Special Projects Committee
Since its establishment in 1968, the Special Projects Committee has distinguished itself by donating over $15 million dollars to support research projects at the Sloan Kettering Institute (SKI). Most of these projects are in their earliest stages when it may be difficult to obtain funding from conventional sources.

PREVIOUSLY FUNDED RESEARCH
2018
The Joan Massague Lab
2017
Zhirong Bao, PhD
Computational Platforms for Integrated Tissue Biology
Mary Baylies, PhD
Identifying Novel Drugs that Inhibit RMS Metastasis
Anna-Katerina Hadjantonakis, PhD
Construction of an Organ from Single Cells: A Paradigm for Deconstruction in Cancer
Ming Li, PhD
Dysregulation of the Nutrient-Sensing Pathway in Cancer
Dana Pe’er, PhD
Characterizing Tumor Heterogeneity and Dysregulation in Acute Myeloid Leukemia
2016
Daniel A. Heller, PhD
Tumor – Specific PI3K Inhibition via Targeted Delivery in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Morgan Huse, PhD
Mechanical Regulation of Tumor Cell Killing by Cytotoxic T Cells
Dirk Remus, PhD
Maintenance of Genome Integrity during Chromosome Replication
Joseph Sun, PhD
A Forward Genetic Approach to Identify Novel Tumor Specific Factors that Influence Anti Tumor Innate Immunity
Jennifer Zallen, PhD
Mechanical Force as an Essential Signal that Influences Cell Behavior and Human Disease
2015
Frederic Geissman, MD, PhD
Role of Tissue Macrophages in Shaping the Clonal Evolution of Cancer
Danwei Huangfu, PhD
Modeling Pancreatic Cancer through Gene Editing in Human Embryonic Stem Cells
Michael Overholtzer, PhD
Cell Death Induction by Nanoparticles as an Anti-Cancer Strategy
Luis F Parada, PhD
Genetically Engineered Mouse Models of Glioblastoma: Insight into Features of Tumor Development That Can Be Used to Devise and Assess Novel Therapies
Andrea Ventura, MD, PhD
In Vivo Cancer Modeling by Somatic Genome Editing
2014
Robert Benezra, PhD
An Approach to Combating Drug Resistance in Cancer
Joao Xavier, PhD
Using Metabolites to Disrupt Pro-Tumoral Effects of Macrophages
Iestyn Whitehouse, PhD
The Interplay between DNA Replication and Chromatin
Hans-Guido Wendel, MD
Targeting Oncogene Production is a New Approach in Cancer Therapy
Alexander Joyner, PhD
Macrophages/microglia as Potential Targets for Therapy in Sonic Hedgehog Medulloblastoma
2013
Jayanta Chaudhuri, PhD
Class switch recombination, a model system to delineate the molecular basis of immunodeficiency syndromes and B cell malignancies
Cole Haynes, PhD
Novel strategies to disrupt cancer cell metabolism and energetics
Yueming Li, PhD
Crosstalk between HIF1A, Γ-secretase and notch in breast cancer cells
John Petrini, PhD
A mutation associated with premature aging and cancer
Marilyn Resh, PhD
HHATS OFF: Targeting hedgehog acyltransferase (HHAT) in hedgehog driven cancers
2012
Kim Kitai, PhD
Targeting metastatic evolution using zebrafish models of cancer
Michael Kharas, PhD
Oncogenic epigenetic signature in aged induced pluripotent stem cells
Richard Mark White, MD, PhD
Targeting MSI2 in myeloid leukemia stem cells
2011
Danwei Huangfu, PhD
Investigating the Role of Reprogramming in Pancreatic Cancer Development
Philipp Neithammer, PhD
Spatial and Moleuclar Mechanisms of Wound Detection in Tissues
David A. Scheinberg, MD, PhD
A New Generation of Smart Drugs
2010
Jan Grimm, MD, PhD
PSMA Activity as a Biomarker for Prostate Cancer
Christine Mayr, MD, PhD
Influence of the environment on tumor formation
Larry Norton, MD
The Characterization and Eradication of Seeding Cells in Breast Cancer
2009
Michael H. Overholtzer, PhD
A New Form of Tumor Cell Death
Andrea Ventura, MD, PhD
MicroRNA's in Cancer and Development
Lestyn Whitehouse, PhD
The Function of ATP Dependant Chromatin Remodeling Enzymes
Mark G. Frattini, MD, PhD
Preclinical Study to Block Chromosome Duplication in Cancer Cells
2008
Ming Li, PhD
Control of Mammary Tumor Development via the Alleviation of Transforming Growth Factor-beta-mediated Immune Suppression
Franziska Michor, PhD
Evolutionary Dynamics of Driver and Passenger Mutations
M. Bryan Tsou, PhD
Regulation of Centrosome Biogenesis
2007
Hans-Guido Wendel, MD
Genome-wide RNAi screen to identify novel cancer genes
Robert Klein, PhD
Finding the prostate cancer gene on chromosome 8q24
Jayanta Chaudhuri, PhD
Mechanism and Regulation of Immunogobulin Gene Diversification
2006
Johanna A. Joyce, PhD
The Special Projects Committee Laboratory in the Zuckerman Research Center
2005
Luca Categni, PhD
Systematic Analysis of Alternative Splicing in Tumor progression
Xuejun Jiang, PhD
Autophagic Cell Death in Breast Cancer Development and Treatment
Johanna A. Joyce, PhD
Using Genetic Mouse Models to Understand the Role of Cathepsins in Cancer