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

Message from the Director

News

Education and Events

Cancer Center Program Meetings

Funding News and Opportunities

Employement Opportunities

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Message from the Director

Recently, I attended a conference where I sat between a basic scientist and a clinician. During one of the talks, the clinician leaned over and asked me, "What's the difference between a knock-out and a knock-down?" A little while later, during another talk, the basic scientist leaned over and asked, "What's the difference between neoadjuvant and adjuvant therapy?"

I think this exchange epitomizes state-of-the-art cancer and represents the direction that I think our Cancer Center needs to move. First, a basic scientist and a clinician were at the same conference (it was a breast cancer conference). Second, both parties were interested in learning the other's language and understanding the intersection between the disciplines.

At our Cancer Center, we have population and laboratory investigators committed to developing a better understanding of cancer etiology and biology. At the same time, we have dedicated clinicians on the front line of cancer therapy seeing patients every day, and unhappy with some of their patients' outcomes.

Our Cancer Center's motto "Advancing Knowledge, Enhancing Care" represents this scope of research and clinical activity. To me, the critical part of this motto is the comma. According to Dictionary.com, a comma indicates a division in a clause "when such a division is accompanied by a slight pause." We need to erase the comma and eliminate the pause! As we move toward re-competing our Cancer Center Support Grant and planning for the future, we need to address the best ways to avoid the "pause." In future issues of Cancer Center Update, I'll address how we plan to do this.

--Doug Yee, M.D.

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News

Members in the news

Michael Garwood, Ph.D., member of the Breast Cancer Research Program, was interviewed about his research team's efforts to make MRI for cancer screening more widely available in the article "Thinking outside the box on MRI" on the Web site, MedicalPhysicsWeb.

Cancer Center's Tissue Procurement Facility featured in Accelerate
The Tissue Procurement Facility, one of the shared resources at the University of Minnesota Cancer Center, is featured in the August issue of Accelerate, the newsletter of the Academic Health Center's Office of Clinical Research. Read more.

New members

Nikolas R. Buescher, M.H.S.
Director of Oncology, Fairview Southdale Hospital
Program area of interest: Prevention and Etiology
Area of clinical interest: Breast cancer, gynecologic cancer, thoracic cancer

Paul E. Champoux, B.S.
Coordinator, Flow Cytometry Facility, Cancer Center and Center for Immunology
Area of scientific expertise: Flow cytometry facility management

Li Ge, M.D.
Fairview Southdale Medical Oncology
Area of clinical interest: Breast cancer, lung cancer, colorectal cancer

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Education and Events

7th National Changing Patterns of Cancer in Native Communities: The Power of Partnerships
September 5-8, 2007, Hyatt Regency, Minneapolis
The conference will evaluate progress in early diagnosis, treatment, and survival of American Indians and Alaska Natives with cancer as well as cancer prevention strategies. Cancer Center members presenting at the conference include David Perdue, M.D., on colorectal cancer, and Jean Forster, Ph.D, M.P.H., on patterns of tobacco use in American Indians in Minnesota. Marva Bohen, R.N., Cancer Center director of outreach, and Sandra Rivera, special events coordinator, will attend the conference to display an exhibit that will include a poster on smoking cessation among American Indians in Minnesota prepared by Cancer Center member Steven Fu, M.D. Pre-registration for the conference closes August 24. For more information, visit the conference Web site.

Fourth Annual AdMeTech Foundation Conference: Ending the Era of Blind Cancer Care and Creating the Future of Image-guided, Minimally-Invasive Diagnosis and Treatment
September 16-18, 2007, L'Enfant Plaza Hotel, Washington , D.C.
The NCI is co-sponsoring this conference, which is a multi-disciplinary forum focusing on state-of the art imaging in oncologic research, using prostate cancer as a model. For additional information on the conference program and registration, visit the Web site.

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Cancer Center Program Meetings

BMT Conference

The BMT conference will resume September 10, 2007. Watch for announcements in Cancer Center Update.

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Funding News and Opportunities

Morris Animal Foundation Request for Research Proposals (RFP) in Canine Cancer Prevention
Application Receipt Date: January 1, 2008
Funding: $500,000-$1,000,000/five years

The proposed studies should be multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional in nature and utilize the collective expertise of basic scientists, epidemiologists, and clinicians. The principal investigator should be an established researcher with a proven track record of productivity in laboratory or population-based veterinary cancer research, or other relevant research that positions a team to develop novel approaches for cancer prevention. Research proposals should be hypothesis-driven or exploratory in nature with convincing promise for identifying new genetic and environmental risk factors or utilizing recently identified risk factors to contribute to a better understanding of biological mechanisms for cancer development, progression, or treatment. Identification of novel methods for the early detection of cancer is encouraged. Application guidelines and more information is available at the Morris Foundation Web site.

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

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Employment Opportunities

Assistant Scientist (professional non-faculty, requisition number 149987) working in the lab of Lisa Peterson.

Junior Scientist (three positions, professional non-faculty, requisition
numbers 149979, 149983, 149992) working in the lab of Lisa Peterson.

Junior Scientist (professional non-faculty, requisition number 150085)
working in the lab of Xianzheng Zhou.

Junior Scientist (professional non-faculty, requisition number 150090)
working in the lab of Deepali Sachdev.

Regulatory Assistant (professional non-faculty, requisition number 150134)
working under the supervision of Meadow Schroeder.

Seeking On-Call Staff
The Tissue Procurement Facility (TPF) at the Cancer Center has immediate openings for on-call staff. This position is available to current civil service or bargaining unit employees. On-call staff will carry a pager during non-business hours, on a set, rotating schedule, from 5 p.m. to 5 a.m. Monday-Thursday and 5 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday. Pages typically involve responding to the TPF freezer alarm or contacting study staff when patient surgeries are scheduled outside of regular business hours. If paged, on-call staff may be required to resolve issues in person at the facility. This position requires the ability to move/change a 160L liquid nitrogen tank, come to the University within 1 hour of receiving a page and handle confidential information. Selected individuals will have excellent troubleshooting and problem-solving skills as well as excellent attention to detail. On-call staff will be paid $2/hour while carrying the pager. Interested individuals should send their resume to Sarah Bowell at bowel001@umn.edu.

For more information about these and additional opportunities visit the
Cancer Center's employment Web page.

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