Highlighting Matthew!

our Congratulations to Matthew R. whose review on tissue-specific muscle stem cells has just been published.  You can see the article here.  Matthew wrote this review as part of his work with his PhD mentor, Dr. Grace Pavlath.  Matthew's scientific publication from this training is here.  

Congratulations, Mat!

Mat's manuscript on head & neck pediatric rhabdomyosarcoma was accepted today to Frontiers in Oncology, Pediatric Oncology. Co-authors include lab alumni Jinu and GH.  This work was supported in part by the Ethan Jostad Foundation.  stay tuned for the e-release of the paper!
  
[ 03/19/2015 update:  Mat's article is now published online here ]

Welcoming Matthew (to cc-TDI)

Matthew Svalina joins cc-TDI from Dr. Keller's academic laboratory as a founding member of our scientific team, with an eye on advancing the most promising childhood cancer therapeutics towards clinical trials. Matthew is motivated by the 1 in 5 children diagnosed with cancer for whom survival is still a challenge.

Matthew earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biological Sciences with a minor in Chemistry from the University of Illinois in 2007. Following completion of his undergraduate degree, Matthew earned a paramedic license through Malcolm X College in Chicago, where he completed his field internship with the Chicago Fire Department on ambulances serving the south side of Chicago. As a member of the Keller lab, Matthew has already co-authored two scientific papers on childhood cancer, with additional studies nearing submission. Under Dr. Keller's mentorship, Matthew leads basic science and preclinical projects in rhabdomyosarcoma and medulloblastoma. Matthew’s career goal is to be a physician-scientist with training and independent research in neuroscience and neuro-oncology.

  

Muscle Differentiation as Rhabdomyosarcoma Therapy

Matthew from our lab wrote this commentary in Cancer Cell, which frames the question of how soon myo-differentiation therapy will be feasible for childhood muscle cancer.  The commentary discusses the article here.  Graphic illustration by Nick Escobar. 

congratulations, Jinu!

[07/14/14]  The article, Lineage of origin in rhabdomyosarcoma informs pharmacological response, is now available here.  
   
[06/03/14]  Congratulations to Jinu whose paper was recently accepted for publication to Genes & Development.  This work was funded in part by NIH as well as the Scott Carter Foundation.  Clinical translation is hopefully possible, and thus additional preclinical studies with cooperative group and pharmaceutical partners are in discussion.  We are grateful to all our collaborators, especially Atiya Mansoor (OHSU), Joel Michalek and Ben Ehler and Monica Suelves (IMPPC).  

Congratulations, Noah!

Congratulations to Noah, visiting engineering student from the Pal laboratory, whose manuscript, "An integrated approach to anti-cancer drug sensitivity prediction" is now published in IEEE/ACM Transactions on Computational Biology and Bioinformatics.  

Imran's paper published in PNAS

Many congratulations to Imran for his publication, PDGFRβ reverses EphB4 signaling in alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA.  This study was a collaboration of the Tyner, Druker and Keller laboratories - highlighting some key growth factor receptor targets in this disease.  This study was funded in part by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the National Cancer Institute, and the Joanna McAfee Childhood Cancer Foundation.       

Congratulations, Jinu!

Many congratulations to Jinu, whose grant application entitled, "Molecular Reversal of Relapse in Childhood Muscle Cancer" was chosen for funding by the Friends of Doernbecher Foundation!

"Derivation of Myogenic Progenitors Directly From Human Pluripotent Stem Cells"

Lab alumnist Tohru Hosoyama has recently published a very nice study entitled, "Derivation of Myogenic Progenitors Directly From Human Pluripotent Stem Cells Using a Sphere-Based Culture" in the journal, Stem Cells Translational Medicine.  This is work from Tohru's second postdoctoral fellowship with mentor Dr. Masatoshi Suzuki.  Tohru is now an Assistant Professor in the Dept. of Surgery and Clinical Sciences, Yamaguchi University, Japan.  It has always been a pleasure to follow Tohru's work, which is both innovative and impactful.     

let's help Lara...

... shave her head, for adolescent and young adult cancer research?  Click here to learn more, see Lara's video and contribute to this bold effort!   The shaving event happens May 31!  

Ken's paper highlighted in Nature Reviews Cancer!

Please see the February 2014 Nature Reviews Cancer for a Research Highlight of Ken's paper that appeared last month in PLoS Genetics.  The highlight written by written by NRC chief editor, Nicola McCarthy, is entitled "Flexibility could be important".  

Tumor Cells in a Hurry: Duct Tape will do!

In alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, 70-75% of tumors carry the Pax3:Foxo1a oncogene.  This oncogene seems to account for a large difference in the response to chemotherapy and radiation relative to rhabdomyosarcomas that do not carry this fusion gene.  

  

In a report just released in PLoS Genetics, Ken from our lab reports that Pax3:Foxo1a levels fluctuate during tumor cell replication, and that a primary function of Pax3:Foxo1a seems to be “checkpoint adaptation” – the process of giving the cell permission to continue cell division despite damage from therapy… with the hopes that this damage can be later repaired, simply tolerated – or may offer an advantage to the tumor cell as a result of newly gained mutations/properties. The paper is freely available online at:  http://www.plosgenetics.org/doi/pgen.1004107. 

Congratulations, Ken!

Ken's recent paper on a fascinating and clinically-relevant aspect of alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma biology has just been accepted to PLoS Genetics. Co-authors included lab alumnist Imran Aslam (now a medicine resident at Johns Hopkins), OHSU collaborator Wolfram Laub, UTHSCSA collaborator Joel Michalek, Harvard collaborators Simone Hettmer and Amy Wagers, JHMI collaborators David Loeb and Bree Wilky and Cleveland Clinic collaborator Brian Rubin.

This is Ken's 8th paper (and 6th first author paper) from his 2 year postdoctoral fellowship in our lab (with one additional first author manuscript soon to be submitted). Amazing productivity for Ken, who is now faculty at Uji Takeda Hospital and Kyoto Prefectural University.
 
The study above was made possible by funding from the NCI.

Congratulations, Ken and Eri!

Eri & Ken's co-first author study of the role of the retinoblastoma gene in rhabdomyosarcoma has been accepted to the journal, Skeletal Muscle.  Co-authors include lab members Noah, Jinu and Matthew; lab alumni Olivia, Elaine and Koichi; as well as collaborators Ayeza & Atiya (OHSU Pathology), Sherrie (Univ of Utah), Paul & Sean (NCI), Harry, Lee Ann Chris, Yidong and Joel (UTHSCSA), Brian (Cleveland Clinic) and Monica (IMPPC, Barcelona).

  

This work was made possible by a gift from the Nylund estate and fellow funding to Jinu and Koichi by the Scott Carter Foundation.

[update 11/25/2013:  the manuscript Rb1 loss modifies but does not initiate alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma is now available online here.]

2013 Rhabdomyosarcoma Pico-Course

We are grateful to the speakers and participants of the 2013 Rhabdomyosarcoma Pico-Course who critically evaluated the 'preclinical gap' in childhood cancer research.  This pico-course had a decidedly sea-faring theme (some participants came from Fishermen helping kids with cancer).  The conclusion? Acceleration of promising clinical trials is possible.   

Congratulations, Imran & Simone!

Imran and Simone's study on the curious, ectopic behavior of surface growth factor receptors has been accepted for publication in Molecular Cancer Research.  Co-authors include lab member Jinu, lab alumni Elaine and Anu, Druker lab collaborators Dorian and Jeff, Wager lab members Simone, Shuyu and Amy, and statisticians Martin and Joel.  
  
These studies were funded in part by the Ethan Jostad Foundation for Childhood Cancer and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.  
  
To see the Online First publication. click here. 

Congratulations, Noah!

Congratulations to Noah, whose 'personalized cancer math' paper is now published in BMC Bioinformatics. Co-authors include Keller lab member Lara, Colorado State University collaborator Bernard Seguin.  The study was anchored by senior author Ranadip Pal at Texas Tech University.  

GH's paper accepted to Stem Cells

Congratulations to lab alumnist, Guangheng, whose paper on rhabdomyosarcoma - satellite cell (muscle stem cell) interactions has been accepted for publication in StemCells.  Co-authors include lab members Ken and Megan, lab alumnist Ken, and long time collaborator Brian Rubin at the Cleveland Clinic.  Our sincere thanks to Matthew for his technical assistance on these studies. 
  
For this project, GH was supported by a fellowship from the Scott Carter Foundation and study reagents were made possible by support of the Patrick M. Callahan Memorial Fund.    
  
[07/30/2013:  The manuscript entitled, "IL-4 receptor blockade abrogates satellite cell - rhabdomyosarcoma fusion and prevents tumor establishment", is now available online. ]    

Congratulations, Lara!

We are so proud of her!  Lara is a mentored clinician-scientist in our laboratory who recently graduated her adolescent and young adult oncology fellowship and has been offered a coveted faculty position at OHSU in the Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology.  Lara will continue to devote the majority of her time to her Damon Runyon-Sohn/St. Baldrick’s Foundation sponsored research in osteosarcoma.
   
[ pictured to right: Lara and progeny at the Northwest Sarcoma Foundation DragonSlayer event.]

 
 

lab member spotlight: Megan!

Megan comes to our lab all the way from Providence, Rhode Island, where she earned her Bachelor’s of Science degree in Biology and Bachelor’s of Arts degree in Psychology.  As an undergraduate and post graduation Megan worked in the Spinette Lab at Rhode Island College,  investigating the effects of inactivation of the E3 ubiquitin ligase UFD2a in skeletal muscle growth and differentiation. This work gave her a strong background in muscle biology, making her a great fit for our lab. Megan has fallen in love with the Pacific Northwest, and along with her fiancée Paul and their dog Lucky, is enjoying all the hiking, biking, and great food it has to offer.