The Keller Laboratory at cc-TDI: 05/01/2013

Friday, May 31, 2013

Rhabdomyosarcoma Pico-Course for the Community

We’ve been having some conversations with families touched by rhabdomyosarcoma and undifferentiated sarcoma… they have requested that instead of a 2014 Nanocourse with a rhabdomyosarcoma project, that we first have a very focused rhabdomyosarcoma “pico-course” this August. The invited group will be very small, but this one-week lab & community leadership internship is meant to be impactful.

We did something very similar for brainstem gliomas last year, which resulted in a peer-reviewed manuscript submission of a roadmap to curing that cancer.

If you are interested in attending, please contact Charles via keller (at) ohsu.edu.

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Rhabdomyosarcoma and Running

We are grateful to Frank for including an entry on his blog about our rhabdomyosarcoma crowdfunding project. Frank has an inspirational story and now shares his experiences and passion through his blog.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Congratulations, Ken!

Ken's paper on sclerosing rhabdomyosarcoma is accepted for publication. This paper entitled, "MDM2 Amplification and PI3KCA mutation in a Case of Sclerosing Rhabdomyosarcoma" is now available online here. Co-authors include Dr. Atiya Mansoor, an expert on sarcoma pathology. We thank Jonathan Hart and Peter Vogt for key reagents for these studies. We also thank the patient and his family who made this Legacy Gift possible.

Congratulations, Mumtaz!

Congratulations to collaborator Mumtaz Yaseen in the laboratory of Dr. Denis Guttridge whose exciting work on sarcoma biology has recently been accepted to Science Signaling.

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Proof-of-concept rare cancers in drug development: the case for rhabdomyosarcoma

We hope you will enjoy this review and commentary as much as we do. A lot of people in pharma, the community-at-large and scientific thought leaders helped to create this somewhat out of the box concept proposal. With some additional community volunteers, I think we could really put this plan to action. Sincerely, Charles

[ This review was made possible by a gift from the Ethan Jostad Foundation ].

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Congratulations, Stefano!

Congratulations to Stefano Biressi in the Rando laboratory at Stanford on a fabulous lineage study of muscle progenitors accepted by the journal, Developmental Biology. This paper is entitled, "Myf5 expression during fetal myogenesis defines the developmental progenitors of adult satellite cells" and is available online here. Co-authors from our lab include alumni member, Koichi Nishijo.

Friday, May 3, 2013

Congratulations, Mat!

Lab member Mathew Geltzeiler has selected to receive this year’s American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) Saidee Keller Memorial Resident Research Grant. We couldn't be more proud of Mat's accomplishment!

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.