See also our related blog for the Pediatric Preclinical Testing Initiative.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

PPTI receives its first contribution for Drug Testing in Rhabdomyosarcoma

We thank our anonymous donor for a kind $500 contribution towards the Pediatric Preclinical Testing Initiative, with the specific goal of advancing new treatments for alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma.

For more information about the Pediatric Preclinical Testing Initiative and our grass-roots effort to advance research in childhood cancers, email Charles at kellerc2@uthscsa.edu .

[right: this graphic design and implemented by Charles Keller and David Rodriguez.]

Monday, December 15, 2008

Welcoming Anu!

We are excited to welcome Anuradha "Anu" Soundararajan to our research team. Anu obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Physics from the University of Madras in 2000, where she was recognized with the award for Best Outgoing Student for her college. After earning a Masters degree in medical physics from Anna University then professional experience as a Medical Physicist at the Cancer Institute in India, Anu pursued and recently completed a PhD in Medical Diagnostic Physics from the Department of Radiology at UTHSCSA. William “Bill” Phillips and Beth Goins were mentors to Anu, whose doctoral thesis project related to Chemo-Radionuclide Therapy with 186-Re labeled Liposomal Doxorubicin in combination with Radiofrequency Ablation for Effective Treatment of Head and Neck Cancer. Anu brings specific new strength to our research program in the area of Molecular Imaging. Her long term career goals include applied academic research for cancer using genetically engineered mouse models, imaging, and image-guided therapies. Welcome, Anu!

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Our Sincerest Thanks to Mei

We sincerely thank consultant Mei Zhang for our tutorial on advanced mouse ultrasound imaging this past week. Mei is a clinical and preclinical ultrasonographer with a special gift as a teacher. Her thoughtful on site training makes it possible for us to better determine the response of childhood rhabdomyosarcomas to novel targeted therapies. We are so grateful to you, Mei. Charles, Aoife and the Keller Lab Team.

Monday, December 8, 2008

CIBC Workshop

Charles and Suresh attended a workshop for the Center for Integrative Biomedical Computing at the Scientific Computing and Imaging Institute of the University of Utah this past week. Our lab is a Tier 1 collaborator for the NIH/NCRR grant that supports the CIBC (P41RR012553). We are excited about the tools made available by CIBC that enhance our study of childhood cancers, particularly Seg3D and Jens Krüger's new ImageVis3D. Staying an extra day, Suresh also mastered snowboarding... a great trip altogether!