Download Contributions to research at the Cancer Research Institute at New

Contributions to research at the Cancer Research Institute at New York Medical College by funds
provided by the Robert A. Welke Research Foundation.
Over the course of the last decade, the Robert A. Welke Research Foundation
has raised approximately $750,000 for research at the Cancer Research
Institute at New York Medical College. Initially funds were used to defray the
cost of the purchase of an expensive ($250,000) flow cytometer used as a
fundamental tool to study the mechanisms of tumor cell growth and the ability
of prospective chemotherapy drugs to cause cell death. Subsequently, funds were
used to support the scientific training of young visiting investigators from the
U.S. and around the world (Italy, Poland, China and Japan) who are engaged
in translational research bridging the gap between the basic research projects at
the Cancer Research Institute and clinical applications of that research.
Some of those projects included studies that: identified chemotherapy responders
among groups of patients with a preleukemic condition know as myelodysplastic
syndrome; tested a complex natural herbal treatment for chemotherapy
resistant, hormone insensitive prostate cancer; designed a chemoprotective
approach to spare normal cells from the toxicity of antitumor drugs; developed a
new assay for damage of the cell’s genetic material (DNA) that can predict a
patients response or lack of response to chemotherapy within hours of the first
treatment; applied that technique to study the effects of airborne environmental
and/or dietary constituents on normal cells which might lead to tumor
formation; and, used this powerful tool for identifying potential antioxidants
(e.g., constituents in green tea, red wine, etc.) that, in turn, may affect both
cancer and aging.
What makes funds like those provided by the Welke Research
Foundation so important is that all these areas of research were and
are cutting edge and not likely to have been supported initially by
government grants. In addition, the fellowships supported by these
funds not only developed data that had an impact on patients here
but also was taken back by the fellows to their hospital and research
institutes where it could be taught to others.