Personalized Medicine

A discussion about personalized medicine with State Science Advisor Greg Jones; Michael Paul of Utah-based Lineagen Partners; Dr. Charles Keller, principal investigator, Children's Cancer Research Institute in San Antonio; and Elliot Parks of Hamilton BioVentures. Click here to listen.

Radio Interview, National Public Radio (NPR - KCPW, Salt Lake City). "Personalized Medicine". Panel discussion with Lara Jones as moderator.

Omar Rivera (Postdoctoral Fellow, 08/15/2006 - present)

Omar is a recipient of a 2006 AACR minority Scholor Award in Cancer Research (Meeting Travel Award).

3-D Cancer Study

This 3-D Cancer Study was featured on the news. Click here to watch.

Wendy Rigby. "3-D Cancer Study", KENS Channel 5 News (CBS Affiliate, San Antonio plus CBS National Newsfeed), May 10, 2006. [interview, video]

U. experts help find birth defects' causes

This was an article featured in Deseret Morning News. ...Using a method they call "microCT-based virtual histology," researchers can get a detailed — down to about one-tenth of a human hair width — look at a mouse embryo, inside and out. The U. team turned them into 3D images, eliminating the long process of killing the embryo, embedding it in wax and then thin-slicing, staining the slides and studying it with a microscope. Click here to read more.

Lois M. Collin. "U. experts help find birth defects' causes." Deseret Morning News, front page, Saturday May 6, 2006. [interview, figure]

Amanda McCleish (UTSA Undergraduate Student)

Amanda is a presenter at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students held at Austin, Texas November 2007.

Picture Pefect: New imaging technique stands to improve research of childhood musculoskeletal cancers

An article featured in the Mission Magazine telling how scientists have dramatically increased the usefulness of an imaging technique called micro-CT Imaging. Click here to read more.

Will Sansom, "Picture Perfect: New imaging technique stands to improve research of childhood musculoskeletal cancers," Mission magazine (UTHSCSA), April / May 2006, p.10, [interview, figure]

Mice, Cat scans aid child cancer research

This was an article featured in The San Antonio Express News, describing how with micro CT scans scientists can create a large, three-dimensional computer image of embryos to study. ..."We take an embryo that is intact but we can use the computer to do a cutaway to view to the interior structures," said Keller, a pediatric oncologist at the Children's Cancer Research Institute who is studying brain and muscle tumors. Click here to read more.

Cindy Tumiel. "Mice CAT scans aid child cancer research." San Antonio Express News, Metro Section, first page. [interview, figure]

microCT-based Virtual Histology

John T. Johnson, Mark S. Hansen, Isabel Wu, Lindsey J. Healy, Christopher R. Johnson, Greg M. Jones, Mario R. Capecchi, Charles Keller.  “Virtual Histology of Transgenic Mouse Embryos for High-Throughput Phenotyping,” PLoS Genetics, 2006, 2(4)e61 [COVER ARTICLE] [PubMed UID 16683035]

• Comment in: Magdalena Skipper. No Mickey-Mouse phenomics.  Nature Reviews | Genetics.  2006; Volume 7:409
• Comment in: Research Highlights.  Nature Methods, July 2006; Volume 3 Number 7 Page 497
• Comment in: Susannah Veith. “New ‘virtual’ histology method bolsters visualization of mouse embryos.”  Biophotonics International, July 2006, pp. 24-25
• Comment in: staff writer. Virtual slicing gives faster testing.  New Scientist (Special Reports; Tech), 9 May 2006, Issue 2550, Page 21
• Comment in: Julian Josephson. Mouse Embryos in 3-D.  Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP) – a journal of the NIEHS, October 2006; Volume 114 Number 10 Pages A596-A599
• Comment in: Dennis Meredith. Better than Slice-and-Dice. HHMI Bulletin, February 2007; Volume 20(1)

Koichi Nishijo (Postdoctoral Fellow, starts 04/01/2006)

Koichi recieved Alex's Lemonade Stand Young Investigator Award for his Application: Mediators of Metastasis in Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma ($60,000 awarded over 2 years, 7/01/06 - 06/30/06).

He also won a poster prize ($500), Genomic Integrity and Tumor Development Program Retreat.

He also is an Invitee-Attendee to the 2006 AACR "Molecular Biology in Clinical Oncology" Workshop.

Growth Factors in Rhabdomyosarcoma

Mary Blandford, Frederic G. Barr, James C. Lynch, R. Lor Randall, Stephen J. Qualman, Charles Keller. “Rhabdomyosarcomas Utilize Developmental Myogenic Growth Factors for Disease Advantage,” Pediatric Blood & Cancer, 2006 Mar; 46(3):329-38 [PubMed UID 16261596]

From Sight To Insight: Visualization tools yield biomedical success stories

Visualization tools are reshaping clinical practice and driving biomedical discovery. New strategies for visualizing the difference between bone and blood vessels have sparked insights into how muscle tumors spread and thrive. "Now that we have these new contrast agents and powerful software tools in hand," Keller says, "we're getting an appreciation for how aggressive these tumors are in luring new blood vessels to their leading edge while simultaneously leaving a trail of dying tissue in their wake."

Esther Landhuis. "From Sight To Insight: Visualization tools yield biomedical success stories." Biomedical Computation Review. 2(1)5. February 2006. [interview, figure]