The Keller Laboratory at cc-TDI

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Childhood Cancer Research presented at Millennium Pharmaceuticals

Sachiko and Charles were privileged to be able to present our basic and therapeutic research at the R&D Grand Rounds at Millennium Pharmaceuticals this week. In our presentation, "Pediatric Tumors and the Millennium Pipeline" we were able to have a bidirectional dialogue on how drugs developed for adult cancer could be used to improve the treatment of cancer in children. We are grateful for the warm reception and genuinely insightful comments made by Millennium scientists.

[above right: Sachiko and Charles with Dr. Owen Lockerbie, Medical Science Liason - Oncology at Millennium Pharmaceuticals ]

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Congratulations Again, Suresh !

Our biomedical engineer team member, Suresh, seems to be on a roll this year. Today we received notice that his paper on the crimson carrier contrast agent for studying muscle injury & regeneration, as well as muscle cancer, has been accepted to Muscle and Nerve. Many thanks to co-author collaborators Carlo Martinez, Joel Michalek, Linda McManus, Brian Rubin and Paula Shireman, as well as Keller lab members Jinu Abraham and Mandy McCleish (emeritus).

It is worth noting that this is Suresh's 6th paper accepted or published in the last year, and his 3rd first-author paper in the same period. In addition, Suresh also has one other co-authored paper in review as well as a mature draft of another first-author paper in preparation. Congratulations, Suresh, your hard work is paying off.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Barron presents at Imaging 2020

Congratulations to Barron who presented our lab's work on preclinical imaging of medulloblastoma at the Imaging 2020 meeting in Grand Teton, Wyoming. The highlight of the meeting might have been the keynote address of 2008 Nobel laureate, Roger Tsien, but overall the meeting was a very provocative and productive meeting of thought leaders in research and clinical imaging (for cancer, mainly). Barron did a terrific job presenting his work, and the questions and suggestions of the conference attendees were greatly appreciated.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Congratulations, Suresh !

Many congratulations to Suresh on the publication of his paper in Circulation, entitled "Microscopic computed tomography-based virtual histology for visualization and morphometry of atherosclerosis in diabetic apolipoprotein e mutant mice". This was a joint project between Suresh and co-first author Hernan Martinez from the laboratory of Seema Ahuja at our university. As is our mantra, multi-disciplinary collaborations often lead to interesting studies and advances... this one in the field of heart disease.

[ above right: rendering of atherosclerotic plaque, made possible through freeware available from the Scientific Computing and Imaging Institute. ]

Friday, August 28, 2009

COG CNS Biology Committee Meeting in Bethesda

Yesterday and today the Children's Oncology Group Biology Committee met to discuss important new ways to help risk stratify patients with childhood brain tumors, as well as exciting potential new therapeutic approaches. We presented some of our work on targeting the ubiquitin-proteasome system in medulloblastoma. The highlight of the meeting, though, was the collaborative nature and the great scientific exchanges.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Welcoming Judy !

We are excited to welcome UTHSCSA graduate student, Chi-Yun 'Judy' Chang to our laboratory for her Fall rotation. Judy graduated with a BS in Biochemistry from The University of Texas at Austin. During college, she worked in the laboratory of Dr. John T. McDevitt, developing a particle based flow cytometric assay for CA-125 for comparison with the UT Nano-Biochip system. Judy hopes to be involved in research in with cancer in the future.

Friday, August 21, 2009

Aislynn receives Guarino Award

At Convocation today, Aislynn was acknowledged as the recipient of the 2009 Armand J. Guarino Award for Academic Excellence in Master of Science Studies. As Aislynn described in her acceptance speech, her project on childhood brain tumors (medulloblastoma) was a truly multi-disciplinary endeavor. Aislynn's strong communication skills and ability to bring in collaborators across diverse disciplines made her project possible. The second of two publications from her work will be submitted this coming week. We are so proud of what Aislynn has achieved. We wish her good luck and great success in Chicago!

[ above-right: Aislynn and her parents at the awards ceremony ]

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.