Welcoming Imran !

We're excited to welcome medical student Imran Aslam to our laboratory. Imran graduated from the University of Houston in May 2008 with a B.S. in Biology and a minor in Chemistry. He has been interested in medicine from a young age, having had the unique opportunity to shadow Dr. Jonathan C. Trent at his MD Anderson clinic during high school and college. Imran joined Dr. Trent's sarcoma research laboratory as a college junior. He is grateful to his mentor who allowed him the privilege to work in such a dynamic, focused lab environment. During this time Imran's project was to evaluate the role of the cytokine receptor CXCR4 in small cell sarcoma. Imran is currently a first year medical student at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio and will continue his research training through the MD with Distinction in Research program as a member of our laboratory.

Rhabdomyosarcoma Therapeutics Study published today in Oncogene

Congratulations to Eri and her co-authors Koichi and Mandy on the publication today of their study, "PDGFR-A is a Therapeutic Target in Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma". Our paper was published in the advanced online edition of the journal Oncogene. This study reveals a very promising new category of non-chemotherapy drugs to try in this disease, as we have done in our mouse model. Moving our results to the clinic will require close attention and some further study of how tumors become resistant to this drug class in about 1/3 of cases. These follow-up studies are currently being undertaken by Corrine and Eri. Further description of our study is given on Newswise.

[ UPDATE (Nov 2008) The formal version of Eri's article is now available. ]

Collaborator Spotlight: Dr. Brian Rubin

Brian P. Rubin, MD, PhD is our pathologist collaborator and scientific colleague. Dr. Rubin is Associate Professor of Anatomic Pathology and Director of Soft Tissue Pathology at the
Cleveland Clinic and the Lerner Research Institute and Taussig Cancer Center. He studies mouse models of sarcoma himself, having generated an exciting genetically-engineered model of gastrointestinal stromal tumour (GIST). The original description of the model was reported in Cancer Research. GIST shares many features in common with rhabdomyosarcoma, including the activation of growth factor receptors. We're grateful to collaborate with Brian.

[in the picture we see both Brian in a relaxed setting (vacation at a chateau) as well as in his scientific mode, inset.]

Medulloblastoma grant awarded from the St Baldrick's Foundation

The St. Baldrick's Foundation has awarded our research team a one year grant for the study, "Reversal of Shh-Driven Medulloblastoma by Proteasome Inhibitors". This is an exciting award for this therapeutics project that follows the initial mouse brain tumor model developed in as an award from the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation. This new project is being led by postdoctoral fellow, Eri Taniguchi, PhD.

Conquer Childhood Cancer Act signed by the President

H.R.1553, the Caroline Pryce Walker Conquer Childhood Cancer Act, has been signed by President Bush, authorizing $30 million each year for five years for childhood cancer clinical trials, education and a population-based national database. This is a huge step forward in the effort to make all childhood cancers curable. For more information, view the CureSearch story.

(photo sent by CureSearch)

Texas Public Radio - Witte Museum Event

Yesterday was a lot of fun presenting our patent-pending animal imaging technology at the Hands On Invention event accompanying the "Genius of Leonardo" exhibit at the Witte Museum. This event was sponsored by Texas Public Radio. The best part was to see how interesting the young kids were... and to show that geometry and algebra could really help out down the road for them if they liked this sort of science & technology.

Team Sarcoma San Antonio Event 2008

This morning at the UT Health Science Center San Antonio we had over 30 participants in the Team Sarcoma run/walk. It was a cooler than average morning for South Texas, fortunately! In attendence were sarcoma survivors, researchers and clinical care providers. This event is one of dozens internationally that raise awareness for Sarcoma. Preliminary reports indicate that there were over 8,000 people worldwide involved in the 2008 Team Sarcoma Initiative’s International Sarcoma Awareness Week! These events are coordinated by the Liddy Shriver Sarcoma Initiative. All proceeds benefit sarcoma research. Kudos to organizers Jinu Abraham and Mandy McCleish from our lab but especially colleagues Denice Jimenez and Kim Warshauer at the UTHSCSA Development Office who made this event possible. The event just in San Antonio raised $440 for sarcoma research. We hope we can get even more people involved for the event next year to raise awareness about Sarcoma.

Press Release from the Liddy Shriver Sarcoma Initiative (Liddy's Dad):
8,000 People Join the Team Sarcoma Initiative to Fight a Rare Cancer
"From its humble beginnings in 2003, when seven people who called themselves "Team Sarcoma" biked 200 miles in Louisiana, the Team Sarcoma Initiative has become an international movement. More than 8,000 people worldwide participated in this year's Initiative, surpassing the 3,400 who participated last year. Events in 14 countries were hosted by individuals, advocacy groups and medical centers seeking to raise awareness of sarcoma, a cancer that affects hundreds of thousands of people worldwide."