Albert R. Taxin Brain Tumor Research Fund at The Wistar Institute Supports Two Scientists Working on Brain Cancer Research

Wistar’s Taxin Brain Tumor Research Fund is generously supporting research breakthroughs of Drs. Irene Bertolini and Filippo Veglia. Bertolini and Veglia were each awarded $30,000 towards their crucial, transformational research into glioblastoma. One of the most deadly and aggressive forms of brain cancer, the median survival rate for glioblastoma is 12-15 months, with 10% of people surviving longer than 5 years. A glioblastoma (tumor) originates in the glial cells of the brain or spinal cord and is incurable.

Dr. Bertolini studies extracellular vesicles, which are small “messenger” particles that every cell in our body produces. They can go to any place in the body including across the blood-brain barrier, and these particles play a role in cellular communication between tumor cells and their microenvironment. Dr. Bertolini is focused on glial cells called microglia and how they support tumor growth. Her research shines a light on their potential in drug delivery and as a possible future therapy against glioblastoma.

Glioblastoma is considered a model for how cancer eventually becomes resistant to all treatment.  Dr. Filippo Veglia, however, is engineering and testing a relatively new method to counteract this resistance to common treatments, like chemotherapy and radiation, by using a patient’s own white blood cells, or T cells. CAR-T cell therapy is an exciting & innovative new area of research with great promise that works by taking a patient’s own T cells and engineers them to target and attack cancer cells. By learning how glioblastoma evades and suppresses CAR-T cells, Dr. Veglia hopes to create a CART-T cell immunotherapy that glioblastoma tumors cannot immunosuppress.

The Taxin Brain Tumor Research Fund was created in 1993 by the late Doris Taxin to honor the legacy of Albert R. Taxin, a beloved Philadelphia restauranteur who died from glioblastoma, and to raise awareness and funds for glioblastoma research. Wistar scientists can pursue scientific discoveries to understand fundamental aspects of cancer and disease because of the energy, foresight and continued support of donors like those who have contributed to the Taxin Fund over the years.

Read more about Doris Taxin and the Taxin Fund here.