Rebecca and Sada Tarshis Endowed Professorship

It is an privilege and honor to be a steward of the Rebecca and Sada Tarshis Endowed Professorship.  These two sisters came from a modest background as children of immigrants from Russia, yet by building careers and living well, though judiciously, created a legacy that continues to benefit the Portland greater community.  I hope that through the work of our laboratory and the Pediatric Cancer Biology Program that we will meet the example of bringing forth tangible change and contributing to the greater good, particularly with respect to outcomes for metastatic childhood cancers. 


-- Charles  
  
[ above right:  Charles with Elaine, who is holding 'the chair'.  For the SOM Newsletter article, click here. ]
  

Visiting Scientist, Tohru Hosoyama

We were honored to have lab alumnist Tohru Hosoyama visit our lab in Portland this past week.  Tohru is now a fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Masatoshi Suzuki at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.  Tohru is no doubt a rising star to watch in the muscle stem cell biology field.  
  
[ above right: Tohru with lab members Monika, Charles & Jinu ]

Welcoming Guangheng !

We are excited to welcome surgeon-scientist Dr Guangheng Li the Keller laboratory.  'GH' received his M.D in 1996 from Henan Medical University and his Ph.D in 2002 from the Shanghai Second Medical University. As a member of the Stem Cell Research Center in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at University of Pittsburgh, GH authored or co-authored numberous tissue engineering and stem cell studies that have been published in the Journal of Tissue Engineering, Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, Nature Biotechnology, and Arthritis and Rheumatism. His research has focused primarily on using gene therapy, skeletal muscle stem cell and protein therapy to improve bone healing and delay the process of joints disease.  In the Keller laboratory, GH will extend these interests to the study of activated muscle stem cells and muscle cancer (rhabdomyosarcoma). 

Pediatric Cancer Biology Strategic Planning Retreat

We thank the leadership and key members of the OHSU Division of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology, as well as our partners from the Doernbecher Children's Hospital Foundation for attending this Fall's first annual strategic planing retreat for the OHSU Pediatric Cancer Biology Program.  The retreat met yesterday at Skamania Lodge in the Columbia River Gorge.  The event was moderated by Dr. Cory Hallam, Director of Commercialization Alliances and Innovation as well as the Center for Innovation and Technology Entrepreneurship (CITE) at the University of Texas at San Antonio.  It was a very productive day, with the only caveat that we were indoors nearly the entire time, whilst it was a beautiful day outside. Still, it was a tremendously valuable activity and will lead to a highly specific strategic plan to be generated in the coming weeks. 

  
[ credits and thanks to Dr. Linda Stork for the Gorge photo ]
  

Hyundai Hope on Wheels funds Rhabdomyosarcoma study

We are grateful to the Portland area and national Hyundai dealers who so graciously fuel the Hyundai Hope on Wheels program to fund childhood cancer research across the nation.  Our laboratory yesterday received a generous award of $100,000 to study the response of alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma to growth factor inhibitors... and to determine the mechanisms by which such strategies might be improved to prevent relapse and inhibitor resistance.  We are all also very humbled by rhabdomyosarcoma patient, Josh Flanery, who took his time to talk with the group about his own experience with adolescent and young adult cancer.


YouTube video:    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxOlgtbd5Z0 
  
Fox News coverage:  http://www.kptv.com/local-video/index.html?grabnetworks_video_id=4353023 
  

Exciting New NCI Award

We are thankful to be one of a handful of recipients of an R01 supplement exceeding $200k in response to the Carolyn Price Walker Act.  This award to our laboratory and the Northwest Sarcoma Foundation is meant to increase awareness of the improved outcomes of childhood cancer patients when treated at specialized, multi-disciplinary centers.  We also have a project to increase awareness of the value of biopsy samples for scientific research when tumors grow despite treatment.  Many thanks to the great number of people on the team at Doernbecher Children's Hospital, Melissa Hill at the Northwest Sarcoma Foundation, and Nancy Goodman of Kids vs Cancer for making this possible.   

COG Fall Meeting

This past week was the Children's Oncology Group Fall meeting.  Normally, the COG meets twice a year to discuss design and results (when available) of the latest clinical trials.  This was a particularly special meeting, in that founding COG Chair, Dr. Gregory Reaman, was recognized for his phenomenal legacy of work with COG & CureSearch, and physician-scientist Dr. Peter Adamson took the leadership position moving forward.  This meeting was well attended by pediatric oncology medical caregivers and the public alike.  Our lab's contributions were a rhabdomyosarcoma presentation to the Soft Tissue Sarcoma Biology Special Session, as well as chairing (with the help of Maryam Fouladi) the CNS new therapeutics session.  
  
[ above right:  Charles and Ross Vick, advisory director member of QuadW, discussing sarcoma research ]