Cancer Immunology Grants

Conference Student Scholarships: Dendritic Cells and the Initiation of Adaptive Immunity

Scholarship Deadline: October 13, 2010 (Midnight US Mountain Standard Time)

Current studies of Dendritic Cells (DCs) have confirmed not only their major role as antigen presenting cells in adaptive immunity but also their important functions in maintaining tolerance and in the initiation of the innate resistance and inflammatory responses. Thus, DCs function as an important bridge between innate resistance and adaptive immunity either through cellular interactions or secretion of pro-inflammatory and immunoregulatory cytokines. The origin and migration pattern of DCs, their cell biological mechanisms of action, their functional diversity, their specializations and activities in specific tissue contexts, as well as their sharing of hematopoietic lineages, functions, and receptors with other phagocytic cell types such as monocytes and macrophages are subjects of intense investigation. Increasingly, the role of dendritic cells in disease pathology and as potential therapeutic targets is being explored both in the laboratory and in the clinic. This is particularly true in human cancer, where both active and passive immunotherapies involving dendritic cells are finally being put to the test in a systematic fashion. In this symposium, each of these aspects of dendritic cell biology and immunological function will be explored in detail, including taking a number of “in depth” looks at functions (such as innate activation mechanisms) that are key to understanding how dendritic cells perform their many remarkable tasks. In addition, this symposium will combine and synergize with a second, jointly organized symposium entitled "Cancer Control by Tumor Suppressors and Immune Effectors", thereby emphasizing emerging concepts concerning the role of the immune response in cancer and cancer therapy.

Keystone Symposia is offering scholarships to students and post-docs this conference season. These scholarships, of up to $1000 each, are to be used to help defray the expenses associated with conference attendance, including air (on a U.S. air carrier), ground transportation and lodging costs. Receipts will be required to receive reimbursement.

Abstracts submitted for poster presentation will be used as the basis for awarding the scholarships. Conference organizers will select the scholarship recipients based on the quality of science of the abstract and the relevance of the abstract to the conference topic. Only one application per abstract is accepted.

Keystone Symposia
221 Summit Place #272
PO Box 1630
Silverthorne, CO 80498
www.keystonesymposia.org

Financial Assistance / Student Scholarships
Phone: +1 (800) 253-0685 or
Ksenia Shambarger - +1 (970) 262-1230 extension 140
Fax: +1 (970) 262-0311

Conference Student Scholarships: Cancer Control by Tumor Suppressors and Immune Effectors

Scholarship Deadline: October 13, 2010 (Midnight US Mountain Standard Time)

The changes in the cell biology of tumor cells are conditioned by epigenetic and genetic reprogramming, genomic instability being an essential feature of both oncogenesis and tumor progression despite intrinsic tumor suppressing barriers. These modifications of cancer cells can be accompanied by the emission of “danger signals” that can be perceived by the innate and cognate immune systems. Likewise, promoting tumor cell death or autophagy may enhance or probe the activation of the immune system. Therefore, unravelling the links between the intrinsic barriers against tumor progression and the extrinsic anticancer checkpoints may contribute to unravelling the key molecular sensors of the host-tumor equilibrium and create novel therapeutic targets. The major objectives will be as follows: 1) examine the molecular links between tumor intrinsic checkpoints (p53, NF-Kappa B, autophagy, DNA damage response…) and immunity or immunosuppression, 2) explore the indirect effects of anticancer therapies (conventional or targeted) on the immune system, 3) describe the rationale for and the potential benefit of novel strategies of cancer vaccines or immunotherapies exploiting this knowledge.

Keystone Symposia is offering scholarships to students and post-docs this conference season. These scholarships, of up to $1000 each, are to be used to help defray the expenses associated with conference attendance, including air (on a U.S. air carrier), ground transportation and lodging costs. Receipts will be required to receive reimbursement.

Abstracts submitted for poster presentation will be used as the basis for awarding the scholarships. Conference organizers will select the scholarship recipients based on the quality of science of the abstract and the relevance of the abstract to the conference topic. Only one application per abstract is accepted.

Keystone Symposia
221 Summit Place #272
PO Box 1630
Silverthorne, CO 80498
www.keystonesymposia.org

Financial Assistance / Student Scholarships
Phone: +1 (800) 253-0685 or
Ksenia Shambarger - +1 (970) 262-1230 extension 140
Fax: +1 (970) 262-0311

Irvington Institute Fellowship Program of the Cancer Research Institute

The Irvington Institute Fellowship Program of the Cancer Research Institute (formerly called the Cancer Research Institute Postdoctoral Fellowship Program), established in 1971, is our longest-standing continuous program to support and train young immunologists at top universities and research centers.

Over the past 38 years, 968 young scientists have received postdoctoral fellowship awards from CRI, including two who later won the Nobel Prize. In 2007, following the merger of the Cancer Research Institute and the Irvington Institute for Immunological Research, the program was renamed after the Irvington Institute to reflect the considerable value of Irvington's assets, all of which have been directed into the postdoctoral fellowship program. As a result, CRI increased the number and level of fellowship awards it makes each year, effective in fiscal year 2008.

The Institute has funded 998 fellows since 1971, two of whom have gone on to win the Nobel Prize, and many others who now fill top scientific positions at universities and medical centers around the world.

Within the framework of this program, the Institute is able to provide the brightest young scientists the means to embark on a career in immunology research. Our fellows have different research interests and conduct their work in laboratories around the world, but they all support the Institute's driving mission to conquer cancer through immunology by increasing our understanding of the human immune system. Mentored by some of the world’s leading immunologists, these young researchers bring fresh insight and enthusiasm to their work, receiving postgraduate training while carrying out the seminal research that can lead to the next wave of major discoveries in the field.

Fellowship candidates are rigorously evaluated by a panel of 23 members of our Scientific Advisory Council. The selection is highly competitive and is based on the qualifications and experience of both the applicant and the proposed sponsor, as well as the nature and feasibility of the intended line of inquiry and the overall training environment.

Deadlines for application are April 1 and October 1 annually. Fellowship appointments are for three years, with graded stipends at $45,000 for the first year, $47,000 for the second, and $49,000 for the third. A yearly allowance of $1,500 is provided to the host institution to help meet expenses for research supplies, travel to scientific meetings, and health insurance incurred on behalf of the fellow. Fellows are encouraged to attend CRI’s annual symposium, where they have an opportunity to present posters of their research while interacting with world-leaders in both basic and clinical cancer immunology. CRI fellows have made numerous contributions to the peer-reviewed scientific publications that advance our understanding of the immune system and its relationship to cancer.

Phone
1-800-99CANCER or 1-800-992-2623
(212) 688-7515
9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern Time weekdays

Fax
(212) 832-9376

Mail
Cancer Research Institute
National Headquarters
One Exchange Plaza
55 Broadway, Suite 1802
New York, NY 10006

Questions about our research funding programs should be directed to grants@cancerresearch.org.