The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation has named Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center’s Dr. Jay F. Sarthy as one of five outstanding young scientists to receive the prestigious Damon Runyon-Sohn Pediatric Cancer Fellowship Award. He will receive $231,000 over four years to study pediatric brain cancers.
Under the mentorship of geneticist Dr. Steven Henikoff and pediatric neuro-oncologist Dr. Jim Olson of the Hutch, Sarthy will aim to develop new, easy-to-use and affordable methods for studying DNA packaging and epigenetics (modification of gene expression) in pediatric cancer with a special focus on glioma and neuroblastoma. These methods may help explain what drives pediatric malignancies and allow clinicians to better monitor treatment response. His ultimate goal: to develop new drugs that restore the ability of cells to package DNA correctly.
