cancer, we must not only support "traditional" research projects funded year after year, but we must also support innovative, cutting-edge projects that may reveal new clues about preventing or curing this disease. Many innovative research projects are under-funded due to the uncertainty of a new project's outcome.

1 in 9 works hard to ensure that innovative research initiatives continue so that scientists have the best shot at helping us end this epidemic.

The 1 in 9 grant supports the work of Dr. Michael Wigler, whose research is aimed at gaining insight into the basis of cancer at the molecular level. Dr. Wigler was among the first scientists to discover an oncogene, a gene that contributes to the development of cancer, and was a co-developer of a gene-finding technique called Representational Difference Analysis (RDA).

On March 28,1997 Dr. Wigler and collaborators at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center announced the discovery of a gene called P- TEN. Mutations of P-TEN were found in breast, brain and prostate cancers. Unlike BRCAl mutations, of which are found in hereditary predispositions to cancer, most P-TEN mutations are found in the more common sporadic cancers. This is important because more than 80 percent of all cases of cancer are sporadic. P- TEN appears to play a role in the process whereby a benign tumor becomes malignant. The discovery of this gene is expected to have major implications for improved diagnostics, prognostics and treatment of cancer.

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