Canary Foundation and Stanford University Commit $20 Million for World-Class Research Center for Cancer Early Detection

PALO ALTO, Calif., June 9, 2009 — Canary Foundation, a nonprofit organization that funds research in early cancer detection, and Stanford University School of Medicine announced their commitment of $20 million to create the Canary Center at Stanford for Cancer Early Detection, a world-class research center dedicated to improving cancer early detection.

The new center will include a first-of-its-kind facility that combines in vitro and in vivo strategies to enhance future cancer detection and patient management. The center will include cancer proteomic research for early blood/body fluid markers (in vitro diagnostics) and molecular imaging (in vivo) to verify the presence and location of tumors. Currently, there is a lack of clinical tools that reliably detect signs of early tumors. If these tools were made available, the hope is that physicians would have a much better chance of treating and even curing cancer.

Canary Foundation is pledging $15 million toward the center, doubling its earlier commitment to support early detection research at the university. The medical school, together with the school's Department of Radiology, is committing $5 million through faculty recruitments, research facilities, and other infrastructure. The center will be led by Sanjiv Sam Gambhir, MD, Ph.D., professor of radiology and by courtesy bioengineering, director of the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford and a member of the Stanford Cancer Center, and will include new faculty hires in both ex vivo and in vivo diagnostics. The center is located in a newly renovated School of Medicine building on California Avenue in Palo Alto. It will have strong ties to the National Cancer Institute-designated Stanford Cancer Center with a view towards translating the early detection research into clinical practice.

"With the establishment of the Canary Center for Cancer Early Detection, we've realized our goal in building the first integrated facility that can attract and develop the best minds in the world to tackle the problem of cancer early detection," said Don Listwin, founder and chairman of Canary Foundation. "The facility is a part of our vision for the future - the one we're working towards - where one day most cancers will be detected early and eliminated."