[Lfm] Fly cancer models virtual seminars Thursday Jan 30th

[Nicolas Tapon]

Dear Drosophila cancer researcher-

      I’d like to call your attention to a virtual seminar series that the US National Cancer Institute (NCI) is holding on non-mammalian models of cancer<https://events.cancer.gov/dcb/beyond-mammals>.  After years of advocacy to consider experimental systems including flies, fish and worms, NCI has invited several groups to present work and make the case for the value of these organisms in cancer biology.  On Thursday Jan 30th from 1-2:15 PM (US EST), Norbert Perrimon, Wu-Min Deng and I will speak about our labs’ research and the strengths and limitations of the fly as a model for cancer.

      I encourage you and your lab members to register<https://events.cancer.gov/dcb/beyond-mammals/registration> for the webinar.  Enthusiasm reflected by registrants and attendees may make a positive impression on NCI as they consider offering funding opportunities targeted to non-mammalian models.  So a high turnout for our fly session in particular would provide important support for the field in which we all work.

      For overseas colleagues, fly cancer work in the US has been stymied by funding challenges that go beyond the familiar underappreciation of Drosophila research.  Briefly, the structure of NIH institutes includes the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) which supports ‘basic’ research, as well as other institutes such as NCI that support disease-targeted research.  NCI has historically not considered flies (or really any non-mammalian model) as relevant to cancer, so only a few fly grants have been funded over the last twenty years despite an enormous budget.  However, NIGMS will not support cancer research (considering that the mission of NCI), so grants that mention cancer are often rerouted to NCI for review.  So it has been nearly impossible to fund fly cancer research through the NIH.

      For US colleagues, I’d love to hear about any experiences that you have had in trying to get your own fly cancer work funded through the NIH.  If possible, I will share these experiences with NCI program staff in hopes of shifting the culture both in the administration and in study sections.

Thanks and I look forward to seeing you at either the San Diego or Alicante meetings this year.
David Bilder


The Francis Crick Institute Limited is a registered charity in England and Wales no. 1140062 and a company registered in England and Wales no. 06885462, with its registered office at 1 Midland Road London NW1 1AT
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.londonflymeeting.org/pipermail/lfm/attachments/20250112/85783ce2/attachment.htm>