The Keller Laboratory at cc-TDI

Friday, April 5, 2013

Our thanks to the Kyla McCullough Gift Fund

We are grateful to the community of supporters for the Kyla McCullough Gift Fund who have made possible the purchase of a high-throughput multi-well plate reader for our program's study of childhood cancer. This instrument will be used multiple times a day, and enables us to perform research at a new and much faster pace.

Thursday, April 4, 2013

NWSF funds UW-OHSU Sarcoma Studies

We are grateful for the $25,000 directed gift from the Northwest Sarcoma Foundation to facilitate the collaborations with our University of Washington colleagues, including Dr. Robin Jones. These funds strengthen the bonds between our two institutions and (hopefully) does a great deal to advance knowledge, and eventually care, of sarcoma patients in the Pacific Northwest and beyond.

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Rally Foundation Milestone

Congratulations to the Rally Foundation for reaching the $1M milestone for grant funding in 2013. We are also grateful for the support of Rally Foundation in our lab's projects, currently and over many years.

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Nanocourse Alumni Recent Accomplishments

We are proud of the accomplishments of Pediatric Cancer Biology Nanocourse alumni Zaahid Khan and Isaiah Bingham who are taking the message of childhood cancer advocacy and research needs to their peers and community. Congratulations, too, to Zaahid, who has recently been accepted to Harvard University.

Attendance at the Nanocourse was made possible through the Cranbrook School and the Family of Miles Alpern Levin.

We are grateful to BC Cancer Research Institute sarcoma scientist, Dr. Poul Sorensen, who delivers today the 2013 Scott Michael Carter Memorial Lectureship on, "The application of genomics to identify diagnostic biomarkers, drivers and therapeutic targets for pediatric cancers".

Monday, April 1, 2013

Congratulations, Imran!

We couldn't be more proud of lab alumnist, M. Imran Aslam, who was recently chosen as an internal medicine resident at Johns Hopkins University Osler Program. Imran was a medical student researcher at our laboratory in San Antonio, and later an HHMI medical student scholar co-mentored by our laboratory and the laboratory of Dr. Brian Druker. Imran has made impactful studies of rhabdomyosarcoma, and now is on an exciting path towards a career as a physician-scientist. Congratulations, Imran!

Saturday, March 30, 2013

visiting Bernard at CSU

This week included a visit to our collaborator Dr. Bernard Seguin at Colorado State University's Flint Animal Cancer Center. The faculty and staff of this outstanding program are truly inspiring. Thanks to Lynda, who gave a warm Colorado welcome and clothed our key lab members with CSU T-shirts :)

Stay tuned for an exciting multi-institutional collaboration...

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.