The Keller Laboratory at cc-TDI: 04/01/2012

Friday, April 27, 2012

We are so proud of Lance

Congratulations to Lance Burrell, an undergraduate member of our rhabdomyosarcoma research team (back in the Capecchi lab days) who has graduated from Weber State University with a Master of Science in Radiological Sciences, Emphasis in Cardiology. Lance has always been dedicated to patient care, and to have completed graduate school while working is an impressive accomplishment for Lance and his whole family.

Friday, April 20, 2012

MGH & Stanford

My thanks to hosts David Langenau at Massachusetts General Hospital and Lynn Million & Kristen Ganjoo at Stanford University, respectively, for the opportunities to present our sarcoma research to their Cancer Centers. The MGH talk highlighted exciting work by Jinu and Ken in our lab, whereas the Stanford talk highlighted separate work by Jinu and Lara. It was a busy week of coast-to-coast travel, but well worth the scientific interactions. The sarcoma research at each institution is superb.

Friday, April 6, 2012

Fueling Osteosarcoma Research

Our sincere thanks to the Trey Foote Foundation and the graduating class of the International Air & Hospitality Academy in Vancouver, WA, who have raised funds for a research microscope. This microscope will be used to study patient-derived primary tumor cell cultures from Vancouver-Portland area children, and dogs, with osteosarcoma. The ultimate goal of this research is individualized, molecularly-targeted therapy for patients with osteosarcoma.

Trey's remarkable spirit is described here and can be seen tonight at 6:30pm PST on Portland tv station KATU.

[ Watch the KATU video here. ]

Monday, April 2, 2012

COG and AACR

The Children's Oncology Group meeting was March 27 - 30 in Minneapolis. Presentations were given by Jinu on new targeted therapies for undifferentiated sarcomas, and an update of the DIPG preclinical consortium was given by Charles.

The AACR meeting is now in progress, and beginning yesterday with the session on Modeling Pediatric Malignancy where Charles presented, "integrative biology of rhabdomysarcoma

using genetic murine models" and attended the Pediatric Preclinical Testing Program working meeting. The Pediatric Cancer Town Hall meeting is tonight.

A key new presentation from the Raabe lab is tomorrow, "High-level activation of the Notch pathway in diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma" by Hutt et al (A Johns Hopkins - NCI consortium). Also presented by Dr. Ian Pollack are the promising early results of a DIPG vaccine trial (caveats not withstanding).

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.