Brain Tumor Society funds Medulloblastoma Study

We are the fortunate recipients of a two year grant from The National Brain Tumor Society for our study, "Proteasome Inhibitor-Mediated Reversal of Shh-Driven Tumorigenesis". We are both excited and grateful to join the NBTS mission - to find a cure for brain tumors. The annual meeting today was a terrific way for NBTS to share their projects and collaborative ideas.

[note: the graphic to the right was taken from www.braintumor.org/, which announces that the Brain Tumor Society and the National Brain Tumor Foundation have merged. ]

Two Presentations at the South Padre Symposium

Hunter and Jinu gave terrific presentations at the South Padre Symposium on Cell Signaling. Mandy was a co-first author of the talk presented by Hunter. A lot of good feedback and new ideas were discussed. Special kudos to Jinu for what was deemed a very good demonstration of bedside to benchtop and back for his experimental therapeutics work.

[ pictured above: the participants of the Symposium. Keller lab members are highlighted by yellow arrows. ]

Eri graduates to a new position in Boston

Eri has been a key member of our team for 2 years, and now with her Oncogene publication just out and another in review, Eri is moving to the next step in her career. Eri will be performing her second postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. Andrew S. Brack at the Center of Regenerative Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital / Harvard. We can't be happier for Eri, and can't wait to see what she'll accomplish in such a rich research environment with one of muscle biology's young rising star faculty. Congratulations, Eri!

[ pictured above right: Eri's dog, Chris, a native Texan, who is anticipated to adapt well to the Northeast. ]
[ update: Chris appears to enjoy her first snow experience in Boston. Very collegiate sweater! ]

Welcoming Dr. Sachiko Ohshima

We are excited that Sachiko Ohshima, MD, has recently joined our laboratory. Sachiko is a board-certified neurologist, having done her clinical training at Kyushu University Hospital and National Fukuoka-Higashi Medical Center, Japan. Sachiko then pursued a PhD under the guidance of Dr. Shin'ichi Takeda at the National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry in Tokyo and will defend her thesis project early next year at Kyushu University. Sachiko's exciting first-author work on gene therapy for the treatment of muscular dystrophy in dogs will be soon published in Molecular Therapy. In our laboratory, Sachiko will a project leader for brain tumor research. Welcome, Sachiko!

[ pictured above right: Sachiko in her garden in Japan. She must be a very good gardener! ]

Congratulations, Lisa!

We couldn't be more proud than to announce that our graduate student, Lisa Nevell, has been accepted for a position as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of 2007 Nobel laureate Mario R. Capecchi at the University of Utah. (Mario was Charles' mentor, too, but many more years ago.) Lisa was a joint graduate student of George Washington University and UTHSCSA. Her project in our lab was to understand the function of the gene Pax7, which controls neuromuscular development and embryonic patterning. Congratulations, Lisa, and Best Wishes!

[ pictured above right: Lisa Nevell (left), her GWU mentor Bernard Wood (center), and science enthusiast Don Mopsick of NPR Riverwalk Jazz fame;
pictured to the left: going away lunch for Lisa yesterday. quote having just arrived from DC and her defense: "I was so happy to be back home in Texas!" next stop, of course, is Salt Lake City. ]

Mandy and Hunter present at the RISE/MARC Symposium

Mandy and Hunter gave a terrific presentation today at the University of Texas San Antonio (UTSA) Annual RISE/MARC Symposium. While the details of their study will be described in an upcoming manuscript, we are very proud of the teamwork and initiative shown by Mandy and Hunter on this complex series of experiments studying bone marrow stem cells in genetically-engineered mice!

Welcoming Rotation Student, Lilly Paredes

Lilliana "Lilly" Paredes graduated from the University of Texas El Paso with a major in Biology this past Spring. As an undergraduate, Lilly participated in a molecular parasitology research laboratory at UTEP. This exciting and productive experience inspired her to pursue a research career. As a first year graduate student in the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at UTHSCSA, Lilly's current interests include Microbiology, Genetics and Pharmacology. During her Fall rotation in our laboratory, Lilly will be co-mentored by Koichi and Charles.

[pictured above: Lilly on a recent trip to NYC.]