Animal Cancer Foundation (ACF) is proud to announce awarding a grant of $1.2 million to The Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), an affiliate of City of Hope, for the Canine Cancer Genome Project (CCGP) sponsored by Blue Buffalo Foundation’s inaugural donation.

The CCGP – the largest pan-cancer comparative genomic study to date – will provide researchers with datasets including information about the genetic and molecular characteristics of canine cancers.  Once deposited in the public domain, these data sets will increase insight into both canine and human cancer biology, increase the efficiency with which drugs can be matched to individual cancers, and offer both human and veterinary oncologists greater insight on which therapies may work best for their patients.

In addition to the ACF grant, TGen also received a number of biospecimens with tumor and inherited DNA information donated originally to ACF by the Canine Comparative Oncology Genomics Consortium through a request for proposals and a rigorous review process conducted by ACF’s scientific advisory board and approved by the board of directors.

“The goal of this study is to develop better cancer therapies for dogs while simultaneously advancing our knowledge of human cancers,” said Nicholas Schork, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Quantitative Medicine and Systems Biology at TGen and lead TGen investigator of the multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary CCGP research team.  “The genomic sequencing of dog cancers will provide a more detailed understanding of the cancer biology, allow us to explore the differences in canine and human cancer genomics that shed light on the drivers of cancer, and enter a new frontier that takes cancer research beyond the one-size-fits-all approach to efficient development of personalized medicine for both species.”

 The project will take two and a half years to complete, with milestone achievements expected in the winter of 2022 and early in 2023.

“ACF has been determined to bring this multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary team together under our umbrella and with the outstanding leadership of the world-renowned team at TGen,” said Barbara Cohen, Executive Director of ACF.  “We are already anticipating great strides forward from the research.  We are incredibly grateful to our donors and supporters who have invested in and believed in us from day one.  Our work is far from over, but with their continuing generous support, we can extend and amplify this groundbreaking work and do even more to bring hope to those fighting cancer.”