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American Russian Cancer Alliance (ARCA)

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Led by U.S. Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) and the Maryland delegation, the U.S. Congress has approved a grant to continue funding for pioneering research to turn nuclear weapons materials into a potential cure for cancer.

As part of a unique federally-funded partnership with Russian scientists known as the American Russian Cancer Alliance (ARCA), researchers at the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center (UMGCC) are using radioactive isotopes from Russian nuclear stockpiles to develop cutting-edge cancer therapies.

Nuclear medicine specialists at UMGCC, working with colleagues at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, are studying novel ways to use these powerful isotopes to destroy blood vessels that feed cancerous tumors. Initial research focused on actinium-225, but now sicentists are working with another isotope, polonium-210.

Rep. Hoyer has been instrumental in obtaining federal funds for ARCA, which was initially created in 2001. Congress recently approved a $750,000 grant to continue funding this extraordinary research.

In addition to the University of Maryland Greenebaum Cancer Center, participants in the alliance include Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, Russia's largest cancer research and treatment facility -- the 1,600-bed N.N. Blokhin National Cancer Research Center in Moscow -- and the Kurchatov Institute, the premier Russian nuclear research center.

This page was last updated on: January 23, 2007.