Above are some stills from our Rocks Against Cancer Video shoot that will be airing in two weeks to promote the event and thank our sponsors. My dear friend Grace Huang put together an amazing crew of volunteers. I was really touched to see so many people donate their time and resources to this project, with the goal to raise as much money as possible for EIF’s cancer programs. They knew that if we had to pay for one thing that meant less money went to research.

I want to give a special thanks to our talent: Josh Brown, Toni Belafonte, Alyssa McGarry, Joe Stevens, Maria Diaz, Lisa Wagner, Hank Chen, Herman Mc Dowell, Samantha Stanley, Maye Musk, Allen Enlow, Dipti Mehta, and Lindsey Simcik. Only some are pictured above, but you will see them all in the video. These are all real people touched by cancer who, volunteered their time for this video. You will be able to read their stories when the video is released.

Thank you again to the crew: Director Grace Huang, Creative Director Marilyn Kam, Producer Jessica Haselkorn, Producer Katy Fuoco, 1st Photo Assistant Everett Meisner, 2nd photo assistant Luke Barber-Smith, Editor Brett Fisher, Donna Grossman Casting, Canoe Studios, Industrial Color, Stylist Karin Bereson + No.6 Store, Stylist Sylvia Grieser, Makeup Sam Coffey and Cynthia Sobek, Hair Decyke Heidorn and Rheanne White without whom this would not be possible.

Not only is Stephen an amazing jeweler he is also a dear friend.  While on vacation together last year, we discussed the idea of putting together a fundraising event for cancer research that would be unlike most cancer fundraisers. We wanted this event to rock. Then, Stephen as a jeweler who has created pieces for other benefits, asked if we would like him to create a piece for ours. In great discussion the idea of a new kind of cancer bracelet came to mind. We have loved Stephen’s pieces for years and thought why have just one piece of jewelry, why not auction off 250 pieces for cancer research.  So with the combination of jewelery (rocks) and rock and roll the Rocks against Cancer name was born.   I won’t tell you what the bracelets look like.. you will have to stay tuned to get a peak at them as we get closer to the event.
For those of you who don’t know Stephen: Stephen Webster is one of the leading British figures in the fine jewellery and silver design industries. Webster’s keen eye for detail, expert craftsmanship and glam-rock attitude has given way to dramatic creations with an eternally chic aesthetic. He designed Madonna’s wedding rings, and other clients include Johnny Depp, Sharon Stone, Axl Rose, Carl Barat and Ozzy Osbourne. The unmistakable amalgamation of precious and semiprecious gemstones set in specially treated metals has led Stephen Webster to a three-time win of the “British Luxury Jeweller of the Year” award and winner of “UK Jewellery Brand of the Year” in 2008. Originating from a modest background, Stephen Webster has evolved into a powerful global luxury jewellery brand with over 120 points of sale worldwide in the United States, United Kingdom, Russia, Dubai, Japan, Ukraine, Europe and Hong Kong and over 20 Stephen Webster boutiques internationally. Webster also continues to build his high-profile celebrity following culminating in an alliance with musical artist Christina Aguilera who appears in the brand’s new advertising campaign for Stephen Webster. The Stephen Webster brand offers the consumer a true lifestyle experience — one which has been credited with unprecedented demand. Stephen is now the creative director for Garrads, the oldest jewelry company in the world, founded in 1735, and the supplier of jewels to generations of royals.
Here is a sampling of Stephens’ work..to see more go here: stephenwebster.com

The venue that we chose for our Rocks Against Cancer fundraising event Benefitting EIF cancer programs is the the Angel Orensanz Foundation for the Arts, situated on Norfolk Street and in the former Ansche Chesed Synagogue. The building is notable for being one of the few synagogues ever built in Gothic revival style, the oldest surviving synagogue building in New York, and the fourth oldest surviving synagogue building in the United States.

Ansche Chesed was built by a congregation of German Jews. The synagogue was designed by architect Alexander Saeltzer. When it opened in 1849, it was the largest synagogue in the United States and could hold up to 1,500 worshippers. From 1886 until 1921, the synagogue was home to Congregation Ohab Zedek. A Polish congregation, Anshe Slonim, worshiped there from 1921 until 1974. By 1974 the Slonim community had dispersed and the synagogue was abandoned and was being vandalized. Spanish sculptor Angel Orensanz purchased the property in 1986 for $500,000 and converted it into an art gallery and performance space. The “Shul of New York” holds its weekly services in the synagogue. The building was designated an historic landmark by the City in 1987. Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick were married here.

The Angel Orensanz Foundation, Inc. was established in 1992 by a group of artists and scholars, inspired by the work of this Spanish/American artist (1942) and the unique architecture of his space in Lower Manhattan. In a short period of time it has affirmed itself as a strong anchor of the visual arts and performing arts and artists in New York. Laurie Anderson, Philip Glass, Bang on a Can, The Institute for the Humanities at NY, The Goethe Institute, The Italian Institute, the British Council, PS1 and various departments of NYU, Columbia University, Princeton University, as well as The State Russian Museum (St. Petersburg), Mass Moca, The Whitney Museum, The Royal Shakespeare Company, Il Ministero per I Beni Culturali of Italy and many other institutions develop there shows and presentations.

The Foundation has just opened an international department and workshop for digital arts: graphic design, web development and video editing as well as exhibition systems and presentation. It produces the quarterly arts magazine Artscape through its subsidiary Artscape Publishers; a weekly TV program (MNN) Arts from the Orensanz airs weekly through MNN, and a series of classical recordings “Live from the Orensanz”, as well as an international exhibitions programs of the work of Angel Orensanz.

To learn more about the foundation please go to www.orensanz.org.

Breast Cancer Survivor Stefanie Larue modeling the 2010 collection

This time of year, swimsuit shopping is hard enough for most women, but for breast cancer survivors it can be brutal.

Patricia Brett, founder and designer of the Veronica Brett swimwear collection for breast cancer survivors and pre-vivors (woman who have had risk-reducing surgeries), is trying to make the experience a little easier.

After testing positive for the BRCA1 gene, Brett had a prophylactic bilateral mastectomy at age 39. Her sister Regina, diagnosed at age 41, is a 12-year survivor, and Regina’s daughter Gabe, who also carries the BRCA1 gene, opted for risk-reducing surgery at age 29. All three were frustrated by matronly selections that currently existed.

This is not a medical apparel, it is swimwear made of exquisite Italian fabrics with buttery soft linings. Every detail of the suits has been carefully considered, down to the little loops on our lace-front halter.
The suits have been strategically designed to cover surgical scars while still giving a semblance of cleavage. The intricate interior construction of pockets can conceal a prosthetic breast as well as properly fit a reconstructed breast. The collection features three one-piece silhouettes, retailing for $198: bandeau (sizes 2 to 14), front-lacing halter (sizes 2 to 16), and a classic wrap (sizes 4 to 16), available in red or black.
Veronica Brett is the only post-mastectomy swimwear collection available in sizes starting at 2.

To learn more about the founder Patricia Brett and read her story go here

Scientists have discovered a new molecule which they say can prevent the spread of cancerous cells.
Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College report in the online edition of the journal Nature that new anti-cancer agents break down the looping gait these cells use to migrate, stopping them in their tracks.
Mice implanted with cancer cells and treated with the small molecule macroketone lived a full life without any cancer spread, compared with control animals, which all died of metastasis.
When macroketone was given a week after cancer cells were introduced, it still blocked greater than 80 percent of cancer metastasis in mice.
These findings provide a very encouraging direction for development of a new class of anti-cancer agents that specifically stop cancer metastasis.
Dr Huang and his research team have been working on macroketone since 2003. Their work started after researchers in Japan isolated a natural substance, dubbed migrastatin, secreted by Streptomyces bacteria, that is the basis of many antibiotic drugs. The Japanese researchers noted that migrastatin had a weak inhibitory effect on tumor cell migration.
“More than 90 percent of cancer patients die because their cancer has spread, so we desperately need a way to stop this metastasis,” Dr. Huang says. “This study offers a paradigm shift in thinking and, potentially, a new direction in treatment.”
“After a lot of modifications, we made several versions that were a thousand-fold more potent than the original,” Dr Huang says. In 2005, they published a study showing that several of the new versions, including macroketone, stopped cancer cell metastasis in laboratory animals, but they didn’t know how the agent worked.
In the current study, the researchers revealed the mechanism. They found that macroketone targets an actin cytoskeletal protein known as fascin that is critical to cell movement. In order for a cancer cell to leave a primary tumor, fascin bundles actin filaments together like a thick finger. The front edge of this finger creeps forward and pulls along the rear of the cell. Cells crawl away in the same way that an inchworm moves.
Macroketone latches on to individual fascin, preventing the actin fibers from adhering to each other and forming the pushing leading edge, Dr. Huang says. Because individual actin fibers are too soft when they are not bundled together, the cell cannot move.
to read more on this please go to : Wiell Cornell Medical