Dr. Martignetti, “The PCF’s financial award, and the access to the clinical and scientific experts which comprise and are supported by the largest philanthropic group dedicated to prostate cancer research, represents an important lifeline as we try to move discoveries forward from the bench to the bedside.”
With its model of drawing new investigators around the globe to the field and enabling investigators to attract additional significant investment, the Competitive Awards Program has played a unique role in the area of prostate cancer research. To date, more than $81 million has been awarded through the Competitive Awards Program, allowing individual investigators to focus their efforts on discovering new ideas and new pathways for prostate cancer treatment strategies.
Prostate cancer is the most common non-skin cancer in the United States, striking one in six men. In 2007 alone, more than 218,000 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer and more than 27,000 men will die of the disease. Baby boomer men are turning 60, bringing increasing numbers of men into the highest-risk zone for the disease. As a result, the number of new cases over the next decade is expected to increase to more than 300,000 annually.