Major Announcement by Kanzius Foundation

In a press conference held at 10 a.m. this morning, Kanzius Cancer Research Foundation Executive Director Mark Neidig opined that John Kanzius would be smiling down on the foundation's West Eighth Street office.

And as the rainclouds parted and the sun began to stream through the bright and airy lobby of the Erie Technology Incubator, one could almost feel John's smile when Neidig announced the "Million Dollar Challenge."

Last week, the Kanzius Foundation secured its first-ever $1 million donation from an out-of-town donor. The donor, who wishes to remain anonymous, will donate $2 for every dollar raised by the Kanzius Foundation.

The donation comes at a pivotal time for the foundation; Neidig also announced that the initial steps of large animal testing recently began at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston under the supervision of Dr. Stephen Curley. Pigs were injected with cancer cells in February; in June, magnetic resonance imaging will be utilized to determine if the animals have cancer. If they do, they'll begin undergoing the Kanzius treatment, which will mark the first time the technology is used in large animals.

The Kanzius Cancer Research Foundation is an Erie-based 501 (c) (3) non-profit that supports ongoing research into the late John Kanzius' radio wave-based cancer treatment. This groundbreaking alternative cancer treatment involves "marrying" a metallic nanoparticle to an antibody that has the ability to penetrate the tough outer membrane of cancer cells. Upon exposure to non-invasive radio waves, the metallic particles heat up, expand, and destroy the cancer cells from within. Results from initial laboratory testing are favorable and demonstrate that the treatment involves none of the dangerous side effects associated with traditional cancer treatments, like chemotherapy.