The Keller Laboratory at cc-TDI

Monday, July 15, 2013

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.

Friday, July 12, 2013

new update on the crowdfunding project!

Please click below to see the full video update of our Consano crowdfunding project. To contribute, go to https://www.consano.org/projects/21-halting-tumor-cells-from-spreading-by-blocking-hostile-mergers.

Thank you for your support. We really enjoy this partnership with the community to further new treatment discoveries for rhabdomyosarcoma. ... to succeed, we really need your help!

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Megan discusses community partnering

Our rhabdomyosarcoma crowdfunding project at the Consano website is described here, and the Megan's short personal introduction can be seen in this video.

Welcoming Matthew!

Matthew joined our laboratory in May with the major responsibility of implementing

the Rally Foundation-sponsored childhood cancer tumor repository. He earned a Bachelor’s 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 enrolled in a Paramedic Certification program at Malcom X College in Chicago, IL where he was privileged to complete his field internship with the Chicago Fire Department on ambulances serving the South Side of Chicago. Matthew is interested in pursuing a career as a Physician-Scientist in the future.

epub now available: review of rhabdomyosarcoma differentiation

a review by collaborator Denis Guttridge and our lab addressing approaches to cellular differentiation in rhabdomyosarcoma now appear in the FEBS Journal.

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

sarcoma infographic

From the community by way of the Liddy Shriver Sarcoma Initiative comes this sarcoma infographic.

Monday, July 1, 2013

Noah, the 2013 Scott Carter Fellow

Our warmest welcome to Noah, who recently graduated from Texas Tech University with a Masters degree in engineering and will be the 2013 Scott Carter Fellow. We are grateful to the Scott Carter Foundation, who make possible Noah's fellowship to define computational approaches to drug combinations for sarcoma therapy.

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.