CONTINUING THE FIGHT AGAINST CANCER
IN A PERILOUS TIME
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Dear ICRF supporter,
On behalf of all of us at ICRF and the many hundreds of Israeli cancer researchers you have supported over the years, please accept our profound gratitude. We hope this newsletter finds you and your family safe and healthy.
The COVID-19 pandemic looms large, but please know that our work here at ICRF continues unabated. In a way, the pandemic has been clarifying, adding an extra measure of urgency and focus to our efforts.
These are perilous times for ICRF, and
your support
is key in sustaining our mission.
As our friend and international board member
Gary Grad wrote in our annual Passover appeal
,
“the coronavirus and the fear and uncertainty it induces threaten not just our collective sense of well-being but also ICRF’s ability to fund — for your sake, and your children’s sake, and your grandchildren’s sake — Israel’s brilliant, life-saving cancer research.” Well said.
We don’t usually think of cancer as a pandemic but consider this: close to 10 million people around the world will die of cancer this year.
That includes 600,000 Americans – or more than 1,600 a day. While we will one day beat back the dreadful COVID-19 pandemic, regrettably the scourge of cancer will endure.
Research is the only strategy for finding treatments and cures for cancer.
For more than 40 years, ICRF has funded outstanding Israeli cancer scientists. Our scientists made key contributions to the development of breakthrough drugs such as Gleevec, Doxil and Velcade, which have saved hundreds of thousands of live – and today our scientists are at the forefront globally of innovations in nano-medicine, immunotherapy, stem cell research and targeted therapy. And with
15-20%
of cancers caused by a virus, ICRF-funded researchers working in the field of viral-induced cancer may well make a discovery that will help to stem this pandemic…or the ones likely to come in the future.
We recently concluded our annual Scientific Review Panel process. More than 40 leading cancer researchers and oncologists from across North America came together online to review and score more than 175 applications for funding from top Israeli researchers -- scientists at the cusp of medical breakthroughs, men and women who have dedicated their lives to research and healing. ICRF’s meticulous proposal review provides donors with the critical assurance that their dollars will only go to the highest potential research.
I can tell you two things with certainty: first, the quality of the research we are funding is world class; and second,
that without donations at this critical junction
, deserving research – research that could change the course of a loved one’s life - will go unfunded. We cannot let that happen.
At a time of heightened awareness of the fragility of life, we need your assistance in our efforts to defeat cancer. We must not let the coronavirus steal the future of Israeli cancer research. Now, more than ever, we need your help.
Sincerely,
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Mark A. Israel, MD
National Executive Director, ICRF
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NEW WEBINAR SERIES SPOTLIGHTING
ICRF'S BRILLIANT MINDS KICKS OFF APRIL 27
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"ICRF Presents: Brilliant Minds",
a new monthly webinar series featuring ICRF-funded scientists and other brilliant minds in cancer research,
launches on
Monday, April 27.
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Additional webinars in this exciting new series will be announced soon - stay tuned!
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ICRF RESEARCHER PROFILE: PROF. ZIV GIL
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In honor of
Head & Neck Cancer Awareness Month, ICRF spoke with
Ziv Gil, MD, PhD
, Director of the Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery at
Rambam Heath Care Campus, the first comprehensive Head and Neck Center in Israel, which he established in 2014. He is also Head of the Applied Cancer Research Laboratory at the
Technion, Israel Institute of Technology at Rambam.
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1) What is the main focus of your research? The major interest of the lab is the influence of tumor microenvironment on cancer progression. Research in the lab focuses on pancreatic, head and neck and bladder cancers. New animal models of tumor invasion that were developed in the lab showed that nerves induce signals that promote cancer progression and dissemination. The continuous effort to reveal the mechanism of cancer dissemination along nerves helps the scientific community to better understand the molecular cues underlying this unique phenomenon in cancer biology.
Our research also revealed that nano-vesicles known as exosomes are released from immune cells and transfer nucleic acid fragments to cancer cells. These signals reprogram glucose metabolism and induce drug resistance. Over the past few years, a number of novel mechanisms that mediate pancreas cancer cell drug resistance through an effect of immune cells known as macrophages were identified. These findings are the basis for current efforts in the lab to develop means to augment the effect of chemotherapy against pancreas cancer, a collaboration study performed with COH.
2) How has ICRF's collaboration with COH impacted your research?
Our collaboration with COH expanded our research from basic science to preclinical research on drug development against pancreatic cancer.
3) Anything else you would like to share with the ICRF community? I would like to thank ICRF and its donors for supporting our research and for progressing cancer research in Israel.
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STORIES OF ICRF: MALCOLM & BARBARA RASHBA
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For
Barbara and Malcolm Rashba
of
Hamden, Connecticut – dedicated supporters of ICRF since 1985
– ICRF has played a central role in life’s cycle of remembrances and celebrations.
In 2016, tragedy struck when one of their four adult sons, Gary, who was living in Israel, passed away after developing a rare form of neuroendocrine cancer. In the midst of their sadness, the Rashbas turned to ICRF as a way of memorializing Gary and, with their many friends, contributed to ICRF so that others may have have different fate.
The couple equally turns to ICRF to mark life's joyful moments. For their recent
simcha
celebrating the birth of their first great grandchild, ICRF was designated the beneficiary of their celebration. While unable to travel to Israel, the Rashbas were thrilled to witness the
bris
of their new great grandson, touchingly named in memory of their son Gary, live via videoconference.
ICRF is indebted to the Rashbas and many others for making funding of Israel's cancer scientists an integral part of their family traditions.
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ICRF MOURNS THE PASSING OF STANLEY CHERA A"H
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The Trustees and staff of ICRF extend heartfelt condolences to Stanley’s wife, Frieda (Cookie) and to their sons Isaac, Haim and Richard and their families.
Stanley was a pillar of the community. He and his family have been staunch and generous supporters of the brilliant Israeli cancer researchers who are relentless in their search for a cure for this devastating disease.
“May you be comforted along with the other mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.”
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SAVE THE DATE TO JOIN ICRF ON #GIVINGTUESDAYNOW, MAY 5
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ICRF is joining
#GivingTuesdayNow,
a global day of action for giving and unity on
May 5th.
Organized in response to the unprecedented need caused by COVID-19, it's a day when people, communities, nonprofits, and corporations around the world can come together and give back in ways both big and small.
Now, more than ever, every act of generosity counts. Help us show that we will continue to fight for a world without cancer.
Here are some of the ways you can support ICRF on #GivingTuesdayNow - and everyday:
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FUNDRAISE
FOR ICRF ON FACEBOOK
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Celebrate your birthday or honor a loved one by creating your own Facebook fundraiser for ICRF.
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SUPPORT ICRF
WHILE YOU SHOP ONLINE
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Generate donations for ICRF when you shop through Amazon Smile.
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STAY CONNECTED ON SOCIAL MEDIA
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- New immunotherapy to target blood cancers, solid tumors (Israel 21c) - Hebrew University's Ofer Mandelboim, PhD, a current recipient of a prestigious ICRF Research Professorship, will lead a new research program co-sponsored by HU's technology-transfer company Yissum to develop precision medicines for blood cancers and solid tumors by utilizing immunotherapies targeting natural killer cells.
- VIDEO: Coronavirus: The Quest for Solutions – Dr. Nir London, The Race for a Cure (American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science) - At the Weizmann Institute, ICRF Research Career Development Awardee Nir London, PhD is co-leading a global consortium to accelerate COVID-19 drug development.
- Sheba cancer scientist to receive Israel Prize for Medical Science (The Jerusalem Post) - Gideon Rechavi, MD, PhD, a member of ICRF's International Scientific Council since 1999 and past ICRF grantee, was honored with the 2020 Israel Prize.
- 30 Israeli medical innovations to fight coronavirus (Israel 21c)
- How Israeli universities are at the forefront of defeating coronavirus (The Times of Israel)
- COVID-19: Advice for cancer patients, survivors and caregivers (City of Hope)
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The Answer to Cancer is Research.
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Israel Cancer Research Fund's mission is to support the best and brightest scientists conducting groundbreaking cancer research at all of the leading institutions in Israel. To date, ICRF has competitively awarded over $72 million in funding for nearly 2,500 grants, making ICRF the largest nongovernmental funder of cancer research in Israel.
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