June 6, 2014:

Representatives of Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium (Big Ten CRC) member institutions gathered recently in Chicago during the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). The consortium held a series of meetings that produced new trial concepts and laid the groundwork for further developments in the Big Ten CRC.

On Friday, May 30, more than 50 Big Ten CRC representatives, including several cancer center directors and a number of junior and senior investigators, gathered for a working meeting. Three breakout groups discussed the following topics:

• Beyond industry trials: How to leverage the Big Ten CRC for grants
• Philanthropy and fundraising
• Reviewing and prioritizing clinical trial concepts

During the meeting, Susan Goodin, PharmD, was introduced as the new executive officer of the consortium. Dr. Goodin is executive director of statewide affairs at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and professor of medicine at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Read more about Dr. Goodin’s appointment.

Each of the four Big Ten CRC Clinical Trial Working Groups (CTWGs) also held meetings during ASCO. The gastrointestinal and thoracic groups met Saturday, May 31, and the breast and genitourinary groups met Sunday, June 1.

Each working group discussed clinical trial concepts, and a number of new concepts were presented for further development. These concepts include:

• Prostate (introduced by Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center)
• Non-small cell lung cancer (introduced by the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center)
• Small cell lung cancer (introduced by the University of Nebraska Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center)
• Triple negative metastatic breast cancer (introduced by Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey)

The new concepts join a number of concepts already in the Big Ten CRC research development pipeline, including three approved letters of intent (LOIs): one in prostate cancer, one in renal cell carcinoma, and one in hepatocellular carcinoma.

About the Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium: The Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium creates a unique team-research culture to drive science rapidly from ideas to treatment-changing paradigms. Within this innovative environment, today’s research leaders collaborate with and mentor the research leaders of tomorrow with the unified goal of improving the lives of all patients with cancer.

About the Big Ten Conference: The Big Ten Conference is an association of world-class universities whose member institutions share a common mission of research, graduate, professional and undergraduate teaching and public service. Founded in 1896, the Big Ten has sustained a comprehensive set of shared practices and policies that enforce the priority of academics in student-athletes’ lives and emphasize the values of integrity, fairness and competitiveness. The broad-based athletic programs of the 12 Big Ten institutions provide in excess of $141 million in direct financial aid to more than 8,200 student-athletes playing on more than 300 teams in 43 different sports. The Big Ten sponsors 26 official conference sports, 13 for men and 13 for women, and will add men’s and women’s lacrosse as the 27th and 28th official sports for the 2014-15 academic year. For more information, visit www.bigten.org.