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Posts Tagged ‘Prostate cancer’

Cancer Early Detection: Canary Challenge Teams are on a Roll!

July 25, 2013

Over the last couple of months, things have been really heating up in the competition to recruit more members to join Canary Challenge teams. The contest was to become the first team to sign up six new members on a first come, first served basis. Two teams have stood out against the competition by amassing several new team members to ride side by side during the Canary Challenge on September 28.

KLA-Tencor, a $5K Sponsor of the Canary Challenge, rose to victory lead by team captain Rick Ankiel. They added 10 new team members, winning a GoPro camera and custom Canary Challenge “Cancer Sucks” socks. They beat out 64 other teams.

The Matthews Group at Morgan Stanley, also a $5K sponsor of the Canary Challenge, outpaced the rest of the pack lead by team captain Amy Oliver. They added seven new team members and also won a GoPro camera, custom Canary Challenge “Cancer Sucks” socks, along with custom Canary Challenge sunblock. They came in first against 69 other teams competing.

Your team could be next! It’s time to hustle and recruit as many team members as you can to raise as much funds as possible. If some of your colleagues are intimidated by a century ride, remind them that there are 50K and 75K routes, as well as a 5K walk/run/ride route. All proceeds go to early cancer detection research at the Canary Center and the Stanford Cancer Institute. Our vision is to live in a world where cancer is caught at the earliest, most treatable stage.

To learn more about the Team Challenge, visit the Team Challenge page on the Canary Challenge website.

Cancer Early Detection: A New Era of Research at Canary Center

July 17, 2013

Canary Foundation has moved to Stanford’s new Technology and Innovation Park (TnI Park) on Porter Drive in Palo Alto. The labs at Canary Center at Stanford are scheduled to move to the same location during late summer. These new facilities will continue to help push Canary research forward. With the move to Stanford’s Technology and Innovation Park, the labs will double in size. There will also be more equipment, including a new mass spectrometer to provide a molecular analysis of protein tissues and biological fluids from cancer tumors, helping to facilitate the detection of disease states.

Stanford University has continued to provide support to the Canary Center at Stanford by including the Canary Center in its new Technology and Innovation Park.  All the labs of the Canary Center will be united under one roof, allowing for more collaboration. It’s a more modern, architecturally speaking, then the previous home, in a tree-filled setting. Location wise, our neighbors are tech and biotech companies, both large and small.

This move is extremely significant for the Canary Foundation, marking an important moment in our history. Expansion is always a milestone because it indicates growth and opportunity. In the case of the new Canary Center, there’s an opportunity to push further collaborations between researchers, accelerating scientific progress.

Cancer Early Detection Fundraiser: Balls for Balls by Philanthro Los Angeles

July 10, 2013

Philanthro Los Angeles focuses on engaging young professionals in the community. On June 22nd, 2013, they hosted Balls for Balls — Eat Meatballs, Save Lives at Nirvana Bar & Grill in Downtown Los Angeles to benefit the Canary Foundation, dedicated to the funding, discovery and development of early cancer detection for the five most prevalent forms of cancer. Balls for Balls raised money for prostate cancer, the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men in North America. The funds raised assist the clinical trials currently underway as part of the Canary Prostate Program, which develops tools to more accurately discriminate lethal from non-lethal cancers, informing critical treatment decisions and sparing thousands from unnecessary radical prostatectomy treatments.

Prior to the event, teams of four registered with clever and oftentimes hilarious names to compete in Balls for Balls. On the day of the event, many teams showed up well before the start time to get pumped up and to change into their costumes. We saw teams dressed in banana suits, tutus, tuxedos, t-shirts bearing eagles with mullets, you name it. The contenders ate meatballs in a line: the first player had to finish chewing three meatballs and show the referees their tongues, before their teammate could continue, and so on, until the whole team of four had finished. Teams competed in a tournament-style bracket through multiple rounds to come out on top to win and take home a cash prize of $400. For that whole afternoon, Nirvana was filled with laughter, cheering, and excitement.

The afternoon had more than just meatballs, though. The event was graced by musical performances from Shane Kanoa and Priska. The competition and its moments of unexpected triumph (or loss) were emceed by the wonderful Kezia Norton. Guests were able to enjoy free health screenings by USC MAPSC, a coalition of USC’s health campus graduate students. The free event also boasted a photobooth sponsored by Snapfiesta and s’mores cookies baked by Philanthro’s own Claudia Chin at the Canary table filled with goodies and educational tidbits. More »

Canary Challenge: Changing Lives in Unexpected Ways

July 2, 2013

Something extra special happened to a Canary Challenge rider, Rachel, on her training ride this weekend – her boyfriend proposed! Rachel posted this incredible picture of her and her fiancé, Noah, on social media using the #CanaryChallenge hashtag, which is how we found out.  We posted the photo on our Facebook page – check out the post and write Rachel a message of congratulations!

We are so thrilled that Canary Foundation and the Canary Challenge were part of this special, life-changing moment. We welcome you to share your special Canary Challenge moments using this same hashtag (details here).

Donate for Cancer Early Detection: Canary Challenge AMEX Points

June 19, 2013

Do you or any of your friends or colleagues collect American Express points? These points may now be translated into gifts to your favorite nonprofit, including Canary Foundation and the Canary Challenge.

Now you can make a donation just by transferring your points! Canary Challenge cyclists are busy drumming up donations for the ride, and this is another creative solution to add to the list.

Canary Foundation has just joined Members Give through American Express. For Canary Challenge, a gift of 40,000 points will provide the $400 donation needed to participate in the Canary Challenge.

Once you’ve chosen a gift level (again, 40,000 points for $400; 100,000 points for $1000 and so forth), please go on your own Canary Challenge fundraising page to update your fundraising efforts with this noted as an “OFFLINE GIFT” so that you receive credit for the fundraising. The check will be mailed to Canary Challenge through AMEX and Guidestar.

This is an easy new way to make a donation to Canary Foundation. If you plan to donate to Canary Challenge for a particular team or participant, please note that and send us an email with details of your contribution so that it can reach the right person’s fundraising efforts.

Canary Challenge Team Contest: Is Your Team the Next Winner?

June 11, 2013

Hats off to the Alloy Ventures Team, who recently won a one night stay from our in-kind sponsor, the Palo Alto Sheraton.  The Alloy Ventures Team Captain is Kate Fry, who added the most new team members in May, cinching their team for the contest win!

Alloy Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm with over $1 billion under management that invests in the entrepreneurs creating the next generation of ground-breaking Information Technology, Life Sciences, and Cleantech companies. We’re very excited and grateful to have employees from such an incredible company fundraising on behalf of the Canary Challenge.

The contest was such a raging success that we’re starting fresh with a brand new contest. For any team that adds six new members (first come, first served), the team wins:

• One complimentary gym membership generously donated by our in-kind sponsor, Equinox Palo Alto (Value $400), PLUS
• One Sunday Brunch for two at the four-star Soleil located inside the Westin Hotel in Palo Alto, generously donated by out in-kind sponsor, Westin Hotel, Palo Alto

It’s time to get out there and rally your team for the Canary Challenge! Remember that all funds raised go to benefit cancer early detection research at the Canary Center at Stanford and the Stanford Cancer Institute.

Don’t forget to text “Canary” to 99000 for the new summer discount code. The code will be sent to your phone immediately upon texting in. This gives  $25 off the registration fee.

Peter Nelson on Canary’s Prostate Cancer Research Program

June 18, 2012

Peter Nelson, Prostate Cancer Team Leader at the Canary Center and researcher at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, provides an overview of Canary’s Prostate Cancer Research Program. He talks about goals for the research program, explaining how researchers work on biomarkers that will determine if cancers are lethal vs. non lethal (aggressive vs. indolent). He also explains the Canary Tissue Microarray (TMA) Project, as well as giving an overview of what success looks like for the Canary Prostate Cancer Research Program.

Canary Innovation: Measurable Progress, Real Results

June 4, 2012

Here at Canary Foundation, one of our highest priorities is building a culture of innovation, which we leverage to produce results, save time and lower costs. Both our scientific programs and administrative initiatives reflect these disciplines. We’re proud to report that this approach is helping Canary demonstrate real results in the work we do:

• Canary Foundation developed the first test for a new lung cancer biomarker identified by the team. While tests exist for other biomarkers, there were none for this one, so the team created a test that is now available for any research institution to utilize.
• Our prostate cancer clinical trial called PASS (Prostate Active Surveillance Study) is the only multisite clinical trial for men on active surveillance.  This way of organizing a trial is now being recognized as the most viable way of conducting trials to monitor men with localized, low-risk prostate cancer.
• Canary Foundation’s Tissue Microarray (TMA) project has also led the way in scientific research. Digitized tissue images and a standardized way to conduct digital analyses were the innovations that provide researchers with an online way of sharing and analyzing data that is not the norm in scientific research.
• The Canary Center at Stanford for cancer early detection is the first in the world studying the two-test process of identifying cancer through a blood test and pinpointing the location of the tumor through molecular imaging. More »