Cancer Center Update is sent to Cancer Center members and staff every Tuesday at 10 a.m. Please submit items to Sandi Sherman, sherm019@umn.edu, by noon the previous Friday.

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In This Issue

Today's Cancer Center Seminar

News

New Members

Education and Events

Cancer Center Program Meetings

Funding News and Opportunities

Position Available

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Today's Cancer Center Seminar

Tuesday, May 1, 2007, 12-1 p.m., 450 CCRB
Regulation of estrogen responsive genes
Ann M. Nardulli, Ph.D., Professor, Molecular and Integrative Physiology, University of Illinois

Host: Carol Lange, Ph.D.

A peek at next week's seminar:
Tuesday, May 8, 2007, 12-1 p.m., 450 CCRB
Molecular heterogeneity and rational treatment targets in large B-cell lymphomas
Margaert A. Shipp, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Director, Lymphoma Program, Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Center

Host: Tucker LeBien, Ph.D.

For a complete schedule visit the Cancer Center Web site Seminar Series listing.

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News

Yee welcome reception speech available on Cancer Center Web site

Excerpts from Cancer Center Director Douglas Yee's speech at the April 12 reception welcoming him to his new position are now available on the Cancer Center's Web site. In his speech, Yee described his background and how he came to the Cancer Center, and what he sees as the role of the Cancer Center: "[T]he Cancer Center is a collection of people working together for a single goal and that is: No person's quantity or quality of life should be affected by cancer," he said. "[T]he most effective cancer treatment is not contained in any single discipline, or within the knowledge of any single person, or a single set of ideas. It encompasses all of the researchers represented by a cancer center all the way from population scientists to basic scientists to laboratory translational investigators to clinicians.

"Things have changed dramatically over the past 15 years with basic cancer research and clinical care now being right on top of each other," he said. "Now the things that we learn in the laboratory are immediately translated into better outcomes for our patients. This is exactly where we, as a Cancer Center, want to be and where we need to proceed.

Members in the news
Rudolph Keimowitz, M.D., clinical associate professor of hematology at the University of Minnesota and physician with Fairview's Transitions and Life Choices Palliative Care Program, was quoted in an article "Helping patients with cancer deal with all aspects of their illness," in the April 2007 issue of Hem/Onc Today.

Kudos

Cancer Center member David Ingbar, M.D., will begin his term as president of the American Thoracic Society at the 2007 ATS International Conference May 18-23 in San Francisco.

Peter Bitterman, M.D., member of the Cancer Progression and Metastasis Program, will receive the American Thoracic Society Recognition Award for Scientific Accomplishment at the ATS conference.

More Cancer Center members present research at AACR meeting

Last week, Cancer Center Update reported on the Cancer Center members who presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Cancer Research. We have since heard from more researchers who presented there. They include:

• Andrew Flood, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology, presented "Dietary patterns and incident colorectal cancer among middle aged Americans: The NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study," in the High Impact Late Breaker Session at the annual meeting of the American Association of Cancer Research.
• Bin Yin, Ph.D., from the laboratory of David Largaespada, Ph.D., presented a poster in the Late Breaking Poster Session titled "Genetic dissection of chemoresistance mechanisms and development of reverse strategy in leukemia using cell culture and mouse transplantation models."

For a full listing of Cancer Center presenters visit our Web site.

University of Minnesota launches new process for employment verification
The University of Minnesota offers an automated employment verification service that allows employees to have employment and salary verified within a matter of minutes! This fast, secure service is used for mortgage applications, reference checks, loan applications, apartment lease applications, or any reason you may have to verify your University of Minnesota employment information. More information, including instructions for use, is available on the Employee Self-Service Web site.

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New Members

Debra Bernat, Ph.D.
Research Associate, Department of Epidemiology/Division of Pediatrics and Adolescent Health
Program area of interest: Prevention and Etiology
Area of scientific interest: Evaluation of public health strategies for preventing and reducing adolescent tobacco use; understanding the development of tobacco use during adolescence

Navneet S. Majhail, M.D.
Assistant Professor, Division of Hematology, Oncology and Transplantation
Program area of interest: Transplant Biology and Therapy
Clinical focus: Hematologic malignancies
Area of scientific interest: Hematopoietic cell transplantation; long term disease-specific outcomes of hematopoietic cell transplantation; survivorship research and late effects of transplantation

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Education and Events

Recruitment seminar
Wednesday, May 2, 2007, 12-1 p.m., 450 CCRB
Multiple genetic factors contribute to the differential genetic susceptibility of the resistant Copenhagen and sensitive Fischer 344 rat strains to mammary carcinogenesis
Xuefeng Ren, M.D, M.P.H, graduate student, Toxicology Program, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Washington, Division of Human Biology, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

Host: David Potter, M.D.

Dr. Ren is a postdoctoral fellow candidate in the Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology/Transplantation.

Cancer Biology Journal Club

Wednesday, May 2, 2007, 12-1 p.m., 5-122 MCB
Jeannette Zinggeler Berg will present the paper "Sonic hedgehog acts at multiple stages during pancreatic tumorigenesis," PNAS 2007;104:5103­5108.

The Cancer Biology Journal Club is held every Wednesday. A complete schedule is available at the MICaB Web site. For more information contact: Sonja Johnson (john4368@umn.edu) or Rachel Bergerson (sapl0005@umn.edu).

TTURC course
Friday, May 4, 2007, 1:15 p.m.-2:15 p.m., 450 CCRB
Antidepressants, smoking and response to mental stress
Michael Kotlyar, Pharm.D., Associate Professor, College of Pharmacy, University of Minnesota

For a complete schedule visit the Web site.

Proteomics seminar
Friday, May 4, 2007, 1:30 p.m., 2-122 MCB

Melanoma Monday is May 7

This free annual skin cancer screening will be 8 a.m.-3:30 p.m. in the Dermatologic Surgery and Laser Center on the 4th floor of Phillips-Wangensteen. Melanoma is the most serious form of skin cancer. No appointment is needed. Please call 612-624-9964 with questions.

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Cancer Center Program Meetings

Immunology Program seminar
Wednesday, May 2, 2007, 1:30-2:30 p.m., 6-101 NHH
Bcl-2 family protein Noxa—more than just a BH3 domain
Ameeta Kelekar, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Laboratory Medicine & Pathology

This is the last Immunology Program seminar for the 2006-2007 academic year. Program seminars will resume in the fall. For a complete schedule visit the Web site later this summer.

Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center lecture
Friday, May 4, 2007, 12-1 p.m., 450 CCRB
Effects of menthol on smoking cessation
Kola Okuyemi, M.D., M.P.H., Director, Program in Health Disparities Research, Center for Clinical Research, Professor, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, University of Minnesota

For a complete schedule visit the Web site.

BMT Conference

Monday, May 7, 2007, 1:15-2:15 p.m., 450 CCRB
Mechanisms underlying dendritic Ccell-induced CD4 Treg generation
Wei Chen, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Pediatric Hematology/ Oncology and Blood and Marrow Transplantation, University of Minnesota

For a complete schedule visit the Web site.

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Funding News and Opportunities

Exploratory Cancer Prevention Studies Involving Molecular Targets for Bioactive Food Components (R21)
PA-07-362
National Cancer Institute, National Institute on Aging, Office of Dietary Supplements
Application Receipt/Submission Date(s): Multiple dates, see announcement.
The goal of this opportunity is to foster exploratory/developmental nutrition and cancer prevention research. Specifically, this initiative seeks to promote cancer prevention research to identify and characterize molecular targets for bioactive food components. A bioactive food component is defined as a dietary constituent that has a health benefit by altering one or more cellular processes when provided in quantities over and beyond that needed for basic nutrition.

Visit the Funding News & Opportunities Web page to see listings previously published in Update.

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Position Available

The University of Minnesota Cancer Center seeks candidates for the position of information technology manager. The Cancer Center IT infrastructure supports clinical, basic and population cancer-related research and administrative functions. Key areas of responsibility for this manager will be to provide reliable and effective technology for the efficient, safe and accurate conduct of clinical research and the associated infrastructure that supports all components of cancer research and administration. The full position description is posted at the Human Resources Web site (requisition number 147740).

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