Lustgarten Foundation
The largest private funder of pancreatic cancer research, which funds dedicated laboratories at Cold Spring Harbor, Johns Hopkins, Dana-Farber and MIT.
Founded in 1998 in memory of Cablevision executive Marc Lustgarten, the foundation devotes all donations to pancreatic cancer research, with administrative costs underwritten by Cablevision and later Altice. It funds Lustgarten Laboratories, including the Lustgarten Foundation Pancreatic Cancer Research Laboratory at Cold Spring Harbor led by David Tuveson, dedicated labs at Johns Hopkins (Vogelstein and Kinzler, early detection), Dana-Farber and MIT, and it co-sponsors the Stand Up To Cancer-Lustgarten Pancreatic Cancer Dream Teams. Its Clinical Accelerator Initiative funds early trials of new agents and its Pancreatic Cancer Collective with SU2C funds computational and interception projects.
- Lustgarten Laboratories (CSHL, Johns Hopkins, Dana-Farber, MIT)
- SU2C-Lustgarten Dream Teams and Pancreatic Cancer Collective
- Clinical Accelerator Initiative
- Early detection research
Built the pancreatic cancer organoid models now used to test drugs against a patient's own tumour.
Bert Vogelstein is the most-cited scientist in cancer genetics: he mapped how colorectal cancer develops and founded the field of cancer genome sequencing and blood-based detection.
Co-discovered APC, the gatekeeper gene of colorectal cancer, and co-led the first cancer genome sequences.
Uses organoids and functional genomics to find what pancreatic cancers depend on beyond KRAS.
Leading pancreatic cancer trialist, including the maintenance PARP-inhibitor and germline-BRCA studies.