The Keller Laboratory at cc-TDI: 06/01/2009

Monday, June 22, 2009

Welcoming Steven

Summer intern Steven McCarthy is a welcome new addition the our pediatric cancer research team. Steven is an undergraduate at Florida State University (Tallahassee) where he's majoring in Biomedical Engineering with minors in physics and biology. Steven is also captain for the FSU Men's Water Polo team and recently joined the Biomedical Engineering Society, a prestigious distinction in his field of study.

Cross-disciplinary contributors like Steven make new approaches possible. Welcome, Steven!

Thursday, June 11, 2009

upcoming Sarcoma Awareness Fun Run/ Walk & Social !

When: Friday, July 24, at 6:00 pm

Where: McAllister Park (13102 Jones Maltsberger Rd), San Antonio, Texas

This is a free event open to all. The fun run/walk will begin at 6:00pm at Pavilion 3 in McAllister Park. At 6:30pm everyone will meet up at the pavilion where we’ll have a cook-out and social until 8pm. “Sarcoma Knows No Borders” bracelets benefiting the Liddy Shriver Sarcoma Initiative will be available at $5 each for our participants on a first come first serve basis.

Many thanks to this year's organizer, Melinda Garcia! For more details* or to RSVP, email GarciaM20@uthscsa.edu .

shown above-right: Team Sarcoma San Antonio (TeSSA) at the 2008 event!

[ for other Sarcoma Awareness events across Texas, click here. ]

* This community event is intended for sarcoma awareness and not specifically a fundraiser or a function of the UTHSCSA.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Interesting Rhabdomyosarcoma Study

In the June issue of The Journal of Clinical Investigation, Durbin and colleagues from the laboratory of David Malkin presented an interesting distinction between the biologies of embryonal and alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma. This distinction centers on the Integrin-linked Kinase signaling pathway. For the original article, click here. For the commentary by Charles and co-authors Paul McDonald and Shoukat Dedhar, click here.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Welcoming Lena

Elena Wisely will be joining our research team at GCCRI for her 2009 Summer rotation. Lena is an incoming MD/PhD student at UTHSCSA and plans to pursue translational biomedical research. She is a graduate of Texas State University in San Marcos, where she spent more than 2 years in Dr. Joseph Koke's lab investigating the role of the FOXP2 transcription factor responsible for regulating human language development and acquisition. Lena, welcome to our team!

You Can Participate in our Novel Therapeutics Studies !

One would like to think that tangibly better treatments for rhabdomyosarcoma, medulloblastoma and other childhood cancers can be found in a matter of years, instead of tens of years. Finding new treatments starts with research, perhaps even a new research approach to identifying effective new treatments. The Children's Cancer Therapy Development Institute focuses on finding molecules in childhood cancers that can be directly turned off or on by drugs so that the tumor stops growing. Behind our novel approach is the use of genetically-engineered mice. Our Pediatric Preclinical Testing Initiative uses mice modified from before birth so that at a certain age, and in a certain tissue, the same mutations found in a child’s cancer are activated in the mouse. These special mouse models of childhood cancer can be used to test a treatment to see whether the tumor growth and spread (metastasis) can be reversed. The specific aspect of these mice having normal immune systems is a real plus, too, because white blood cells play an important role in how tumors evolve and respond to therapy.

Our program is designed around community participation. Through the Children's Cancer Therapy Development Institute, you can contribute directly to this grass-roots initiative. Donations through small gifts or grants will assist in studying compounds that may be effective in treating such childhood cancers as alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma, or medulloblastoma (the alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma model was featured by Dr. Keller's long time collaborator and former mentor, 2007 Nobel laureate Mario Capecchi, in his Nobel Prize lecture {see 16 minutes onward}.)

For additional information regarding supporting this program please contact Charles Keller at charles@cc-tdi.org. Results obtained through these studies will be shared with the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program, as well as the Children’s Oncology Group, which designs clinical trials for childhood cancer.