The Keller Laboratory at cc-TDI: 10/01/2009

Friday, October 30, 2009

Holiday Fun

It's hard to say how exactly this Halloween-related movie got composited, but it represents our lab's complete postdoctoral team. and yes, that is actually Koichi's real hair.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Hunter (lab alumnist) travels to Copenhagen

As a workstudy student, Hunter was a valuable member of our laboratory this past year, especially where we were interfacing biology, engineering and bioinformatics. Having recently graduated from UTSA, he naturally headed oversees to get a broader world view. Of course, we're sure his next step should be graduate school - although that would be a loss to the music field, Hunter's other passion.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Scientific Exchange with Mayo Clinic Jacksonville

We are grateful to Dr. Al Copland and colleagues for the opportunity to share our work on Overcoming Resistance to RTK Inhibitors in Rhabdomyosarcoma with the outstanding group of 8 faculty in the Cancer Basic Science Research program at Mayo Clinic - Jacksonville. This group of highly accomplished scientists has, in a short number of years, created a highly synergistic and productive research unit with some of the most interesting work in cell & molecular signaling and tumor microenvironment work in cancer research. Charles is especially appreciative of his colleague, Al, for this invitation to present our work and share ideas on addressing key issues in rare (and sometimes not so rare) cancers.

[ above right: Charles & Al ]

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Student Alumnist Grant Chen at UCSF

It is exciting to see that our past 2007 Summer Student intern, Grant Chen, is doing well now as a medical student on a sabbatical research year at UCSF conducting modeling of stroke and arterio-venous malformations (in mouse models). We are proud that Grant is following in the physician-scientist tradition!

[above right: Grant and his fiance ]

Friday, October 2, 2009

Medulloblastoma studies presented at PBTF Conference

Sachiko and Charles were excited to have presented our work, "Bortezomib inhibits Progression in Medulloblastoma" at the Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Basic & Translational Research Conference in Ashville, NC. This conference was jointly sponsored by the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation and the Society of NeuroOncology. We are grateful for this opportunity to have presented our work (our medulloblastoma model development was originally developed with a grant from the PBTF), and to exchange ideas with the other thought leaders in the field of childhood brain tumor research.

[above right: Sachiko with Dianne Traynor, Director of Research Funding and Advocacy of the PBTF ]

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Welcoming Xiaolan

We are excited to have Dr. Xiaolan Yi join our team as a research scientist. Xiaolan graduated from Hunan Medical University and worked as a physician for many years before coming to the U.S. to do research in 2000. Most recently Xiaolan was a valued member of the neuroscience laboratory of Dr. Lori Redmond in the Department of Pharmacology at the Medical College of Georgia. Xiaolan is interested in research that bridges clinical medicine and basic biomedical science... a great fit for our laboratory. Welcome, Xiaolan!

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.