The Keller Laboratory at cc-TDI

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

with thanks to Michelle

Just a short note of appreciation for our tireless colleague, Michelle Brady, the technical director of our GCCRI Histology Facility. Michelle provides fantastic support to our laboratory's research, often on short notice, and always with kindness and grace. We are grateful to have Michelle as a colleague.

Monday, March 1, 2010

National Center for Integrative Biological Computing

Congratulations to our colleagues at the Scientific Imaging and Computing Institute at the University of Utah on their very well prepared site visit for the National Center for Integrative Biological Computing. Our proposed collaborative project for this NIH P41 grant uses shape analysis to evaluate disease progression in medulloblastoma. This is a truly unique team of gifted computer scientists, and it is a privilege to be able to work together.

Monday, February 8, 2010

Welcoming Sheila Hampton to our Lab

Sheila comes to us from the Institute for Drug Development at the CTRC where she performed preclinical drug testing and therapeutic cell testing studies. Sheila earned her Bachelors of Science degree in Biology from West Texas A&M University. Her future plans are to attend the Cytogenetics Program at UTHSCSA in the Fall.

[ top right: Sheila diligently working through mouse path slides. picture courtesy of photographer and labmate, Laura Nelon :) ]

Saturday, February 6, 2010

in appreciation of Tony

We'd like to acknowledge and thank Antonio (Tony) Dennie, Computer Support Specialist at GCCRI, for all that he does regularly to keep our research program going. It seems there is never a problem too large for Tony to tackle. We sure do appreciate all your expertise and long hours, Tony!

Monday, January 25, 2010

2010 Scott Carter Fellow, Jinu Abraham

Jinu earned his doctoral degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. During the course of his Ph.D, he studied the regulation of Drosophila hematopoiesis by SUMO modification under the guidance of Dr. Soichi Tanda. In the Keller laboratory, Jinu is investigating the mechanisms of resistance to receptor tyrosine-kinase inhibitors in rhabdomyosarcoma. He is also investigating the efficacy of other novel therapeutic agents for the treatment of rhabdomyosarcoma. Dr. Abraham's future goal is to become an independent scientist in the fields of Cancer Biology and Therapeutics.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Honoring Koichi

Our sincerest appreciation goes to postdoctoral fellow, Koichi Nishijo, who is moving to the next stage of his biomedical career as a clinical trials coordinator for Bayer, Japan. As a postdoctoral fellow in our laboratory, Koichi first-authored papers in Cancer Research as well as The FASEB Journal, and was co-author of 2 other papers in print or in review. Koichi was also recipient of a nationally-competitive Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation Young Investigator Award and was a Scott Carter Foundation Fellow in our laboratory. We will miss you, Koichi, but wish you great successes in your career.

[above right: Koichi (left) and Charles (right) at a going away lunch on Tuesday]

Friday, January 15, 2010

Our thanks to Marathoner Jennifer Rebeles!

Our sincerest thanks go to Jenny, who ran the Las Vegas Rock & Roll Marathon on December 6 in support of the GCCRI Pediatric Preclinical Testing Program. Jenny's family and friends provided a substantial contribution that furthers research on novel compounds that might be one day used in the treatment of childhood cancers. Jenny is also a staff member at the GCCRI, and directing manager of our advanced instrumentation resource facility. It is very kind of her to support our research and programs in childhood cancer research in so many ways. Thank you, Jenny!

[ top right: photos from Jenny's Marathon. We think she must have passed that person in front of her! ]

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.