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Researchers and Staff
October 23, 2007
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.
In This Issue
Cancer Center Program Meetings
Funding News and Opportunities
Today's Cancer Center Seminar
Tuesday, October 23, 2007, 12-1 p.m., 450 CCRB
Comparisons of different modes of calorie restriction and cancer prevention
Margot Cleary, Ph.D., Professor, Hormel Institute, University of Minnesota
Host: Stephen Hecht, Ph.D.
Sponsored jointly with the Carcinogenesis and Chemoprevention Program
A peek at next week's seminar:
Tuesday, October 30, 2007. 12-1 p.m., 450 CCRB
Immune suppression, inflammation, and tumor progression
Suzanne Ostrand-Rosenberg, Ph.D., Professor of Biological Sciences, Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Professor of Biochemistry, University of Maryland Baltimore County
Host: Yoji Shimizu, Ph.D.
Visit the Cancer Center Seminar Series calendar for a complete schedule of lectures.
News
Members in the news
Cancer Center Director Douglas Yee, M.D., will be a guest on WCCO Radio's Mondale & Jones program, 9:20-10 a.m., Wednesday, Oct. 24, to talk about advances in research and treatment of breast cancer. Listeners can set their radio dial to 830 AM or listen live by visiting the Web site.
Kim Robien, Ph.D., Prevention and Etiology Program member, was interviewed on the importance of Vitamin D and the role of sunscreen in interfering with the body's vitamin D synthesis in the October 20 "Fixit" column in the Star Tribune.
Members in the journals
Translational Research Program member Ashok Saluja, Ph.D., has found that a natural compound called triptolide can break down the resistance of pancreatic cancer cells to therapy and cause the cells to die. The compound may be a potential breakthrough agent for stopping the growth and spread of pancreatic cancer in patients. This is the first laboratory study to examine the ability of triptolide, which has been used as a natural medicine in China for hundreds of years, to induce pancreatic cancer cell death. The findings are published in the October issue of Cancer Research. Read more.
U of M researchers find women with breast cancer having surgery that might be unnecessary
University of Minnesota Cancer Center researchers have found that the use of contralateral prophylactic mastectomy (CPM)—surgery to remove both breasts when cancer has been diagnosed in one breast—more than doubled in the United States between 1998 and 2003. The researchers say more understanding is needed about why some women choose CPM surgery, especially since most of them may not need it. The risk of cancer spreading to other parts of the body is greater than the risk of it spreading to the other breast. This is the first study to determine the use of CPM surgery, often also called double mastectomy, on a national level. Todd Tuttle, M.D., member of the Breast Cancer and Translational Research Programs, led the research team on this study. University of Minnesota colleagues working with Tuttle included Elizabeth Habermann, M.P.H., Erin Grund, Todd Morris, M.D., Ph.D., and Prevention and Etiology Program member Beth Virnig, Ph.D., M.P.H. Their findings were published online October 22, 2007, in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The news release is published on the Cancer Center Web site.
Kudos
Congratulations to Sundaram Ramakrishnan, Ph.D., member of the Cancer Progression and Metastasis Program, on his appointment for the next three years to the Department of Defense's Integration Panel of the Ovarian Cancer Research Program. This panel is part of the Defense Department's Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program and will set the vision and priorities for ovarian cancer research supported the department.
New online legal resource for Minnesota cancer patients launched
Cancer Legal Line, www.CancerLegalLine.org, is a new, free resource that provides cancer-related legal information, resources, and attorney referrals for cancer patients. Topics on the Web site include employment law, insurance issues, government benefits, and estate planning. Cancer Legal Line is the Lance Armstrong Foundation's first Community Program partner in the state of Minnesota, and it has received letters of support from organizations including Minnesota Department of Health, Hospice Minnesota, Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, William Mitchell College of Law, and Volunteer Lawyers Network. The organization plans to provide telephone call-in services and offer presentations to groups in the future.
Yee presentation from Women's Health Research Conference available online
Cancer Center Director Douglas Yee's presentation, "Targeting the estrogen receptor in post-menopausal women with breast cancer: Strategies, benefits, and risks," is now available online (view presentation slides with audio). Yee delivered the presentation at the September 17, 2007, Women’s Health Research Conference sponsored by the University’s Deborah E. Powell Center for Women’s Health. To see additional presentations from the conference, visit the Powell Center Web site.
New Member
Veronika Bachanova, M.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Hematology/Oncology and Transplantation
Program area(s) of interest: Immunology, Transplant Biology and Therapy, and Translational Research Programs
Clinical focus: Hematologic malignancies, experimental therapy, cell therapy, CLL
Research interest: Translation of immune-based therapies for hematological malignancies into clinic
Education and Events
Reduce the Harm from Tobacco: A Strategic Vision and Blueprint for Action
National Conference on Tobacco or Health
Tuesday, October 23, 2007, 3-5 p.m., Hilton Hotel Grand Ballroom G, Minneapolis
This meeting will discuss recommendations from a strategic dialogue held with key tobacco control researchers and policy makers to develop a strategic vision and blueprint for research, policy, and communications to reduce the harm from tobacco. Short- and long-term objectives will be presented.
Presentations include:
"Background and Overview of the Strategic Dialogue on Tobacco Harm Reduction," Mitch Zeller, J.D., Pinney Associates and Harvard University
"Tobacco Harm Reduction: Existing Sciences Base and Future Research Priorities," Dorothy Hatsukami, Ph.D., Forster Family Professor in Cancer Prevention, University of Minnesota
"Global Perspective: WHO Study Group on Tobacco Regulation," Jack Henningfield, Ph.D., Pinney Associates and Johns Hopkins University
Cancer Biology Journal Club
Wednesday, October 24, 2007, 12-1 p.m. 2-120 MoosT
Brandon Moriarty, will discuss "Tumour invasion and metastasis initiated by microRNA-10b in breast cancer" Nature 2007;449:682-689.
The Cancer Biology Journal Club is held every Wednesday. For more information contact Sonja Johnson (john4368@umn.edu) or Rachel Bergerson (sapl0005@umn.edu).
Clinical Research Conference
Monday, October 29, 2007, 8-9 a.m., 1-450G Moos Tower
Assessing effectiveness of screening for colorectal cancer
Aasma Shaukat, M.D., M.P.H., Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota Supercomputing Institute Luncheon
Tuesday, October 30, 2007, 12-1 p.m., 404 Walter Library
The University of Minnesota Supercomputing Institute (MSI) provides high-performance computing resources on a peer-reviewed basis, as well as software and user support at no charge to University of Minnesota faculty and their research groups. Currently, over 350 research groups from all colleges at the University use MSI resources.
Learn about the resources and services MSI offers. The MSI can assist faculty with research projects and grant proposals. New faculty and faculty who are not currently utilizing MSI's resources are especially encouraged to attend.
Register at the MSI Web site.
The Children's Cancer Research Fund's 27th Dawn of a Dream®: 'Be Amazing'
Saturday, November 3, 2007, Milwaukee Road Depot, Minneapolis
The 27th annual Dawn of a Dream Gala, presented by the Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Foundation, will be headlined by three-time Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter and guitarist Keb' Mo'. Keb' Mo's music is a living link to the seminal Delta blues, which has evolved into a universally celebrated art form. The evening will also feature dinner, dancing, live and silent auction. Tickets are available for purchase on the Children's Cancer Research Fund Web site ($250/$200 tax deductible).
Cancer Center Program Meetings
Genetic Mechanisms of Cancer Program Meeting
Thursday, October 25, 2007, 4-5 p.m., 3-110 Moos Tower
Cellular control of Rb/E2F induced proliferation and apoptosis in cancer
Timothy Hallstrom, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics
For a complete schedule, visit the Web site.
Cancer Biology Research Club
Friday, October 26, 2007, 3:30-4:30 p.m., 450 CCRB
S100A1 and Nectin 4: Early detection and functional impacts in ovarian carcinoma
Lissa DeRycke, Skubitz lab
For a complete schedule, visit the Web site.
BMT Conference
Monday, October 29, 2007, 1:15-2:15 p.m., Room 450 CCRB
Post-HSCT lung injury: Spectrum of a disease or diseases of a spectrum?
Angela Panoskaltsis-Mortari, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Pediatric BMT
Department of Pediatrics
For a complete schedule, visit the Web site.
Funding News and Opportunities
NIH Announcements:
Continued Development and Maintenance of Software (R01)
(PAR-08-010)
National Cancer Institute
Application Receipt Date(s): January 17, 2008; May 21, 2008; September 22, 2008; January 22, 2009; May 22, 2009; September 22, 2009; January 22, 2010; May 21, 2010; September 22, 2010
Biomedical research laboratories increasingly undertake a software development project to solve a problem of interest specifically related to that laboratory. These software packages sometimes become useful to a much broader community of users that can include translational and clinical researchers. The goal of this program announcement is to support the continued development, maintenance, testing and evaluation of existing software. The proposed work should apply best practices and proven methods for software design, construction, and implementation to extend the applicability of existing biomedical informatics/computational biology software to a broader biomedical research community.
Other announcements:
Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH) program grant deadline extended to Monday, October 29, 2007 at 5 p.m.
The Deborah E. Powell Center for Women's Health invites eligible candidates interested in interdisciplinary research in women's health to apply for the BIRCWH. The BIRCWH program fosters the career development of junior faculty members who are engaging in basic, clinical, translational, behavioral, or health services research in any area relevant to women's health with an emphasis on sex and gender factors. The BIRCWH, an internal K-12 program, accomplishes this goal by providing protected time for junior faculty so they can obtain advanced research training while developing an independent research program. The BIRCWH mentors are established investigators who have a commitment to fostering interdisciplinary approaches to research in women's health and sex and gender factors. This program develops a cadre of independently funded scientists who can further advance and perpetuate an interdisciplinary team approach to science and gender specific health care.
More information, including application and eligibility, can be found at http://www.wmhealth.umn.edu/wmhlth/bircwh.html. Questions can be directed to Nancy Raymond, MD, or Diane O'Connor, RN, MPA at 612-626-1125 or wmhealth@umn.edu.
Visit the Funding News & Opportunities Web page to see listings previously published in Update.