Outside the Box

In their quest to find a cure for cancer, the benefactors of a new $1 million prize reward innovative thinking. By Danielle Beurteaux

After Robert Goldstein. a managing partner at New York-based Gotham Capital helped his mother, Hope, battle ovarian cancer from 2001 until her death in 2004, he turned much of his energy to seeking an out-of-the- box approach to cancer research.

Goldstein wanted to create something more dynamic than conventional grant funding - a bureaucratic and time-consuming process that favors established researchers and conventional ideas. But he was at a loss as to how to start. What do I know about which research project is thc right one to fund?" asks Goldstein, 42.

That's where Joel Greenblatt, founder and managing partner of Gotham Capital, stepped in, suggesting his Value Investors Club as a template for a new kind of research prize. Value Investors Club. founded in 2000, is an online forum for investment ideas. Applicants mustsubmit an investment recommendation. which is judged on its research and snalysis strengths. Once accepted. members, who pay no fees, submit two to six ideas a year to be discussed and rated by other members.

Goldstein agreed to adopt Grecnblatt's model, and in 2007 the two founded the annual $1 million Gotham Prize for Cancer Research. which can be awarded to any prequalified individual and provides a platform for anyone - scientist or layman - with a worthy, unique idea for cancer research. They tapped Dr. Gary Curhan, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a physician ar Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, to head thc Gotham Prize advisory board. The size of the prize is notable in itself, approaching the value of the Nobel Prize (10 million Swedish kronor this year, about $1.6 million).

In April. Goldstein and Greenblatt announced the first winner: Alexander Varshavsky, the Smits Professor of Cell Biology at the California Institute olTechnology in Pasadena, for an idea on how to treat cancer in a less invasive way than traditional approaches. The concept is called deletion-specific targeting, which, Varshavsky explains, involves singling out cells that lack specific pieces of DNA. These cells are targeted for treatment through a technique that is sensitive to the absence of the DNA pieces in tttmor cells, selectively killing those cells without harming healthy surrounding cells.

The concept of deletion-specific targeting, Curhan says, is "truly novel" and has the potential to "stimulate different approaches to treating cancer."

Goldstein notes that the Gotham Prize is, above all, meant as a catalyst for sharing. Applications are vetted by the Gotham Prize medical advisory board, and letting others in on the ideas is part of the deal: Participants must agree to have their submissions posted on the prize's Web site, which is accessible to all registered users. The hope is that people will team up to explore the ideas posted on the site. The prize, Goldstein says, is meant more to garner attention and create incentive for collaboration than to fund any particular project. He believes that the best use of his resources is to facilitate the exchange. "Where we can add value is in creating an environment that allows people to cooperate," he says. "What's so appealing is that for a million dollars, you potentially get a huge bang for your buck in terms of what you can actually accomplish." Va

rshavsky praises the thinking behind the award: "The Gotham Prize will show whether the sharing of new ideas will actually move the field of cancer therapy forward. I very much hope it will."
Goldstein is pleased with the discourse so far. "We're short-circuiting the system in a good way," he says.