The Lurie Cancer Center's Specialized Programs of Research Excellence (SPORE) in prostate cancer, one of just 11 in the country, will receive $11.5 million over the next five years from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The SPORE brings together a multidisciplinary team of basic scientists, epidemiologists, urologists, oncologists, pathologists and statisticians, who are working together to develop innovative approaches to prostate cancer research.
First funded in 2001, the Northwestern-based SPORE represents a consortium of investigators from Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, The University of Chicago, and NorthShore University Health System (formerly Evanston Northwestern Healthcare). The principal investigator is Chung Lee, PhD, the John Grayhack Professor of Urology, Feinberg. Co-principal investigators are William Catalona, MD, Professor of Urology, Feinberg, and Walter Stadler, MD, Professor of Medicine, University of Chicago. The scientific administrator is Robin Leikin, PhD, Research Assistant Professor, Feinberg, and Scientific Program Director, Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center.
"Five years of new funding from the NCI is a major investment in our efforts to understand prostate cancer," says Dr. Lee. "It allows us to continue to tackle projects aimed at all aspects of the disease, including prevention, early detection, and finding innovative ways to treat patients with disease and improve their quality of life." Dr. Lee says the funding helps SPORE projects currently under way, and he underscores the fact that all four of these are translational research projects. "One of the most significant features of a SPORE such as ours is that it unites basic and clinical researchers. It is a link from the bench to the bedside."
In addition to the four research projects , the prostate cancer SPORE includes Core facilities that support the research; the Developmental Research Program that funds promising pilot projects; and the Career Development Program that recruits junior investigators.
According to Dr. Lee, the Developmental Research Program is a vital part of the prostate Cancer SPORE. "The Program gives us a mechanism to bring the latest technologies and opportunities into translational research," he says. " It has already enabled our SPORE to support innovative studies by both junior and established investigators who have, in several instances, developed their projects into full SPORE projects or have obtained national funding for their studies. This Program helps us assure continued interest and commitment to prostate cancer research." Similarly, Dr. Lee notes, the Career Development Program is a mechanism to attract talented investigators to a career in translational prostate cancer research.
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