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Researchers and Staff
Cancer Center Update
December 20, 2005
Cancer Center Update is sent to Cancer Center members and staff every Tuesday at 10 a.m. To submit an item for publication, send the information to Sandi Sherman by noon the Friday before publication.
In This Issue:
Professional Education and Seminars
Grant Information & Announcements
Regulation of breast cell differentiation and gene expression by mechanical signaling from collagen matrices
Patricia J. Keely, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Host: Yoji Shimizu, Ph.D.
A peek at next week’s seminar:
There is no seminar on December 27 or January 3. The next seminar is scheduled for January 10, 2006.
For a complete schedule visit: http://www.cancer.umn.edu/page/aboutus/date.html
KUDOS
Congratulations to Cancer Center member Xianzheng Zhou, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, BMT, for being selected as a recipient of the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy 2005 Young Investigator Award of $500,000 over three years.
NEW COURSE OFFERING: STATISTICS FOR TRANSLATIONAL AND CLINICAL RESEARCH
A new course is being offered this Spring which would be useful for young/new investigators and graduate students in Clinical Research. Starting January 17, "PubH 7400: Statistics for Translational and Clinical Research"; will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays in A-270 Mayo from 11:15 a.m.-12:30 p.m. The course will cover bio-statistical methods in 4 areas: Diagnostic Medicine (Mammograms, PSA and ROC curve), Early-phase Clinical Trials (Dose escalation, toxicity monitoring, two-phase Simon's design), Quality of Life data (FLIC/FACT, psychometric evaluation, quality-adjusted survival), and Bioassays (direct and indirect assays, ELISA).
The assigned room has limited capacity (22 seats, 10 students already formally enrolled), so if you want to sit in, please contact Dr. Chap Le at chap@biostat.umn.edu or (612) 624-9963.
CANCER CENTER RESEARCHERS PRESENT AT ANNUAL ASH MEETING
The Masonic Cancer Center was well represented at the recent annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) in Atlanta. In addition to oral and poster presentations that were given by Cancer Center researchers, John Wagner, M.D., director of the Division of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology and Blood and Marrow Transplantation and member of the Transplant Biology and Therapy Program, spoke on “Practical and Ethical Issues with Genetic Screening” in the Clinical and Ethical Controversies in Hematology education panel. Dan Kaufman, M.D., Ph.D., Immunology Program member, was selected by ASH to participate in a press conference of researchers reporting on the latest advances in stem cell research. Here is a partial list of the presentations:
(If you or someone from your laboratory gave an oral or poster presentation at ASH that is not listed here, please email Sandi Sherman ( sherm019@umn.edu ) and we will include in a future edition of Update.)
Oral Presentations
Suleimman A. Alsweedan, M.D., Pediatric H/O/BMT Fellow, “Prognostic Factors in Patients with Fanconi Anemia (FA) after Alternative Donor (AD) Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation (HCT) ”
Claudio Brunstein, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Medicine HOT, “Non-Myeloablative (NMA) Umbilical Cord Blood Transplantation (UCBT): Promising Disease-Free Survival on 95 Consecutive Patients"
Catherine M. Flynn, M.D., Medical Fellow- Medicine HOT, Verfaillie Lab, “SNX5, a Novel Gene Linked to Fanconi Anemia Causes Hematopoietic Failure When Knocked down in Zebrafish”
Christopher Fraser, M.D., Pediatric BMT Fellow, “Impact of Chronic Graft Versus Host Disease (cGVHD) on the Health Status of Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation (HCT) Survivors: A Report from the Bone Marrow Transplant Survivor Study Lymphoma: Long Term Follow-Up at a Single Institution”
Becky Haack, Assistant Scientist, Miller lab, “C-MYC induces KIR expression via a novel control region upstream of the conventional adult KIR promoter”
Sonja Johnson, graduate student in Microbiology, Immunology and Cancer Biology Graduate Program and Research Assistant, LeBien Lab, “Re-evaluating the role of IL-7 in human B lymphopoiesis”
Dan Kaufman, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine and Stem Cell Institute, “Human Embryonic Stem Cells Differentiate into Functional Natural Killer Cells with the Capacity To Mediate Anti-Tumor Activity”
Ashish Kumar, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Pediatrics, Division of Hematology- Oncology, Blood and Marrow Transplantation, “The Myeloid Leukemia Associated Fusion Gene MLL-AF9 Deregulates HOX Gene Expression and Causes Growth Deregulation in Granulocyte-Macrophage Progenitors”
Michael Verneris, M.D., Assistant Professor, Pediatrics, Division of Hematology-Oncology and Blood and Marrow Transplantation, “Risk of Relapse (REL) after Umbilical Cord Blood Transplantation (UCBT) in Patients with Acute Leukemia: Marked Reduction in Recipients of Two Units”
Poster Presentations
Claudio Brunstein, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Medicine HOT, “Red Blood Cell (RBC) and Platelet (PLT) Transfusion after Allogeneic Transplant for Leukemia: Similar Utilization after Sibling (SIB) Peripheral Blood Stem Cell (PBSC) and Umbilical Cord Blood (IBC) Graft”
Claudio Brunstein, M.D., Ph.D., “Negative Impact of KIR-Ligand Mismatch on Transplant-Related Mortality (TRM) in Umbilical Cord Blood Transplant (UCBT) Recipients”
Sarah Cooley, M.D., Medical Fellow, Medicine-HOT, Miller Lab, “NK Cell KIR Reconstitution after Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplant (HCT) Is Affected by T Cell Number and Function”
Purvi Gada, M.B.B.S.,Medicine HOT Fellow, “Prolonged Remissions with Autologous and Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation for Burkitt's Lymphoma: Long Term Follow-Up at a Single Institution”
Priya Kumar, M.D., Medicine HOT Fellow, “Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation in the Treatment of Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia in 126 Adults: Impact of Donor Source on Leukemia Free Survival”
Jonathan L. Linehan, Assistant Scientist, Kaufman Lab, “Improved Analysis of Hematopoietic Engraftment by Non-Invasive In Vivo Bioluminescent Imaging of Transplanted Human Embryonic Stem Cell-Derived Hematopoietic Cells”
Petra Obrtlikova, M.D., Visiting Fellow, Kaufman Lab, “Transition of Human Embryonic Stem Cell-Derived Endothelial Cells to Smooth Muscle Cells in Culture as a Model for Vascular Development”
Michelle Roesler, Coordinator in the Ross lab, “Maternal and Birth Characteristics and Risk of Leukemia in Children with Down Syndrome”
Hongbo Wang, Ph.D., Verneris Lab, “The Unexpected and Differential Effect of Cyclosporin A on CD56 Bright and CD56 Dim NK Cell Expansion, Phenotype, Function and Development from Progenitor Cells”
CANCER CENTER MEMBERS ELECTED TO SOCIETY FOR PEDIATRIC RESEARCH
Congratulations to Michael Verneris, M.D., Jakub Tolar, M.D., Ph.D., Brenda Weigel, M.D., Scott Selleck, M.D., Ph.D., Margaret MacMillan, M.D., and Carlos Milla, M.D., faculty in the Department of Pediatrics, on their election to the Society for Pediatric Research: The Society for Pediatric Research works to advance the study of children and their diseases through education and research.
NEW MEMBERS
Alvin J. Beitz, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences
Program: Cancer Progression and Metastasis
Area of scientific interest: Mechanisms of cancer pain and the mechanisms underlying tumor metastasis using mouse models.
David P. Fan, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Development
Program: Prevention and Etiology
Area of scientific interest: The impact of persuasive information from the mass media and elsewhere on cancer-related public knowledge, attitudes and behaviors using computer content analysis of text and mathematical time trend modeling.
Melissa A. Geller, M.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Gynecologic Oncology
Program: Translational Research
Clinical focus: Ovarian cancer and uterine sarcomas
Area of scientific interest: The role of MCP-1 in ovarian cancer and uterine sarcomas.
Yoichi Watanbe, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Therapeutic Radiology
Program: Translational Research
Clinical focus: Neuro-Oncology
Area of scientific interest: Physics and technical aspects of radiation therapy, in particular, sterotactic procedures
K12 CLINICAL SCHOLAR AWARDS
General Clinical Research Center , University of Minnesota
Application Deadline: January 27, 2006.
Initiated by the NIH as part of the Roadmap process, the Minnesota K12 awards are designed to support training and career development in clinical research. They also emphasize a team approach in mentoring and multidisciplinary training. All schools in the Academic Health Center are eligible to apply for these awards. In addition, affiliated institutions: HCMC and VAMC, are eligible. It is intended that faculty will initiate and strongly support the nomination of either junior faculty or senior clinical fellows. For further information and application materials see
DAMON RUNYON-LILLY CLINICAL INVESTIGATOR AWARD
Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation
AMENDMENT TO PREVIOUS ANNOUNCEMENT
Internal Deadline: January 3
The recent announcement for the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation was incorrectly identified as a scholar award. The award is actually for clinical investigators. Please note that the eligibility requirements, funding, and application deadline are different for the Clinical Investigator Award. Please note that this is a “limited number of applicants allowed” award, and must be submitted via the University's internal process.
For further information, please see:
http://www.drcrf.org/apClinical.html
AND
http://www.research.umn.edu/opportunities/limited_applications/
The Grant Opportunities web page is currently under construction. To view a list of cancer research funding resources and links to their web sites visit http://www.cancer.umn.edu/page/aboutus/grantopp.html .
GENETIC MECHANISMS OF CANCER PROGRAM MEETING
Thursday, December 22, 2005, 4:00 – 5:00 p.m., 3-110 Moos Tower
Regulators of chromosome stability in budding yeast
Anja Bielinksy, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Development
For a complete schedule visit http://www.cancer.umn.edu/page/aboutus/gensem.html
Due to the holidays, regular meetings of the Cancer Biology Research Club and the BMT Program are suspended.