The Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network (BCAN) and Paradigm today announced a partnership for the launch of a large-scale genomically-driven bladder cancer study. Hoosier Cancer Research Network (HCRN) will act as the coordinating center.

This prospective study is the first project of the Bladder Cancer Genomics Consortium (BCGC), a collaborative effort between BCAN and major medical centers. The BCGC’s goal is to develop an enriched understanding of the genomic profile of bladder cancer to facilitate the development of novel therapeutics. Bladder cancer is the fifth most commonly diagnosed cancer in the U.S., with nearly 75,000 new cases and 16,000 deaths in 2015. Read More

Abstracts from four Hoosier Cancer Research Network studies have been accepted by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) for the 2015 Annual Meeting in Chicago on May 29 – June 2. The studies include GU10-148 (poster discussion), BRE09-146 (poster), GI05-102 (poster), and QL12-153 (publication-only abstract). Read More

This spring, Hoosier Cancer Research Network Chairman Christopher A. Fausel, PharmD, offered a unique challenge to friends and supporters of HCRN. Combining his interest in strength training and his passion for investigator-initiated research, Fausel invited pledges for every bench-press “rep” he could complete at the Arnold Sports Festival’s 5K Pump and Run event in Columbus, Ohio.

Twenty individuals responded with pledges of support for the Reps for Research challenge. Fausel reached his goal of 30 reps during the event (see video), and HCRN received donations totaling more than $1,800 for investigator-initiated research.
Read More

Gregory A. Durm, MD, a hematology/oncology fellow at the Indiana University School of Medicine, is helping to break new ground in the fight against cancer by studying circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in lung cancer.

CTCs are cells that have broken away from primary tumors and have entered into the bloodstream. CTCs that survive the bloodstream’s assault could migrate to distant parts of the body where they can become the seeds of metastatic disease. Technologies to detect CTCs have improved in recent years, in part through collaborative multi-institutional efforts such as a parallel flow micro-aperture chip system developed and tested by Purdue University engineers and investigators at the IU Simon Cancer Center. Read More

Hoosier Cancer Research Network is pleased to announce the opening of a cancer clinical trial for patients with stage III non-small cell lung cancer at select sites throughout the United States.

The study, known as LUN14-179, seeks to determine if the use of an investigational drug, Pembrolizumab, following standard chemoradiation treatment, improves the time to death or distant metastatic disease in patients with inoperable or unresectable stage IIIA or IIIB non-small cell lung cancer. The FDA has approved Pembrolizumab for the treatment of melanoma but it has not yet approved the drug to treat lung cancer. Read More

Hoosier Cancer Research Network, formerly known as Hoosier Oncology Group, recently honored Matthew Galsky, MD, as recipient of the Danny Danielson Translational Innovation Award.

The $10,000 award, granted by the Walther Cancer Foundation through the generous support of business and civic leader Donald C. “Danny” Danielson, is given twice each year to investigators working in partnership with Hoosier Cancer Research Network to support the correlative components of clinical trial protocols when financial support is not otherwise available. Read More

Indiana University cancer researchers are testing whether therapy incorporating advanced genomic technology will provide better outcomes than current treatments for those with an aggressive form of breast cancer.

Researchers at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center, led by Bryan Schneider, M.D., associate professor of medicine, and Milan Radovich, Ph.D., assistant professor of surgery and of medical and molecular genetics, are using targeted DNA sequencing in a new clinical trial for women with triple negative breast cancer, to test whether certain treatment choices improve survival rates. Read More

Congratulations to the GU02-41 team! Read More

Hoosier Oncology is pleased to announce that study LUN05-99 – “Paclitaxel plus Bevacizumab in Patients with Chemosensitive Relapsed Small Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC):
A Safety, Feasibility and Efficacy Study” has been accepted by the Journal of Thoracic Oncology. Congratulations to Dr. Jalal and the entire team. Read More

We are pleased to announce that LUN-116 abstract has been published in the November 2010 issue of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology. Congratulations to Dr. Hanna and team!

Click here to review the abstract online. Read More