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#FightForTheBrain with ACGT during
Brain Cancer Awareness Month.
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May is Brain Cancer Awareness Month and Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy (ACGT) is continuing to lead the fight against this deadly disease. Over 24,000 people in the United States will be diagnosed with brain cancer every year and survival rates are still low making it an area of major unmet need for cancer research.
But while research for cell and gene therapy for brain cancer is still in its early stages, there are reasons for hope. ACGT has funded several research projects that have displayed tangible results. Over the course of May, ACGT’s social media platforms will continue our #FightForTheBrain by sharing educational content and raising awareness of what ACGT is doing to lead the future of brain cancer research.
Visit ACGT’s website to find out more about ACGT’s Research Fellows’ studies to develop new treatments for brain cancer.
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ACGT hosts top scientists and industry leaders at Summit 2025.
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On March 19-20, ACGT hosted its annual Summit 2025 in New York City, bringing together top scientists in cancer cell and gene therapy along with biotech and pharma experts and other industry thought leaders to explore the present and future of cancer research.
The event featured a number of illuminating panels specifically focusing on efforts to treat conditions such as brain, gynecologic and breast, and pancreatic cancers, with experts sharing both their significant challenges and triumphs of the past year. Summit 2025 also hosted patient advocates who shared their experiences with cell and gene therapy, giving researchers an up-close example of how their work is changing lives.
Read the full recap of Summit 2025 on ACGT’s website, including highlights from each panel.
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Support ACGT’s mission during National Cancer Research Month.
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ACGT is dedicated to driving the future of cancer research, a mission that comes even further into focus during the month of May, National Cancer Research Month. Since our establishment in 2001, our alliance has awarded over $37.5 million to 73 scientists who are developing novel cell and gene therapies such as CAR T-cells, oncolytic viruses, vaccines, engineered T-cell receptors and more.
ACGT Research Fellows are making groundbreaking discoveries every year and a brighter future is coming further into focus with cancer cell and gene therapy. Moreover, ACGT Research Fellows have credited our grants to “changing and launching” their careers.
To learn more about ACGT’s mission during National Cancer Research Month, visit our website. In addition, share this newsletter with your friends and family and ask them to sign up for ACGT’s e-communications.
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Make Waves to Fight Cancer — Register for Swim Across America – Fairfield County!
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Join Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy (ACGT) at one of the most inspiring events of the summer—Swim Across America – Fairfield County, taking place on Saturday, June 21, 2025, in Stamford, CT. Whether you’re a seasoned swimmer or participating for the first time, this open water swim is your chance to honor loved ones, celebrate survivors, and raise funds for groundbreaking cancer research.
Now in its 19th year, the Fairfield County Swim has raised nearly $6 million, with ACGT proudly serving as the event’s local beneficiary. Every dollar raised supports innovative scientists developing cell and gene therapies with the potential to cure cancer.
You can choose to swim 0.5 miles, 1.5 miles, or 3 miles, individually or as part of a team. Not a swimmer? No problem—you can still join as a volunteer, land supporter, or virtual participant!
Now even the youngest kids can make a big splash. Children up to age 11 can participate in the Kids’ Splash by splashing a short distance along the beach. Parents are welcome to join in and must accompany non-swimmers or those under age 6. It’s a fun way for the whole family to make waves to fight against cancer!
Registration is open now and all swimmers commit to a minimum fundraising goal—$500 for adults and $300 for participants under 18. (There is no fundraising minimum for Kids’ Splash swimmers. However, they are encouraged to fundraise if they would like!) With your support, ACGT can continue to accelerate bold research that offers new hope to cancer patients.
Make Waves to Fight Cancer!
Register or donate today:
swimacrossamerica.org/fc
Together, we’re swimming toward cures.
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ACGT experts attend AACR Annual Meeting 2025.
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The AACR Annual Meeting 2025 took place at the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago, April 25-30, 2025.
ACGT Scientific Advisory Council members and Research Fellows participated in sessions and presentations highlighting progress in cancer cell and gene therapies.
ACGT Scientific Advisory Council member and Research Fellow, Crystal Mackall, MD (Stanford University), was presented with the AACR-Cancer CRI Lloyd J. Old Award in Cancer Immunology in recognition of her far-reaching translational and clinical impact in cancer immunotherapy. Dr. Mackall also participated in the presentation of Combined silencing of MED12 and activation of IL2 by epigenetic editing enhances CAR T antitumor potency.
ACGT Scientific Advisory Council member and Research Fellow, Carl June, MD (University of Pennsylvania) participated in the presentation of Fibroblast activation protein directed CAR T cells engineered in situ using targeted lipid nanoparticles inhibit progression of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.
A session on Adoptive Cell Therapies was co-chaired by ACGT Fellows Daniel J. Powell, PhD (University of Pennsylvania) and Sidi Chen, PhD (Yale University).
ACGT Scientific Advisory Council member, Katy Rezvani, MD, PhD (MD Anderson Cancer Center) presented Engineering NK cells for cancer treatment: From bench to bedside.
During the conference, two ACGT Research Fellows were celebrated as new Fellows of the AACR Academy in recognition of their groundbreaking contributions that have driven significant innovation and progress in the fight against cancer.
Stephan A. Grupp, MD, PhD (Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia) – For exemplary research efforts leading to the development of chimeric antigen receptor-modified T-cell (CAR T-cell) therapy in pediatric patients, thereby revolutionizing personalized cancer treatment and leading to the FDA approval of tisagenlecleucel for B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the first CAR T-cell and gene therapy approved for use in patients.
Robert H. Vonderheide, MD, DPhil (University of Pennsylvania) – For groundbreaking research involving the integration of basic and clinical investigations to advance the establishment of novel cancer immunotherapies such as vaccines, antibody-based therapies, and adoptive T-cell therapies, and for defining the immunobiology of tumor microenvironments through the use of genetically engineered mouse models.
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Request for Applications
Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy announces 2025 funding opportunities currently open to applicants:
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Levine, McCarthy collaborate on cancer research anthem “Ring That Bell.”
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Make sure to check out acclaimed Irish country music artist Mags McCarthy’s new single, “Ring That Bell,” a musical collaboration co-written by ACGT Board member Bruce Levine, PhD, the Barbara and Edward Netter Professor in Cancer Gene Therapy (University of Pennsylvania). The powerful song tells the emotional story of a cancer patient and the support system and groundbreaking science that gives them hope.
A heartfelt tribute to the power of perseverance, community, and innovation, “Ring That Bell” draws on real stories from families whose lives have been changed by CAR T-cell therapy. Dr. Levine, whose pioneering work helped bring the first FDA-approved CAR T-cell therapy to market, co-wrote the song with McCarthy, offering a unique blend of scientific inspiration and musical storytelling.
“The song ’Ring That Bell’ speaks to the community of support all patients deserve, and the community of fellow patients on their own journey through cancer,” Levine said.
Find “Ring That Bell” on the following platforms:
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May is Melanoma and Skin Cancer Awareness Month.
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May is Melanoma and Skin Cancer Awareness Month, a disease that recently saw the approval of the cell therapy lifileucel for advanced melanoma.
Every year in the United States, approximately 100,000 people are diagnosed with melanoma. More traditional chemotherapy and radiation therapies often prove ineffective, and patients with advanced melanoma generally face poor survival outcomes.
Last year, lifileucel became the first cell therapy approved to treat a solid tumor of any type, the first TIL therapy to receive FDA approval for advanced melanoma, and the first and only one-time individualized and unmodified T cell therapy approved for a solid tumor cancer.
In March, Raj Puri, MD, PhD (Iovance) discussed lifileucel’s development and approval story at ACGT Summit 2025. ACGT hopes that lifileucel’s approval is just the beginning and marks a new era of treatment options for melanoma.
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The latest on cancer cell and gene therapy from around the world.
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A new CAR T-cell therapy called AIC100, which targets the ICAM-1 protein, demonstrated encouraging responses and an acceptable safety profile in patients with two types of advanced thyroid cancer in a Phase 1 trial, according to researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
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BrainChild Bio’s investigational CAR-T therapy that targets B7-H3, being developed for the treatment of diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), a type of pediatric brain tumor, has received breakthrough therapy designation from the FDA.
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ImmunoLogic, Episode 3: “Breaking the Brain’s Barrier: CAR T-Cells Take on Glioblastoma” With Marcela Maus, MD, PhD – ACGT Research Fellow, Joseph Fraietta, PhD (University of Pennsylvania) speaks with Marcela Maus, MD, PhD (Mass General) about her work in developing CAR T-cell therapy for glioblastoma on the ImmunoLogic podcast.
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