In the fight against cancer, a single brilliant mind can only go so far. Real breakthroughs often happen at the intersection of disciplines, where diverse expertise collides to spark revolutionary ideas.
This is the core belief behind The Mark Foundation Endeavor Awards, a multimillion-dollar grant program dedicated to supporting collaborative "team science." Unlike traditional grants that often fund individual investigators, the Endeavor Award specifically targets complex challenges in cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment that are too vast for any one lab to solve. By forging scientists from different fields into unified, multi-institutional teams, the award aims to generate advances for patients that could not be achieved by individual efforts alone 1 2 .
For decades, cancer research has been hindered by silos. A molecular biologist, an immunologist, and a clinical oncologist might all be working on the same type of cancer, but their efforts often remain separate, leading to incremental progress. The Endeavor Award is designed to break down these barriers.
The grant provides $3 million in funding over three years to teams of three or more investigators who bring diverse areas of expertise to a unified project 1 . The philosophy is simple: the whole must be greater than the sum of its parts.
Proposed projects must address an overarching, urgent scientific question, with sub-projects designed to elucidate various aspects of the main theme 1 .
Teams are strongly encouraged to consider diversity in discipline, seniority, gender, and race to approach problems from fresh perspectives 1 .
The data, samples, and hypotheses generated by individual team members must be integrated in a way that accelerates discovery for the entire group 1 .
Endeavor Awards Granted Since 2021
Total Funding Committed
The resulting research has produced high-impact journal articles, patented inventions, and new interventional clinical trials 2 .
The most recent cohort of winners, announced in April 2025, perfectly exemplifies the "team science" approach, tackling two very different but equally challenging problems in oncology 2 .
One team, led by researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science and Tel Aviv University, is investigating cancer-associated cachexia, a debilitating and often fatal syndrome characterized by severe weight loss and muscle wasting that affects most patients with advanced cancer 2 .
This team brings together experts in neuroimmunology, computational immunology, and cancer metabolism. They are testing the hypothesis that cachexia results from dysregulated communication between the autonomic nervous system, the immune system, and liver metabolism. By using advanced models to dissect these interactions, they hope to uncover new therapeutic targets. As part of their commitment to collaborative science, they will also share their comprehensive datasets and computational tools publicly to foster further progress in this critical area 2 .
A second team, based at the University of California San Francisco and the Gladstone Institutes, is taking on gastric cancer, a lethal gastrointestinal cancer with few treatment options and low survival rates in its advanced stages 2 .
This group comprises specialists in oncology, cancer immunology, genetic engineering, and synthetic biology. They aim to overcome the limitations of current CAR T-cell therapies, which have had limited success in gastric cancer due to a harsh tumor microenvironment and a lack of good targets. Their strategy involves using cutting-edge genetic engineering to create enhanced CAR T-cells and identify novel targets, with the goal of making this powerful immunotherapy available to more patients 2 .
To understand how a Endeavor Award team operates, let's imagine a hypothetical experiment from the gastric cancer project, focused on testing a newly engineered CAR T-cell.
To determine if a novel CAR T-cell, genetically modified to be more resilient in the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment, can effectively kill gastric cancer cells in a pre-clinical model.
The work would be split among different experts on the team, demonstrating the integrated approach:
Gastric cancer cell lines are cultured and tagged with a fluorescent marker for easy tracking.
The novel CAR T-cells are prepared and also tagged with a different fluorescent marker.
The cancer cells and CAR T-cells are co-cultured in vitro. A control group uses standard, unmodified CAR T-cells for comparison.
The most promising CAR T-cell construct is moved into an animal model to study its efficacy and safety in a complex, living system.
Data from all experiments are aggregated and analyzed to draw overarching conclusions about the new therapy's potential.
After a set period, the team would analyze the results. The data below illustrates the kind of integrated findings this collaborative experiment could generate.
| CAR T-Cell Type | Cancer Cell Lysis (%) | Cytokine Release (pg/mL) |
|---|---|---|
| Unmodified (Control) | 25% | 150 |
| Novel Design A | 45% | 300 |
| Novel Design B | 65% | 450 |
This table shows that the newly engineered CAR T-cells, particularly Design B, are significantly more effective at killing cancer cells and activating a stronger immune response in a lab dish.
| Group | Average Tumor Volume (Day 0) | Average Tumor Volume (Day 21) |
|---|---|---|
| No Treatment | 150 mm³ | 650 mm³ |
| Unmodified CAR T-Cells | 150 mm³ | 400 mm³ |
| Novel CAR T-Cells (Design B) | 150 mm³ | 200 mm³ |
This data from an animal model demonstrates that the novel CAR T-cells are also more effective at controlling actual tumor growth in a living organism.
| Experimental Stage | Lead Specialist | Key Contribution |
|---|---|---|
| Target Identification | Genomics Expert | Discovered novel cell surface target on gastric cancer cells. |
| CAR Design | Synthetic Biologist | Engineered the new CAR construct for enhanced signaling. |
| T-Cell Engineering | Immunologist | Optimized protocol for introducing CAR into human T-cells. |
| In Vivo Testing | Translational Scientist | Managed and monitored the animal model study. |
| Data Analysis | Computational Biologist | Integrated all data to model efficacy and safety. |
This table highlights how the different expertise on the team is essential for every step of the research process, from start to finish.
The groundbreaking work funded by the Endeavor Award relies on a sophisticated arsenal of research tools. The following table details some of the essential "research reagent solutions" that are foundational to modern cancer research, including the types of projects the Endeavor Award supports.
| Tool/Technology | Function in Research | Application Example |
|---|---|---|
| CRISPR-Cas9 | Allows for precise editing of DNA sequences in living cells. 3 | Knocking out specific genes in cancer cells to identify vulnerabilities or in CAR T-cells to enhance their function. |
| Flow Cytometer | Analyzes the physical and chemical characteristics of cells or particles as they flow in a fluid stream past a laser. | Distinguishing different immune cell types in a tumor sample and measuring the presence of the CAR on engineered T-cells. |
| GraphPad Prism | Statistical software that simplifies complex data analysis and graphing for biological research. 3 | Analyzing tumor growth curves, performing statistical tests on cell lysis data, and creating publication-ready figures. |
| Hydrogels | Jell-O-like, 3D biomaterials that can mimic the natural microenvironment of cells. 4 | Growing patient-derived tumor cells in the lab in a more realistic 3D structure to test drug responses. |
| LAMP (Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification) | A rapid, low-cost DNA amplification technique that doesn't require sophisticated lab equipment. 8 | Improving malaria detection in pregnant women in low-resource settings, a type of humanitarian research also supported by science awards. |
Identifies novel targets and genetic vulnerabilities in cancer cells.
Optimizes immune cell engineering and evaluates therapeutic responses.
Analyzes complex datasets and builds predictive models of treatment efficacy.
The Endeavor Award represents a significant bet on the power of collective intelligence. By providing the substantial funding and freedom necessary for high-risk, high-reward collaboration, The Mark Foundation is helping to create a new research ecosystem—one that is more dynamic, interdisciplinary, and patient-focused 1 2 .
The ultimate goal is to transform the pace of progress against cancer. The hope is that by connecting brilliant minds across the globe and empowering them to share data and challenge each other's assumptions, these teams will achieve the breakthroughs that have previously seemed out of reach. For patients waiting for new solutions, this collaborative endeavor may be the fastest path to a cure.