By John Ostapkovich

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Four Philadelphia biomedical groups are sharing about $3.5 million in state grants to exploit breakthroughs against cancer.

These grants, ranging from about three-quarters of a million dollars to one-million dollars come from the state’s share of the 2001 tobacco settlement, and go to researchers with life-saving and close-to-marketable ideas.  Two, from Thomas Jefferson University and the Wistar Institute involve isolating molecular or genetic markers for early diagnosis or treatment.  Jefferson’s Dr. Scott Waldman touts the marker GCC…

“For this problem,” Waldman says. “The challenge has been to develop a technology that identifies early-stage colorectal cancer patients at a time before they develop recurrent disease.”

The other grants went to the Institute for Hepatitis and Virus Research for development of a liver cancer fighting molecule and U.E. Life Sciences for a no-touch breast cancer scanner.