The Keller Laboratory at cc-TDI: 11/01/2011

Monday, November 28, 2011

Congratulations, Sangeet!

We are excited that Sangeet's pilot project proposal, " Chemokine Regulation of the Leptomeningeal Metastasis of Medulloblastoma " has been funded by the Knight Cancer Institute Translational Research Group and made possible by the Schnitzer Investment Corp.

way to go, Sangeet!

To Friends at the Schnitzer Investment Corp, our team and I are grateful that you have made possible our pilot grant. Preventing the spread of brain tumor cells to the spine is an important issue for children of Oregon and across the world. We hope to take the opportunity you have created for us to study this cancer-related process to not only understand how it occurs, but also to understand how to prevent it (or to treat it if already established). As you have proven, the community is always an important part of new and innovative research endeavors. Charles

Lyla Nsouli Foundation funds Supplement to the DIPG Consortium

We are grateful to the The Lyla Nsouli Foundation for Children’s Brain Cancer Research for the $28,000 supplement to our TheCureStartsNow funded project entitled, "Rapid Preclinical Development of a Targeted Therapy Combination for DIPG". This supplement allows us to expand our six institution consortium in North America to include 2 other expert laboratories in Europe:

Dannis G. van Vuurden MD, MSc, & Esther Hulleman, VU Cancer Center Amsterdam, and
Jacques Grill, Institut Gustave-Roussy, Villejuif, France

The ultimate goal is to move the most effective single agent or combination therapy forward to early phase clinical trials in the next 18-24 months. This is the first time that a group of basic and translational scientists and physicians from eight institutions throughout North America and Europe have come together as a consortium to focus on DIPGs and to focus on a bench-to-bedside approach to rationally target therapy for children with DIPGs.

For the Open Science Forum week to week update of this project, click here.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

TheCureStartsNow funds DIPG International Preclinical Study

We and our collaborators are grateful for the new $100,000 award from The Cure Starts Now circle of foundations for our project, Rapid Preclinical Development of a Targeted Therapy Combination for DIPG. We are excited to get this project underway immediately, which addresses the goal our multi-national team and this foundation and its supporters share in making DIPG a uniformly survivable cancer. Our team consists of the following laboratories:

Charles Keller MD, Kellie Nazemi MD, Nate Selden MD, PhD and Dan Guillaume MD, PhD at the Oregon Health & Science University

Oren Becher MD, Duke University Medical Center

Michelle Monje MD, PhD, Stanford University

Maryam Fouladi MD, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center

Cynthia Hawkins, MD, PhD, University of Toronto

Xiao-Nan Li MD, PhD, Baylor College of Medicine

We are again thankful to The DIPG Symposium Collaboration, The Cure Starts Now Foundation, Reflections of Grace Foundation, The Jeffrey Thomas Hayden Foundation, Cancerfree Kids, Carly’s Crusaders, The Max Lacewell Foundation, Smiles for Sophie Forever Foundation and Benny’s World Foundation for making our project possible.

For the Open Science Forum week to week update of this project, click here.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Our thanks to the Kyla McCullough Gift Fund

We sincerely thank the family and community that remember Kyla McCullough through the KMGF. For the second year in a row, the KMGF has sponsored a scientific instrument purchase - here an Intravital Microscope to facilitate improved studies of leptomeningeal metastasis. We are grateful for this generous gift, and the chance to be part of Kyla's rememberance.

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.