Monday, October 11, 2010

BeatSarcoma makes a $20,000 research gift to UCSF

BeatSarcoma is very pleased to announce that it just made a $20,000 research gift to UCSF sarcoma research program, thus adding another formal program to the list of sarcoma programs it supports.

UCSF recently created a sarcoma research group and has worked closely with BeatSarcoma to identify the most impactful projects to fund. BeatSarcoma's Medical Advisory Board reviews all proposals for funding and makes a recommendation to the BeatSarcoma Board of Directors.



From left to right: Nathan Bossett, Nathalie Criou from BeatSarcoma and Dr Eric Nakakura, MD, PhD, UCSF

The money will help fund UCSF translational research laboratory dedicated to understanding basic mechanisms of sarcoma cancer growth - rapid processing is a key element of tissue collection and critical to the quality of molecular research as any lengthy wait or mishandling could lead to cell degradation and wrong conclusions. The UCSF laboratory benefits from a direct line into the operating room and can fully control the way tissue samples are collected and stored or cultivated, thus ensuring cell biological integrity.



Dr Nakakura, MD, PhD in the UCSF translation laboratory


Dr Nakakura, MD PhD, the lead investigator and a cancer surgeon specializing in the treatment of soft tissue sarcoma says: "I'd like to offer my sincere thanks to BeatSarcoma for its tremendous generosity. Please know that our ongoing partnership has a direct impact on our sarcoma studies that we hope will benefit patients in the near future.  We greatly appreciate the support!"

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Dr. George Demetri MD and Dr. Robert Maki, MD, PhD join BeatSarcoma's Medical Advisory Board

BeatSarcoma feels very honored to count Dr. George Demetri, MD of Dana-Farber and Dr Robert Maki, MD, PhD of Memorial-Sloan Kettering on its Medical Advisory Board. Together with Dr Amreen Husain, MD of Stanford University, they will advise the BeatSarcoma Board on the best way to disburse research funds.

Dr George Demetri is Director of the Center for Sarcoma and Bone Oncology; Senior Vice President for Experimental Therapeutics; Director of the Ludwig Center at Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center; executive director for Clinical and Translational Research at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research. and Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School on its Medical Advisory Board.

Dr Robert Maki is a medical oncologist and co-leader of the adult Sarcoma Disease Management Team at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center with a special interest in new therapies for the treatment of soft tissue and bone sarcomas, particularly metastatic disease. He is also trying to develop vaccines and other forms of immunological therapy against sarcomas to "teach" the immune system to attack tumor cells but not normal cells.

Please join us in welcoming both of them to our community!

Sunday, October 3, 2010

2010 Sarcoma Cup

The 2010 Sarcoma Cup, the 3rd annual sailing regatta organized by BeatSarcoma took place on August 28th and 29th at the Berkeley Yacht Club. Over 84 boats registered in what has become a long-awaited event in the Bay Area sailing community. Saturday’s was a buoy race, and Sunday’s was a long distance race 'Islands of Hope' - both on the San Francisco Bay.

This year, the sailing regatta grossed over $32,000 to benefit BeatSarcoma, the organizing nonprofit that raises funds for sarcoma cancer research, read more here. This successful event had changed its location from the previous two years at the Richmond Yacht Club. The winner of the Cup was the Wabbit Mr McGregor from the Richmond Yacht Club - the Sarcoma Cup trophy will therefore remain at the Richmond Yacht Club until the next event!

This year also featured a new website, check out www.sarcomacup.org, which some say it’s so alive it entices even those who normally do not sail to do so more often.

Here are some summaries:

Thanks to all of our corporate and private sponsors who made it possible for us to increase our fundraising through raffle, and online and silent auctions, as well as to our dedicated volunteers, who donated their time coordinating the event, manning registration and shirt tables, decorating, cooking, doing water taxi, among other fun duties!

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Sarcoma International Awareness Week - July 17-20

For July Sarcoma Awareness Week - please wear a BeatSarcoma shirt or swag or simply put a sticker on an existing shirt. Take a picture with the caption 'Team Sarcoma Initiative' and email it to info at beatsarcoma.org. We want to help beat last year's records in terms of participants!!!

 We'll create an album that can be linked from the Team Sarcoma page



Find out more about what is happening in your neighborhood or elsewhere in the world during that week, check http://www.team-sarcoma.net/

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

BeatSarcoma Makes a $5,000 Research Gift to UCSF

BeatSarcoma extended its support of Sarcoma Research to UCSF - as it exceeded its fundraising goals in 2009 and had more funds available than what it had already committed. UCSF has long been treating patients with sarcoma and recently decided to form a sarcoma research group.

'We have been discussing sarcoma research since our inception with UCSF and we are extremely pleased to see this development and honored to lend our support to this world-class institution' says Criou, BeatSarcoma President. 'UCSF offers sarcoma research projects that are very much in line with BeatSarcoma's funding philosophy.'


Dr. Eric Nakakura of UCSF, Nathalie Criou and Nathan Bossett of BeatSarcoma


Dr. Nakakura is a cancer surgeon who treats patients with soft tissue sarcoma. He also runs a translational research laboratory dedicated to understanding basic mechanisms of cancer growth that might be exploited to better treat patients. With the help of funding from BeatSarcoma, Dr. Nakakura and his laboratory will investigate the role of a critical growth and signaling pathway in human sarcoma--the mTOR pathway. His group will determine the expression and activity of mTOR pathway components in a diverse collection of human soft tissue sarcoma samples. They would then investigate the efficacy of mTOR inhibition on sarcoma growth in vitro and in vivo.


Dr. Nakakura supported BeatSarcoma's 2010 Fun Run on April 25 noting 'it means a lot to me to hear first hand the motivation for sarcoma research.'

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Submit an entry to the 'Everyday Sarcoma Hero' project

Submit an entry to the Everyday Sarcoma Heroes project? Everyone who has dealt with sarcoma knows a hero or two. Heroes support, encourage and inspire us in extraordinary ways. Just when we need them most, they are there. They challenge us, comfort us, and give us hope.

bit.ly
Everyday Heroes is an effort to honor sarcoma patients and those who have touched the lives of sarcoma patients, and to inspire kindness and supportive action for everyone dealing with sarcoma.

BeatSarcoma 2010 Fun Run

James - 2nd place - pet category

Thank you everyone for coming to our third annual Fun Run!
It looks like we have raised more money than in the first two years combined

We will triple-check next time we book the venue to avoid buses driving through the course...print a map of the park for our volunteer massage therapist to save him from being lost...put a volunteer with a sign translated into 18 languages at the turnaround point and double up with signs at the beach saying 'if you read this, you have gone too far'...

The great news is that people came to run and they did plenty of running, some even ran around for a little while. People came to walk and they walked. Any extra distance did not cost any extra money...Dog came, ate treats, wore cool t-shirts and won prizes. Kids ran with a smile on their face and the sun was out to greet team Millie, team Lauren, team Paul and team Dave.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Berkeley Yacht Club will be hosting the 2010 Sarcoma Cup

Howdy Sailors –

In our continuing efforts to provide you with the best possible regatta experience, and after months of top secret meetings with deep-pocketed sponsors, interviewing prospective host yacht clubs, carefully reviewing their extensive application forms, and performing thorough background checks, we have finally reached a decision. Our complex application scoring process heavily weighted kick-ass sailing, parties that would be illegal in most states, and dedication to this charity cause. One applicant towered above the rest…

…those wild and crazy folks at the Berkeley Yacht Club will be hosting the 2010 Sarcoma Cup !!! Congratulations BYC !!

Unfortunately, we are still sworn to secrecy on some of the event’s details. You may have heard rumors about special appearances by some of the SI swimsuit models at this year’s Sarcoma Cup. At this time I can neither confirm or deny these rumors. As soon as we can declassify the rest of the event details we will be making further announcements. Stay tuned.

So, far the following fleets have committed to the event and have it on their calendar:

J105

Express 27

Wabbit

Alerion 28

Viper 640

Open 5.70

Santana 22s (Sunday)

So, if your fleet is not on this list, now’s the time to fix that J. Do your sailing friends a favor and pass this email on.

We will also be posting updates at http://www.sarcomacup.org/

Cheers,

Mark Lowry

2010 Sarcoma Cup Regatta Co-chair

Express 27, #68, “Xena”

RYC

On behalf of your 2010 Sarcoma Cup organizing committee

Monday, March 1, 2010

BeatSarcoma 2010 Fun Run - Registration Opens!

Registration for the 2010 BeatSarcoma Fun Run/Walk is open!!! We are introducing a 'Fun/Themed/Costumed' category, a 1K and a 'Pet' category!


Come join us!

- if you are interested in volunteering, email funrun@beatsarcoma.org


Come join us in Golden Gate Park -http://www.beatsarcoma.org/BeatSarcoma_Fun_Run_2010.html

www.beatsarcoma.org
Fun Run to raise funds to fight sarcoma. The sarcoma is a cancer that primarily affects children and young adults.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Sarcoma International Awareness Week - bring your ideas for a BeatSarcoma Team!

The International Sarcoma Awareness week (ISAW) is also known as the Team Sarcoma Initiative (TSI). It is an internationally coordinated set of events to raise awareness of sarcoma and raise funds to support sarcoma research, clinical trials, and patient and family services. This annual effort consists of a wide variety of events that are held worldwide during the same week. Over 16,800 people participating in 2009, doubling last year’s participation and far surpassing our goal of 10,000 participants. 30 medical centers and 25 sarcoma advocacy groups were among the groups that hosted the 90 events that were held globally. Over $450,000 was raised by teams to support various cancer centers and advocacy groups.

The mantra of the Initiative is “Sarcoma Knows No Borders.” We use this phrase because sarcomas can occur anywhere in the body and they don’t discriminate based on age, gender, race or nationality. People from all over the globe participate in Team Sarcoma Events ― young and old, women and men, from countries across Europe, through Asia and Pacific regions, and in North, Central and South America.

Committed and caring people around the world have made the Team Sarcoma Initiative more successful each year. Our goal in 2010 is to have 20,000 people involved in a life-changing Initiative. Families are invited to plan events in their communities to increase awareness or raise funds for sarcoma research. Advocacy groups and cancer centers are invited to plan events that will strengthen their ties with patients and increase their reach. Whether enjoying a backyard barbeque, an educational seminar, or a thrilling race: Together, we are making a difference!

Help BeatSarcoma be a part of this - email us your idea at info at beatsarcoma dot org, or through comments on the blog/messages on our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/BeatSarcoma/87644801313?ref=search&sid=1091717098.708275870..1

Sarcoma Educational Conference

Sarcoma Educational Conference

The SFA’s 5th annual Educational Conference, Ask the Experts: Advances in Sarcoma Treatment and Research, will be held on Sunday, April 25, 2010 at the Park Lane Helmsley in New York City from 11:00 AM to 3:30 PM. One of the best aspects of the conference is that there is an hour question and answer session from the audience. This year we expect the conference to reach new heights and hope you will join us. Confirmed speakers are Dr. George Demetri from Dana-Farber Cancer Center speaking on What is Targeted Therapy and Where are we Going, Dr. Shreyaskumar Patel from M.D. Anderson speaking on Leiomyosarcoma, Dr. Paul Meyers from Memorial Sloan-Kettering speaking on Osteosarcoma, Dr. Jeffery Toretsky from Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University speaking on Ewing’s Sarcoma, Dr. Jean Yves Blay, President of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer will be speaking about the European Sarcoma Drug Approval, and Dr. John Brooks from the University of Pennsylvania will discuss advances in Sarcoma Pathology. Tickets and hotel information is available on www.curesarcoma.org

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Fun Run 2010 - Keep the date!

Hello fellow racers toward a cure!

The BeatSarcoma Fun Run 2010 is ON! It will be held on April 25, in Golden Gate Park, in San Francisco. There will be a 1K, a 5K and a 10K course.

More details to follow soon! Any question, please email funrun at beatsarcoma dot org.

If you want to keep memories of last year's run, you can get the BeatSarcoma Fun Run calendar by clicking here! It's good training :-)

We look forward to seeing you all there!

Friday, January 22, 2010

Join the BeatSarcoma Dance Marathon in Austin this weekend!!!!

We are a group of Anderson High school seniors who have partnered with the charity BeatSarcoma to create a fun event that can benefit sarcoma research: a Dance Marathon. BeatSarcoma is a non profit organization completely devoted to raising awareness of sarcoma cancer and support for research. Sarcoma is one of the lesser funded cancers for research. All donated funds you give will go directly to research. This marathon is BeatSarcoma’s FIRST Texas fundraiser. For more information on BeatSarcoma and our mission please see Mission page. We are devoted to BeatSarcoma’s mission and want you to have a great time!

Now if you have never been to a dance marathon, there is just one main thing you must remember-

Dance Dance Dance! The last team on the dance floor just might win a prize!

Dinner is included!!!


Come help us beat sarcoma AND show off your moves! So let’s dance!



Sunday, January 17, 2010

BeatSarcoma makes a $30,000 research gift to Stanford Cancer Center to support Sarcoma Research


December 2009
After a very successful 2009, Nathalie Criou, President and Nathan Bossett, CFO, of BeatSarcoma presented Dr. Amreen Husain, associate professor of Gynecologic Oncology at Stanford University a $30,000 research gift to further her efforts around sarcoma research.

'We are pleased to contribute to local research institutions and help stimulate professional interest and research around sarcoma-related problems. Independent and fresh ideas are critical to successful research outcomes' says Criou.
The current knowledge of sarcoma is so scarce that any discovery is a home run - and represents a huge improvement over the current knowledge base.
Dr. Amreen Husain notes:
'The sarcoma team at Stanford Cancer Center thanks BeatSarcoma for its continued support and applauds its efforts to raise public awareness of this challenging disease.