“The Big C” (cancer) is a scary subject. While nearly everyone knows someone who’s suffered from the disease, we’ve made great strides in terms of early detection and treatment. Still, there’s more to be done.

In 2005, Dr. Mona Jhaveri worked to develop and commercialize a DNA-based therapeutic compound that could have potentially been a treatment for ovarian cancer. Sadly, the project succumbed to what’s known in the biotechnology industry as the “valley of death”: where potential solutions go to die when they lose their funding. Although millions upon millions of dollars are spent on cancer research, a comparably paltry amount is spent on developing cancer solutions.

Motivated by the desire for the solutions to see the light of day, rather than being stuck in the funding bottleneck, Dr. Jhaveri created Sound Affects. The non-profit organization teams up with musicians (found through Reverb Nation) to crowd-fund various cancer solutions. The Sound Affects model empowers individuals to directly fund promising treatments. There’s nothing else like it. Artists are tasked with competing to raise money for the opportunity to perform at a high profile event. For a recent competition, four artists raised over at least $1000 each and two were able to perform during New York Fashion Week.

The current project Sound Affects is raising money for is MetaStat, a revolutionary breast cancer diagnostic that could potentially spare millions of women from undergoing unnecessary chemotherapy.

Music is said to have healing properties and by teaming up with Sound Affects, musicians are helping create the salves that may someday cure.