The Keller Laboratory at cc-TDI

Friday, August 29, 2014

2014 Rhabdomyosarcoma Pico-course

It was an exciting week for the participants of the 2014 Rhabdomyosarcoma Pico-course. The

goal was to evaluate progress 2000-2014 in cooperative group clinical trials of new agents for rhabdomyosarcoma. The students concluded that in such trials >525 patients had been planned, at a potential overall cost well exceeding $4.7M (not counting the expense of the drugs themselves). Many of the results of these clinical trials are still pending. That said, this was a very hardworking group of students who really came together for a high-level project and did a terrific job.

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Muscle Differentiation as Rhabdomyosarcoma Therapy

Matthew from our lab wrote this commentary in Cancer Cell, which frames the question of how soon myo-differentiation therapy will be feasible for childhood muscle cancer. The commentary discusses the article here. Graphic illustration by Nick Escobar.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

a tool for innovation

We are grateful to the Alex' Lemonade Stand Foundation for our new instrument, a Form1 3D printer. With this device we can generate custom tissue culture incubation chambers. This project is pioneered by Kirsten and Richard this Summer. stay tuned!

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

congratulations, Jinu!

[07/14/14] The article, Lineage of origin in rhabdomyosarcoma informs pharmacological response, is now available here.

[06/03/14] Congratulations to Jinu whose paper was recently accepted for publication to Genes & Development. This work was funded in part by NIH as well as the Scott Carter Foundation. Clinical translation is hopefully possible, and thus additional preclinical studies with cooperative group and pharmaceutical partners are in discussion. We are grateful to all our collaborators, especially Atiya Mansoor (OHSU), Joel Michalek and Ben Ehler and Monica Suelves (IMPPC).

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Welcoming Kirsten

We are excited to have Kirsten on our team this Summer. Kirsten is an orthopedic surgery resident with a keen interest in tissue engineering.

" I graduated from the University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Medicine in 2011 with my MD and BA in Biology through the combined MD/BA program. Shortly, thereafter I moved to Portland to start my 5 years of residency training in Orthopaedic Surgery at OHSU. My interests in the field include joint reconstruction and orthopaedic oncology. I hope to bring the unique perspective of a surgeon scientist to Dr. Keller's lab as we work to develop a 3D in vitro sarcoma model system. In my free time I enjoy playing disc golf and spoiling my cats. Kirsten "

Monday, July 7, 2014

...on accelerating the development of new treatments for childhood cancer

Sunday, July 6, 2014

Welcoming Richard

We are privileged to have engineering undergraduate student, Richard, join our team as a Summer intern.

"I am a sophomore at The University of Notre Dame. This opportunity at the Keller Laboratory excites me because it gives me a chance to challenge myself and develop a deeper understanding of how research is conducted. As an individual who has been affected by the loss of loved ones to various forms of cancer, the implications of the research at The Keller Laboratory are especially important to me as well as thousands of others who are personally affected by cancer."

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.