Through the University of Duke, in North Carolina, where María fulfilled her studies in Political Sciences, the “María García-Estrada Fellowship” is being implemented to finance a researcher for three years. The initial amount of this project, a total of 500,000 dollars, has been endorsed by the firm “Marquette and Partners “,María’s work place, and will be defrayed with direct donations, programmes and events of the Foundation.
Doctor Richard F. Riedel M.D. will be responsible for the Sarcoma research project.
INVESTIGADOR
Richard F. Riedel MD
Dr. Riedel received his bachelor’s degree from Colgate University and his medical degree from Jefferson Medical College. He completed his medical internship, residency, and fellowship training in hematology and medical oncology at Duke University, serving as chief resident for internal medicine in 2004.
His research in the laboratory of Dr. Phillip Febbo, at the Institute for Genomic Sciences and Policy, has focused on using genomic strategies to identify mechanisms associated with the development of chemotherapy sensitivity and resistance. Most recently, Riedel was part of a research team at Duke which developed a panel of genomic tests that analyzes the unique molecular traits of a cancerous tumor and determines which chemotherapy will most aggressively attack that patient’s cancer. These new tests have the potential to save lives and reduce patients’ exposure to the toxic side effects of chemotherapy. The research was published in the November issue of Nature Medicine.
Dr. Riedel’s research will involve active collaboration with physicians at Duke who have established a robust clinical program in sarcoma including Drs. Brian Brigman and Doug Tyler from Surgery, Drs. Jon Gockerman and Michael Morse from Medical Oncology, Dr. Nicole Larrier from Radiation Oncology and Drs. Michael Datto and Leslie Dodd from Pathology.
Patients with advanced sarcoma are difficult to treat. Current chemotherapy regimens are suboptimal and do not take into account the large heterogeneity among sarcoma subtypes. Preliminary data suggests that gene expression profiling provides a novel window through which to view and investigate the biology underlying sarcoma subtypes and response to therapy. We strongly believe that genomic profiling will be helpful in identifying novel therapeutics that may be used alone or in combination with standard chemotherapy. The identification of patients for whom a pathway-specific therapy may benefit will allow us to develop improved treatment strategies for sarcomas as well as improve patient outcomes.
NAME OF THE PROJECT:
MARÍA GARCÍA ESTRADA FELLOWSHIP
DATE:
August 2006-2009
PLACE:
DUKE COMPREHENSIVE CANCER CENTER, Universidad de Duke, USA
PERSON RESPONSIBLE
Doctor Richard F. Riedel MD
INVESTIGATION TEAM
Drs. Brian Brigman y Doug Tyler de Cirugía,
Drs. Jon Gockerman y Michael Morse de Oncología Médica,
Dr. Nicole Larrier de Radiooncología,
Drs. Michael Datto y Leslie Dodd de Patología.
TARGET OF THE PROJECT
Patients with advanced sarcomas are difficult to treat. Current chemotherapy regimens are suboptimal and do not take into account the wide diversity between subtypes of sarcoma. Preliminary data suggest that the profile of gene expression would provide a window through which to observe and investigate the basic biology of the subtypes of sarcoma and response to therapy. The team believes that the implementation of a genomic profile would be useful for identifying novel therapy that may be used alone or in combination with standard chemotherapy.
The identification of patients for whom specific therapy could benefit, will allow us to develop new strategies for the treatment of sarcomas as well as to improve the patients’ results.
AVAILABLE FUNDS
The initial allocation for this project, amounting to $500,000 in total, has been endorsed by the company Marquette and Partners, of The Chicago-London Stock Exchange, where Maria worked for her last two years. The
Maria Garcia Estrada Foundation has contributed $68,000.
