The Keller Laboratory at cc-TDI: 10/01/2012

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Welcoming Mathew

We are fortunate to have a new physician(surgeon)-scientist training in our laboratory, Dr. Mathew Geltzeiler. Mathew Geltzeiler first visited Oregon in high school when he descended Mt. Hood for ski race training during the summers. He then studied neuroscience at Brown University and medicine at Boston University during which time he had numerous publications in clinical prostate cancer research. He is currently a third year resident in Head and Neck Surgery at OHSU. He has an interest in Head and Neck Oncology and applications of Personalized Cancer Care (his 6 month residency research project in the lab). In his free time, he continues to ski at Mt. Hood as well avidly hike, camp and photograph nature.

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Technology Transfer Achievement Award

Our laboratory is grateful to the OHSU Technology Transfer and Business Development Office for the award of the 2012 Technology Transfer Achievement Award. It is actually the other way around... the staff at the TTBDO that deserve the award! The team of Travis Cook, Ruth Epling and (especially) Tommy Pham make possible relationships with businesses and pharmaceutical makers that open new avenues of exploration in the mission to create tangible new therapies for childhood cancer. This is a unique group of professionals... they are advocates of the children and families touched by these cancers, and this team is integral to our research program. We thank Tommy, Ruth and Travis for all that they do.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Patient Wall: our thanks to many

We are grateful to all the families across the world that contributed to the laboratory patient wall at OHSU. These families, touched by cancer, remind us not only of why innovation and time are of the essence, but also that cancer does not define these families, and there is childhood to return to once cancer is a uniformly curable condition.

The generous employees of Planar made possible the digital presentations of more than 300 family pictures. Most of the credit in designing and implementing the wall goes to lab member, Jen Alabran, whose scientific expertise is matched only by her compassion for children with cancer.

We look forward to the day of Giving Back Childhood to all children touched by cancer.

[additional photos will be accepted on a continuing basis for families wishing to share their photos and stories. contact Charles via keller(at)ohsu.edu ]

Friday, October 19, 2012

The Not-so-Skinny on Muscle Cancer

Click here to read Ken's Cancer Cell commentary on this report of a mouse model of embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma derived from white and brown fat progenitor cells.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

DragonSlayer Portland 2012

Our team name at the Northwest Sarcoma Foundation "DragonSlayer" event this year was the Sarcoma Smashers. This was the biggest DragonSlayer event Portland has ever seen. 658 participants whose efforts helped us raise $30,000 for sarcoma research! Check out our flickr link with all of the event photos. To view photos of the event click here as well as here.

Friday, October 5, 2012

International Exchange of Ideas on Sarcomas

We are grateful to our collaborators Monica Suelves and Miquel Angel Peinado at the IMPPC in Barcelona for the invitation to present our results of collaborative studies on epigenetic influences of the cell of origin of rhabdomyosarcoma.

Following this visit, the work of KellerLab-DrukerLab co-mentored HHMI medical student, M. Imran Aslam, entitled, "PDGFR reverses Eph signaling in alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma" was presented at the ESF-EMBO Symposium, “Molecular Biology &Innovative Therapies in Sarcomas of Childhood and Adolescence” organized by Beat Schaefer. This latter conference was in Putlusk, Poland, and was perhaps the best rhabdomyosarcoma and Ewing's sarcoma conference in 10-15 years. Many collaborations amongst all attendees were created.

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.