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

Education and Events

Cancer Center Program Meetings

Funding News and Opportunities

Employment Opportunities

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Today's Cancer Center Seminar

No seminar due to ASH annual meeting.

A peek at next week's seminar:
Tuesday, December 18, 2007, 12-1 p.m., 450 CCRB
Modeling pancreatic tumorigenesis in the mouse
Brian Lewis, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Program in Gene Function and Expression, Program in Molecular Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School

Host: Ashok Saluja, Ph.D.

Visit the Cancer Center Seminar Series calendar for a complete schedule of lectures.

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News

Members in the news
Kalpna Gupta, Ph.D., member of the Breast Cancer Research Program, was quoted last week in a news report on WCCO radio about her recently published study showing that morphine plus celecoxib may provide better cancer pain control. Read more about the study.

Cancer Center research featured at AACR conference
The abstracts of two Cancer Center researchers were selected to be featured in press releases issued by the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) during its Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research conference December 5-8 in Philadelphia. Research by Prevention and Etiology Program member Andrew Flood, Ph.D., described how women with diabetes are 1.5 times more likely to develop colorectal cancer, and research by Jeannette Zinggeler Berg described how African Americans may experience higher nicotine levels per cigarette. Zinggeler Berg is an M.D./Ph.D. student in the laboratory of Cancer Center member Sharon Murphy, Ph.D.

AACR announces new journal
The American Associate of Cancer Research has announced the launch of a new peer-review scientific journal, Cancer Prevention Research. The journal is the first in the world to be dedicated exclusively to cancer prevention, from preclinical research to clinical trials. The journal will begin publishing articles online in March 2008. Regular monthly issues will begin appearing in June 2008. For further information and to submit a manuscript, visit the AACR Web site.

Correction
The title of the poster that Ashish Kumar, M.D., Ph.D. is presenting at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) annual meeting was listed incorrectly in a previous issue of Update. The correct title is "MEIS1 is a promising new target for leukemia therapy." A list of presentations to be given by Cancer Center researchers at the ASH annual meeting December 8-12 in Atlanta is available on the Web site.

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Education and Events

Cancer Biology Journal Club
Wednesday, December 12, 2007, 12-1 p.m., 2-120 Moos Tower
Jon Larson, Largaespada lab, will discuss "MicroRNA-21 knockdown disrupts glioma growth in vivo and displays synergistic cytotoxicity with neural precursor cell-delivered S-TRAIL in human gliomas," Cancer Res 2007;67:8994-9000.

The Cancer Biology Journal Club is held every Wednesday. For more information contact Sonja Johnson (john4368@umn.edu) or Rachel Bergerson (sapl0005@umn.edu).

Special Seminar
Tuesday, December 18, 2007, 2-3 p.m., 450 CCRB
Molecular pathogenesis of a potential bioterrorism agent: Francisella tularensis
J. Calvin Kouokam, Ph.D., Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Louisville

Dr. Kouokam is a candidate for a postdoctoral position in the Department of Comparative Oncology.

Institute for Engineering in Medicine Symposium
Friday, February 15, 2008, 7:30 a.m.-3 p.m., McNamara Alumni Center, University of Minnesota
The symposium is sponsored by the Institute for Engineering in Medicine (IEM) and the Academic and Corporate Relations Center. It is the first in a series of symposia and will present an overview of IEM's constituent organizations and their research. The audience for the event will include University researchers and executives, as well as the business community working with medical devices. The attendance is expected to be over 400.

Space will be available for displays, posters, and booths at no charge. Those interested in having a poster, display or table can contact Elaine Nissen, 612-626-3422, enissen@umn.edu.

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Cancer Center Program Meetings

Carcinogenesis and Chemoprevention Program Meeting
Thursday, December 13, 2007, 4:15 p.m., 450 CCRB
Capsules or cabbage? Isothiocyanates, glucosinolates, and colon cancer risk in rats
Dan Gallaher, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Food Science and Nutrition

For a complete schedule, visit the Web site.

Cancer Biology Research Club
Friday, December 14, 2007, 3:30-4:30 p.m., 450 CCRB
Why T cells tolerate cancer
Tom McCaughtry, Hogquist lab

For a complete schedule, visit the Web site.

BMT Conference
Monday, December 17, 2007, 1:15-2:15 p.m., 450 CCRB
ASH BMT highlights.

For a complete schedule, visit the Web site.

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Funding News and Opportunities

Clinical Investigator Development Program
Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute
Deadline: January 15, 2008
The Center for Cancer Research (CCR) announces a new training opportunity for physicians interested in dedicating their careers to clinical oncology research. The Clinical Investigator Development Program will link eligible clinicians to a vibrant, multidisciplinary research community of more than 250 talented CCR intramural scientists conducting cutting-edge research on the campuses of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda and Frederick, Maryland. The CCR is nationally recognized as a premier training ground for clinical research, which is conducted in the state-of-the-art Clinical Research Center. The program goal is to assist board-eligible/board-certified translational researchers to transition from a mentored position to independent investigator in either laboratory-based or patient-oriented research so that they will be highly competitive for tenure-track appointments in academia or comparable positions in government and industry. Potential areas of interest include medical oncology, pediatric hematology-oncology, radiation oncology, surgical oncology, surgical pathology or related specialties.

Successful applicants will be awarded a 3-year appointment; competitive salary; dedicated laboratory space and budget; a full-time research support person; travel and training funds; access to an extensive infrastructure including research nursing, data-management support, animal facilities, core services and advanced technologies such as imaging/microscopy, protein chemistry and purification, mass spectrometry, flow cytometry, genomics and transgenics and knockout mice. An attractive federal government employee benefit package includes health, life and disability coverage, and a retirement savings program. Student loan repayment is possible through the NIH.

Research Grant Program
Brain Tumor Society
Deadline: January 16, 2008
Funding: up to $200,000 for 2 years
The Brain Tumor Society seeks letters of intent for scientific research on brain tumors directed at finding a cure. Any project with the potential to advance basic scientific and translational brain tumor research will be considered. Clinical projects will not be funded. Funds may be used for startup projects or supplementary funding.

Animal Model Development
Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation
Deadline: Senior Research Awards-February 1, 2008; Fellows’ Awards - March 1, 2008
Funding: up to $200,000/year for 2 years
Animal models are an important research tool for validating potential therapeutics for myeloma. However, today there are few available multiple myeloma mouse model systems for these critical studies. The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation's Animal Model Development Award supports the development of a disease-representative mouse model.

Exfoliated Cells, Bioactive Food Components, and Cancer
(PA-08-030)-R01
(PA-08-031)-R21
National Cancer Institute
Application Receipt Date(s): Multiple dates, see announcement.
Funding: For R01, varies with modular budget rules applied. For R21, $275,000 over 2 years, no more than $250,000 in one year.
The National Cancer Institute invites applications for new R01 grants focusing on research to critically evaluate the use of exfoliated cells to monitor the physiological effects of dietary bioactive food components thought to be involved with cancer prevention.

Molecular Approaches to Diet and Pancreatic Cancer Prevention (R01)
(PA-08-032)
National Cancer Institute
Application Receipt Date(s): Multiple dates, See announcement.
Funding: Varies with modular budget rules applied. (Generally $250,000/year for up to 5 years)
This Funding Opportunity Announcement encourages grant applications that propose innovative preclinical and clinical studies to determine how dietary energy intake and bioactive food components, including alcohol, influence pancreatic cancer development and prevention. 

Thyroid in Aging
(PA-08-037)—R01
(PA-08-038)—R21
(PA-08-039)—R03
National Cancer Institute
Application Receipt Date(s): Multiple dates, see announcement.
Funding: For R01, varies with modular budget rules applied. For R21, $275,000 over 2 years, no more than $250,000 in one year. For R03, up to $100,000 over 2 years in $25,000 modules, with no more than $50,000/year.
The purpose of this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is to encourage submission of investigator-initiated research applications on the thyroid in aging. This FOA is intended to promote basic, translational, and clinical studies leading to increased understanding of the physiology of the aging thyroid and improved diagnosis and management of thyroid disease in the elderly.

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

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Employment Opportunities

Undergrad Research Assistant
Student must be an undergraduate in a degree-granting program, with a major in biological sciences. Sophomore or junior status and previous laboratory experience preferred. Job duties include assisting with lab maintenance, maintaining inventory, making solutions, and library work. The worker also will perform laboratory analysis and experimentation; and assist with evaluation and recording of results. After initial instruction period, the worker needs to be able to function independently. This position is expected to start January 2, 2008 or as soon as possible.

Interested applicants should apply online to requisition number 152489 at https://employment.umn.edu. Submit CV and contact information for three references to the attention of Kelly LaPara.

For more information visit the Cancer Center Employment Web page.

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