Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network Announces 2019 Bladder Cancer Research Innovation Awardee
The Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network announced the recipient of its prestigious Bladder Cancer Research Innovation Award.
Today, the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network (BCAN) announced the recipient of its prestigious Bladder Cancer Research Innovation Award. This year’s awardee is Philip Beachy, Ph.D., Professor of Urology at Stanford University. His research project will address the need for better treatments for recurrent bladder cancer CIS (carcinoma in-situ) and intermediate and high-risk non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC).
BCAN’s Bladder Cancer Research Innovation Award, funded at $300,000 for two years, supports exceptionally novel and creative projects with great potential to produce breakthroughs in the management of bladder cancer.
“It is gratifying to provide funding for innovative bladder cancer research projects such as Dr. Beachy’s. This award supports research that is high-risk and has the potential for high-reward in new discoveries,” said Andrea Maddox Smith, CEO of the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network. “These critical projects are not likely to be funded elsewhere. We are proud to continue to encourage innovation in the bladder cancer research community.”
Dr. Beachy’s project is titled “Transdifferentiation of fibroblasts to urothelial progenitors for definitive urothelial replacement therapy in non-muscle invasive bladder cancer.” Dr. Beachy’s approach involves replacing the diseased urothelium with healthy bladder urothelial progenitor cells. In addition to generating these bladder urothelial progenitors, he will also focus on developing methods for transplanting these cells into bladders afflicted with NMIBC using a carcinogen-based bladder cancer mouse model. Dr. Beachy intends to develop a diagnostic tool based on single-cell RNA sequencing of human patient samples to identify candidates for this potential therapy.
Dr. Beachy is an Ernest and Amelia Gallo Professor at Stanford University School of Medicine in Palo Alto, California and an Associate at Stanford's Institute of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine.
The Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network’s (BCAN’s) mission is to increase public awareness about bladder cancer, advance bladder cancer research and, provide educational and support services for the bladder cancer community.
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