NETRF CEO Elyse Gellerman, Chief Scientific Officer Anna Greene, and Director of Patient Education Jessica Thomas joined hundreds of neuroendocrine cancer specialists and patient advocates at the annual meeting of the North American Neuroendocrine Tumor Society (NANETS) in Austin,Texas in October. They were among about 500 attendees there to discuss the latest developments in neuroendocrine clinical research and connect as a community.
More than 20 scientific sessions focused on how the latest developments in surgery, immunotherapy, theranostics, biomarkers, and treatment sequencing impact neuroendocrine cancer treatment.
Dr. Dawn Quelle, NETRF Board of Scientific Advisors Co-Chair, gave the keynote presentation, describing the perseverance and process involved with applying for, and winning, a prestigious SPORE grant. Dr. Quelle and her team at the University of Iowa received a $10.7 million Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) grant from the National Cancer Institute. Read more about the ambitious goals of the SPORE grant.(link to other blog page.)
NETRF sponsors NANETS’ Basic Translational Investigator Grant, a two-year award to an early-career researcher committed to studying neuroendocrine cancer. The 2025 award was presented to Dr. Suzann Duan, Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of California, Irvine. Dr. Duan’s project will focus on “Targeting the Epigenetic Landscape of GEP-NETs through Menin-MLL Inhibition.
Dr. Netta Mäkinen, a NETRF grantee, was awarded the Best Basic/Translational Poster Abstract at the NANETS annual meeting. Dr. Makinen was recognized for her study, “Single-nucleus transcriptomic analysis of the tumor microenvironment in small intestinal NETs.” Dr. Mäkinen’s work at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute provides insights into the cellular composition and molecular dynamics of the neuroendocrine tumor microenvironment that may influence the development of SI-NETs.
NANETS also brings together patient advocates in the field. NETRF CEO Elyse Gellerman participated in the recording of a NANETS’ NETCast podcast about patient advocacy. She joined Drs. Paul Graham, Jason Starr, Jaydira Del Rivero, and Heloisa Soares to discuss how patients can advocate for themselves and the neuroendocrine cancer community, and the need for advocacy to expand treatment access, coverage, and research funding. This NETCast episode will be released in the coming months.
