The Keller Laboratory at cc-TDI

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Growth Factors in Rhabdomyosarcoma

Mary Blandford, Frederic G. Barr, James C. Lynch, R. Lor Randall, Stephen J. Qualman, Charles Keller. “Rhabdomyosarcomas Utilize Developmental Myogenic Growth Factors for Disease Advantage,” Pediatric Blood & Cancer, 2006 Mar; 46(3):329-38 [PubMed UID 16261596]

Wednesday, February 1, 2006

From Sight To Insight: Visualization tools yield biomedical success stories

Visualization tools are reshaping clinical practice and driving biomedical discovery. New strategies for visualizing the difference between bone and blood vessels have sparked insights into how muscle tumors spread and thrive. "Now that we have these new contrast agents and powerful software tools in hand," Keller says, "we're getting an appreciation for how aggressive these tumors are in luring new blood vessels to their leading edge while simultaneously leaving a trail of dying tissue in their wake."

Esther Landhuis. "From Sight To Insight: Visualization tools yield biomedical success stories." Biomedical Computation Review. 2(1)5. February 2006. [interview, figure]

Friday, October 14, 2005

Vasculature in Rhabdomyosarcoma

Gordon L. Kindlmann, David M. Weinstein, Greg M. Jones, Christopher R. Johnson, Mario R. Capecchi, Charles Keller. “Practical Vessel Imaging by Computed Tomography in Live Transgenic Mouse Models for Human Tumors,” Molecular Imaging, 2005 Oct;4(4):417-24 [PubMed UID 16285903]

Comment in: Gary Boas. “Contrast agents improve CT imaging of the liver and vasculature,” Biophotonics International, July 2005, pp.16-17
Comment in: Dennis Meredith. Better than Slice-and-Dice.” HHMI Bulletin, Vol 20 Issue 1, February 2007. http://www.hhmi.org/bulletin/feb2007/chronicle/better.html
Comment in: Vivien Marx, "MOLECULAR IMAGING: Companies set out to sharpen the in vivo perspective with new machines and novel contrast agents," Chemical & Engineering News, July 25, 2005, 83(30)
Comment in: Esther Landhuis. From Sight To Insight: Visualization tools yield biomedical success stories. Biomedical Computation Review. 2(1)6. February 2006

Thursday, September 15, 2005

On the cell of origin of Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma

Charles Keller, Mario R. Capecchi. “New Genetic Tactics to Model Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma in the Mouse,” Cancer Research, 65(17):7530-2, September 2005 [PubMed UID 16140913]

Featured in Dr. Capecchi’s Nobel Lecture

Monday, July 25, 2005

Molecular Imaging: Companies set out to sharpen the in vivo perspective with new machines and novel contrast agents

This was an article published in the magazine C&EN Volume 83, Number 30.

Vivien Marx. Chemical & Engineering News. 07/25/05, 83(30) [interview, figure]

Friday, July 1, 2005

Contrast Agents improve CT imaging of the liver and vasculature

This was an article published in Science Magazine Biophotonics International. ...Investigators also have used this agent for vascular imaging, to solve problems where clinical contrast agents fall short. For example, a group at the Children's Cancer Research Institute of the Univeristy of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio uses volumetric x-ray CT to study transgenic mouse models of solid tumors such as the childhood muscle cancer rhabdomyosarcoma, focusing on imaging of tumor vascular networks. This modality offers high spatial resolution and improved signal-to-noise ratio over previous generations of nonvolumetric small-animal CT scanners, but the scan time is relatively long, leading to clearance of clinical iodinated contrast agents tens of minutes before the stain is completed. The vasuclar agent helps address this issue. Various formulations of the agent allow medium and long blood-pool times, easily permitting 20- to 24-minute live animal scans at a 93-um resolution, "so venules and arterioles can be resolved," said researcher Charles Keller. Also, it features a lower iodine content than clinical contrast agents, making it easier to identify the vessels for computer-based image rendering and sementation.

Gary Boas. Biophotonics International, July 2005. pp.16-17 [interview, figure]

Sunday, May 15, 2005

Ming Jung Cho (Postdoctoral Fellow, 5/15/05 - present)

Min Jung Cho is an Invitee-Attendee to the 2006 AACR "Molecular Biology in Clinical Oncology" Workshop.

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.