As we usher in a new year, we want to celebrate. Together in 2021, we have accomplished so much! Some of our favorite highlights include our Fall Benefit, hosting our Team Lynn Sage Chicago Marathon runners, and spotlighting our research and fellows in their work to end breast cancer.
Our signature fundraiser, the Fall Benefit, was held virtually this year. We welcomed an engaging conversation with Glennon Doyle, the #1 NYT bestselling author of UNTAMED. She is also founder & president of Together Rising, and host of the We Can Do Hard Things podcast. With the support of our community, over $500,000 was raised to help further our mission.
In October, 28 runners completed the Bank of America Chicago Marathon for Team Lynn Sage. Each runner committed to run and train in support of eradicating breast cancer. Some of our runners have a personal tie to breast cancer in their own lives or those of family and friends, and all are personally passionate about doing their part to contribute to ending this disease in their community, nationally and globally. This October, we will have an even bigger team running to support Lynn Sage, with 36 runners registered!
What we’re most proud of in 2021 is the impact your dollars had on research. We granted over $825,000 to scholars and fellows who tirelessly work to find an end to breast cancer. This year, our Foundation funded projects studying metastatic breast cancer in the brain and therapies to better suppress brain metastasizes, to automating methods for continuously measuring breast cancer detection rates, and more.
During the 2nd year of the pandemic, we had much to celebrate, including the largest year of fundraising in Foundation history – nearly $1.45 million dollars raised to help eradicate breast cancer. Looking ahead we have so much to be hopeful about, and we're thrilled to have you join us in this important work. Thank you for your support.
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The Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Foundation has five active campaigns during Breast Cancer Awareness month, October 2021. Each campaign ties to our mission to raise funds for research and education to prevent breast cancer and improve outcomes for individuals with breast cancer. Investments drive impact globally.
Our signature fundraiser the Fall Benefit will be hosted virtually again this year given the continuation of the COVID-19 global pandemic. We are thrilled to host a conversation with Glennon Doyle, the #1 NYT bestselling author of UNTAMED. She is also founder & president of Together Rising, and host of the We Can Do Hard Things podcast. Be sure to tune in to hear Glennon speak about her journey and join our fight against breast cancer. Register through the link provided.
We have two complimentary campaigns Chicago’s In Good Taste™ and Purchase 4 Pink™working with restaurants and retailers to partner with the Foundation to raise money for brilliant breast cancer researchers. Each participating partner contributes a portion of their overall sales or a portion of proceeds from a specific product or item. Please select the link below to support our restaurant community and small businesses
We are also proud to report that we have 28 runners for Team Lynn Sage’s participation in Bank of America’s Chicago Marathon. Each runner has committed to run and train in support of eradicating breast cancer. Some of our runners have a personal tie to breast cancer in their own lives or those of family and friends. While others are personally passionate about doing their part to contribute to ending this disease in their community, nationally and globally. If you would like to support our runners, please visit the link provided.
Lastly, we are so proud to see Chicago light up in awash of pink during our Light The Way Way to Find a Cure™ campaign, which encourages local buildings, landmarks, and businesses to illuminate pink or fly the Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Foundation flag to show their support for the many women and families who had and continue to face breast cancer. If you would like to purchase a flag for yourself or your building, please visit the link provided.
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The Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Foundation believes funding to explore new ideas is essential to finding a cure for breast cancer. The Foundation awards both, seed funding and larger, multi-year grants, to brilliant researchers studying to improve the detection and treatment of breast cancer. Notably, 94% of funds raised go to research and education resulting in investments that drive impact globally.
The Foundation recently approved grants for three doctors who align with their mission to raise funds for research and education to prevent breast cancer and improve outcomes for individuals with breast cancer. Each doctor and their research focus is highlighted below.
Peiwen Chen, PhD, Assistant Professor, Neurological Surgery, Lurie Cancer Center of Northwestern University is a recipient of the Lynn Sage Scholar Award of $200,000 which is paid over two years ($100,000/year). Dr. Peiwen Chen is focused on targeting macrophage reprogramming in brain metastatic breast cancer.
Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death in women, and the most common cancer metastasizing to the brain. Current therapies have failed to improve survival meaningfully. Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs)in breast cancer usually display an alternatively activated (M2-like) phenotype, which suppress antitumor immunity and foster metastasis, including brain metastasis. Therefore, reprogramming TAMs from M2-to M1-like phenotype could be a promising therapeutic approach for metastatic breast cancer. However, the molecular basis governing macrophage reprogramming during breast cancer brain metastasis remains elusive and there is no effective approach to reprogram TAMs in the tumor microenvironment. Dr. Chen will employ integrated strategies to reveal whether and how TAM reprogramming contributes to breast cancer brain metastasis. He also plans to determine how TAM reprogramming can synergize with immune checkpoint inhibitors to suppress brain metastasis of breast cancer.
Hiuping Liu, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Pharmacology, Lurie Cancer Center of Northwestern University is a recipient of the Lynn Sage Annual Award: $150,000. Dr. Hiuping Liu’s research is focused on single-cell proteomic analysis and targeting of breast circulating tumor cells.
Metastasis is an aggressive form of tumor cells, spreading from its original tissue, circulating in the blood vessels (circulating tumor cells), and disseminating to distant organs for secondary tumor regeneration, often incurable and causing 90% of breast cancer deaths. Dr. Liu’s recent research has revealed that circulating tumor cells with stem cell properties interact with each other and form a traveling group of orchestrated clusters during their spreading. When more than two tumor cells migrate and circulate together as a clustered band, they have 20-100 times higher likelihood of regenerating tumors in distant organs than solo tumor cells. In order to block devastating metastases, this project will seek to better identify and target circulating tumor cells of breast cancer, triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) in particular.
Lisa Stempel, MD, Assistant Professor, Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Rush University is a recipient of the Lynn Sage Annual Award: $150,000. Dr. Lisa Stempel is focused on automated methods for continuously measuring cancer detection rates for breast cancer supplemental screening modalities and risk-based populations.
In the United States each year, 37 million women are screened for breast cancer, and yet confusion remains as to the optimal use of supplemental screening such as MRI or ultrasound for women at higher risk of breast cancer. A learning healthcare system which learns from the experiences of every patient and not just those who participate in clinical trials, is one potential approach to optimizing personalized breast cancer screening guidelines. At Rush University Medical Center, Dr. Stempel and a team of experts have developed local clinical guidelines, structured clinical documentation, and data analytics to support a learning system. In this important next phase of the work, Dr. Stempel will automatically calculate the cancer detection rate for each type of breast imaging study, an important measure of the quality of a breast cancer screening program. Then compare the cancer detection rate for different risk-based sub-populations and use this data to refine our local screening recommendations. This novel approach could have a significant impact on the future of breast cancer screening research and guideline development.
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We are beyond thrilled to announce the Lynn Sage Cancer Research Foundation and the Lynn Sage Foundation have come together to form one new entity, the Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Foundation on January 1, 2021.
Our new organization will benefit from the legacies of the former organizations' success, and aims to appeal to the next generation of donors to maximize funding and increase awareness about screening, treatments and eradicating breast cancer.
"These two organizations are a powerhouse of combined strength, rooted in 35 years of success, passion and hard work. My family is humbled that my mother's name will continue well into the future and contribute to this cause.” - Laura Sage, Co-Chair of the Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Foundation
Both organizations funded progress in the field of breast cancer. Beyond raising a combined $40M over 35 years, the Lynn Sage Scholars program resulted in follow-on funding more than six times the initial investment. And, the Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Symposium, which celebrates its 23rd annual event this year, is a world renowned event for doctors to collaborate on cutting-edge approaches to treatment.
The IL Department of Health estimates Chicago's 2018 breast cancer screening rate was 82.8 percent, surpassing both the Department of Health and Human Services and the National Cancer Institute targets. "We believe that thirty-five years of raising awareness and funding research in Chicago has supported that achievement," Ms. Sage continued.
“My mother's friend, Lynn Sage, left her daughters far too early. Our mission is to raise funds for research and education that will improve outcomes for individuals with breast cancer, so that no mother leaves a child behind too early because of this disease.” - Meredith Soren Freese, Co-chair of the Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Foundation
The process of combining the organizations began in the spring of 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic reinforced the determination to increase effectiveness by operating as one entity. While fundraising in the current pandemic environment is challening, it is estimated that more than 300,000 women in the US will be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020. Progress against this disease must continue, and safe screening and treatment cannot stop during this challening time.
Your support for breast cancer research helps improve the lives of all those diagnosed with breast cancer, no matter their age, race or gender - thank you!
About Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Foundation
The Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Foundation raises funds for research and medical education to prevent breast cancer and improve survivorship for individuals diagnosed with breast cancer. Investments are directed locally within the Chicago area, but drive impact globally. For more information visit us online at www.lynnsage.org or follow us on our social handles:
Instagram @lynnsagebreastcancer
Facebook @lynnsagebreastcancerfoundation
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In 2004, when Dr. Ji was a sophomore in college, his mother was unexpectedly diagnosed with bone cancer. At the time, he was majoring in biotechnology. He knew cancers undergo uncontrolled cell proliferation but almost nothing else. His father located the best doctors in the field in China. However, therapeutic strategies that could help treat his mother did not yet exist. Sadly, the cancer moved quickly and she passed away about 8 months later.
“I felt frustrated as a student who majored in biology, but couldn’t help much. This family tragedy made me determined to be a cancer researcher,” Dr. Ji explains.
Once he decided to become a scientist, he set his mind to study in the US. He felt the US had the most advanced graduate programs in science education. Dr. Ji entered Rutgers University to study computational genomics and the regulation of RNA processing. He realized success early on and published several impactful papers in the field.
“I felt strongly that I could pursue an academic research career and make an impact,” Dr. Ji recalls.
Focusing on Breast Cancer
For his postdoctoral studies, he applied to various cancer research laboratories. Ultimately, he picked a joint position in the laboratories of Dr. Struhl at Harvard Medical School and Dr. Regev at the Broad Institute of MIT.
“I was lucky to gain complimentary expertise in computational biology, molecular biology, and cancer biology,” he remembers.
Although Dr. Ji’s work today is primarily computational, he used his training in molecular biology to establish a hybrid lab in computational and experimental biology.
“This setting allows us to approach biological questions in a unique and innovative way.”
It was in Dr. Struhl’s lab, studying gene regulation in breast oncogenic transformations, where Dr. Ji decided to study breast cancer. With breast cancers there are more established cancer models and greater existing knowledge compared to other cancers. Leveraging data from thousands of cancer cell lines and patient samples is key for the success of Dr. Ji’s computational analyses. Eventually, he believes his research will have a wider application.
“I think our research outcomes will not be restricted to breast cancers,” notes Dr. Ji. “We will also identify how the molecular mechanisms learned from our breast cancer models are involved in other cancer types.”
The Path to Lynn Sage Scholar
Then with his training complete, Dr. Ji joined Northwestern University in 2018, as an Assistant Professor in Pharmacology and Biomedical Engineering. However, establishing a bioinformatics laboratory wasn’t easy to achieve. Most conventional cancer funding mechanisms prefer hypothesis-driven research, which focuses on one or two pathways. It is more challenging to secure funding for his data-driven, forward-looking approach. It is even harder when you are unproven, in the early stage of your career.
"The Lynn Sage Scholar award provides us with a very valuable resource to carry out a bold genomics project, characterizing the metastatic landscape of breast cancers,” he commented. In the first year of this project, his team generated large-scale genomic sequencing datasets. This unbiased data lays the foundation for his functional studies. By analyzing the data, his lab generated several specific hypotheses, which the team will focus on this year. These results also provide the basis to apply for larger, more meaningful grants.
Measuring success for his research is layered. While he always strives to make impactful scientific findings and develop novel solutions for cancer, his first priority is to ensure a sustainable research program. Unfortunately, without funding, scientific research can not progress. Dr. Ji also hopes to provide valuable training to his research assistants, so they can develop scientific discoveries of their own.
“I believe basic science research is the only hope to resolve many human diseases. In recent years, there have been many breakthroughs in cancer research and therapies. All trace back to advances first made in basic scientific research,” he notes.
It is this belief and his mother’s memory that drive Dr. Ji each day. “My mother’s experience with cancer always motivates me to work hard on my research.”
During October, many of our thoughts center on friends and family that have faced, or are fighting, breast cancer. We need your support to continue funding the future discoveries of Lynn Sage Scholars like Dr. Ji. Please consider giving during October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, to The Lynn Sage Foundation in support of all men and women facing a breast cancer diagnosis.
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