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Researchers and Staff
March 3 , 2009
Update is sent to Masonic Cancer Center members and staff every Tuesday morning. Please submit items to Sandi Sherman, sherm019@umn.edu, by noon the previous Friday.
In This Issue
Funding News and Opportunities
Today's Seminar
Tuesday, March 3, 2009, 12-1 p.m., 450 MCRB
The new kid on the block: 'Metabolomics' in cancer. Why do we need another omics?
Robert H. Weiss, M.D., Professor of Medicine and Cancer Center, Division of Nephrology Genome and Biomedical Sciences Facility, University of California, Davis
Host: Jaime Modiano, V.M.D., Ph.D.
A peek at the next seminar:
Tuesday, March 10, 2009, 12-1 p.m., 450 MCRB
Folic acid supplementation and colorectal cancer risk: A tale of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Young-In J. Kim, M.D., F.R.C.P., Associate Professor, Department of Nutritional Sciences, Department of Medicine, Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Toronto
Host: Kim Robien, Ph.D.
For a complete schedule and to watch recorded seminars, visit the Web site.
News
Cancer and the Human Body a busy exhibit at the Science Museum of Minnesota
More than 300 people visited the Masonic Cancer Center's ninth annual Cancer and the Human Body event Saturday, February 28, 2009 at the Science Museum of Minnesota in St. Paul. The event is organized every year by the Masonic Cancer Center's outreach department, including Sandra Rivera, events coordinator, and Marva Bohen, director. Thanks to the volunteers who staffed the following exhibit tables at the event: Rita Bouley and Jeanne Saldana Reiter (Clinical Trials: The Road to Cancer Research); Rebecca Johnson, Qiuying Shi, and Charanjeet Singh (Cancer in the Body, The Normal Cell versus the Cancer Cell); Chris Pennell (The Basics of Cancer Biology); Mary Sumpmann and Darla Lessmeister (Minimally Invasive Surgery); Sue Carver, Jessica Studer, Lydia Eleftheriou, Samantha Pullen, Holly Engasser, Jackie Bailey, and Sarah Schram (Skin Cancer); and Gina Kennedy (General Exhibit Information). For more information about the exhibit and to see photos from the event, visit the Web site.
Retreat offers members opportunities for collaborations
Over 75 people participated in a scientific retreat of the Masonic Cancer Center's Tumor Biology and Progression and Genetic Mechanisms of Cancer research programs February 23-24, 2009 at the Radisson University Hotel on the University of Minnesota campus. The goal of the retreat was for program members to learn more about the capabilities and resources that the cancer center offers its members and to identify possible new collaborations with members of either program. Read more.
Health Survey Research Center featured in Shared Resources Seminar
"Dr. Spector's Data Adventure: Collecting data with the Health Survey Research Center" was the subject of the March 2 Shared Resources Seminar. To watch a recording of the seminar, visit the Health Survey Research Center Web page.
Shared Resources Seminars are on the first Monday of the month from 10 to 11 a.m. in 450 MCRB. The next seminar will feature the Translational Therapy Shared Resource.
Service update from the Mouse Genetics Laboratory
Due to increased usage of commercially available ES Cell clones, the MGL has decided to offer a blastocyst injection for one clone. This will be half the cost of the current blastocyst injections, or $2,000. Please contact Sandra Wagner (hornx001@umn.edu) or David Largaespada, Ph.D., (larga002@umn.edu) for more information.
Kudos
Rudolph Keimowitz, M.D., has achieved certification in Hospice and Palliative Medicine. He reports that the University of Minnesota's Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship Program received accreditation in January of 2009 as one of 48 fellowship programs for palliative medicine in the United States. The program's academic sponsor is the Medical School Department of Family Medicine and Community Health.
Masonic Cancer Center welcomes new staff
Delshanee Kotandeniya, Ph.D., postdoctoral associate, has joined the laboratory of Natalia Tretykadova, Ph.D., Carcinogenesis and Chemoprevention program, and is involved in synthesis of structural analogs of 5-methylcytosine (MeC), which will be used in the lab’s studies of the effects of endogenous MeC on DNA adduct formation and repair.
Terri Martin is a new scientist in the Flow Cytometry Shared Resource. Martin comes to the cancer center with over 14 years in laboratory technical experience in addition to over two years working in a well-outfitted Flow Core Facility in Cambridge, England. She will be responsible for cell sorting technology in the facility as well as many other important daily core functions and can be reached at 612-625-3296, marti229@umn.edu.
Lipi Ramchandani, M.B.B.S., M.S., has joined the Clinical Trials Office as a protocol/medical writer. Ramchandani recently completed her master's degree in clinical research at the University of Minnesota. She has worked as a research assistant in the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery and the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine. She also has worked at Children's Hospital and Clinics-Minneapolis and the University's Department of Anesthesiology as a study coordinator for a multi-center pediatric trial. Ramchandani came to the United States in 2001 as a visiting scholar in the Department of Anesthesiology. Lipi completed a bachelor of medicine, bachelor of surgery (MBBS) degree and completed a residency in anesthesiology in Mumbai, India. Her office is in Mayo B531.
New members
Brian T. Fife, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Medicine/Rheumatic and Autoimmune Diseases
Program areas of focus: Immunology
Area of scientific interest: Mechanisms that control T cell biology, specifically Programmed Death-1 (PD-1), which has been shown to be critical for inhibiting T cell function during autoimmunity and cancer.
Alexandra T. Sobeck, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics
Program areas of focus: Genetic Mechanisms of Cancer, Carcinogenesis and Chemoprevention
Clinical focus: Hematologic malignancies, breast cancer
Area of scientific interest: Molecular mechanisms of chromosomal instability with a particular focus on investigation of the roles of the Fanconi Anemia (FA) pathway proteins in DNA repair and replication and the elucidation of functional interactions between FA proteins and other components of the genomic caretaker protein network.
Education and Events
Roche xCELLigence System: Dynamic real-time, label-free cellular analysis
Wednesday, March 4, 2009, 10-11 a.m., 450 MCRB
Cara Seemann, Roche Applied Science, will be presenting information about the xCELLigence System for dynamic real-time, label-free cellular analysis.
Refreshments will be available.
Cancer Biology Journal Club
Wednesday, March 4, 2009, 12-1 p.m., 114 LHI/KE
Jeannette Zinggeler Berg, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics graduate student in the laboratory of Sharon Murphy, Ph.D., will discuss "Genome-wide analysis in vivo of translation with nucleotide resolution using ribosome profiling," Ingolia NT et al. Science 2008, [Epub ahead of print].
The Cancer Biology Journal Club is held every Wednesday. For more information contact Sonja Johnson (john4368@umn.edu) or Rachel Bergerson (sapl0005@umn.edu).
More Upcoming Events
February 23-March 23: Mini Medical School Spring 2009: New Frontiers in Medicine
March 10: Public Engagement Symposium: Meeting the Standards of Scientific Inquiry in Community-Engaged Research
March 11: Masonic Cancer Center Recognition Program Awards
March 23-25: Targeted Anticancer Therapies Symposium
March 26: Living with Lymphoma: Healthy Nutrition for Lymphoma Patients During and After Chemotherapy
April 4: Survivorship Series: Living Well After Cancer
April 14-15: Visiting scholar Keela Herr to speak on pain management in older adults
April 26: Cancer U: Curbing Cancer's Growth in the Body: Advances in Research and Treatment
April 27: Neuropathic Cancer Pain Symposium
May 7: Cancer U: Women and Cancer: Advances in Research and Treatment
Program Meetings
Immunology Program Seminar
Wednesday, March 4, 2009, 1:30-2:30 p.m., 6-101 NHH
Translational NK cell research: challenges of going from 96-well plates into human clinical trials
Jeffrey Miller, M.D., Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology, Oncology and Transplantation
For a complete schedule, visit the Web site.
BMT Program Conference
Monday, March 2, 2009, 1:15-2:15 p.m., 450 MCRB
Platelet transfusions and results of the PLADO
Sherrill J. Slichter, M.D., Director, Platelet Transfusion Research, Puget Sound Blood Center; Professor of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine
For a complete schedule, visit the Web site.
Funding News and Opportunities
Jeffrey Rosenzweig Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research Annual Award
Funding: $50,000/yr for two years
Deadline: April 21, 2009
This award is aimed at proposals that seek to develop and/or test new techniques and technologies for the early detection of pancreatic cancer.
The grant application includes a five-page limit including abstract, introduction, Materials/Methods, Data, Discussion and translation to the clinical arena. Figures, tables, and references are not included in the five page limit. Please submit applications to: Jeffrey Rosenzweig Foundation, 50 Main Street, White Plains, NY 10606. Questions may be emailed to info@jrpancan.org.
Visit the Funding News & Opportunities Web page to see listings previously published in Update. Also, a list of organizations that provide funding for cancer research is provided on our Research Funding Resources page.