The Miracle Foundation announced that it has awarded a $100,000 grant to Dr. Bert Vogelstein, of Johns Hopkins' Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, for his continued work on cancer-eating bacteria. This brings to a total over $500,000 in grant funding which the Foundation has awarded Dr. Vogelstein, the most cited cancer researcher in the world. This funding has led to a Phase I Clinical Trial for end-stage cancer patients.

Dr. Vogelstein was the first to identify cancer as a genetic disease. Through grants provided by The Miracle Foundation, he has been able to genetically modify bacteria called Clotridium novyi such that the bacteria will not harm healthy cells, but has free reign over cancer cells. In mice experiments, the bacteria destroyed cancer cells in the oxygen-starved core of tumors, but showed no interest in non-cancerous tissues.

Vogelstein's inventive approach was to administer bacteria together with anticancer drugs specifically designed to exploit the bacteria's properties. This combined germ/ chemo approach temporarily wiped out both large and small tumors in almost 100 percent of mice and permanently cured more than two-thirds of them. Clinical trials to test the safety of the new therapy have recently begun in a limited number of cancer patients.

"We are thrilled to be able to award Dr. Vogelstein an additional $100,000 grant to further his innovative research," said Patti Tenaglia, Co-Founder of The Miracle Foundation. "We are very proud to be able to assist Bert in advancing his ground-breaking approach which gives hope to cancer patients."

Bert Vogelstein, M.D. is the Clayton Professor of Oncology and Pathology at Johns Hopkins University and the Director of the Ludwig Center for Cancer Genetics and Therapeutics. He is also a Principal Investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. His prestigious awards include the Alfred G. Knudson Award from the National Cancer Institute, the Richard Lounsbery Award from the National Academy of Sciences, and the Prince of Asturias Award for Scientific and Technical Research. Dr. Vogelstein has served on editorial boards for some of the most esteemed professional journals, including The New England Journal of Medicine, Science, Molecular Cell and Cancer Cell.