The Keller Laboratory at cc-TDI

Monday, February 4, 2013

Dupont creates new opportunities

The recent change in policy by Dupont with regard to the Oncomouse patent opens the door to academic-pharma collaboration. It may also be possible to streamline development of novel drug testing by creating a non-profit company or organization for this specific purpose. Rhabdomyosarcoma, Inc? Would members of the community have interest in such an endeavor?

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Congratulations to Lara, Nicolle and GH

Congratulations to Lara, Nicolle and GH on their recent manuscript acceptance to Pediatric Blood & Cancer. In this study, Lara & Nicolle describe a first-approach to canine osteosarcoma (as a model for human osteosarcoma). Co-authors include Colorado State faculty Bernard Seguin, Oregon State University faculty Shay Bracha, Stuart Hefland, John Mata and Kevin Marley, Druker laboratory members Marc Loriaux and Jeff Tyner, Keller lab alumnist Elaine, and current Keller lab member Jinu. This work, some of our earliest on canine osteosarcoma, was supported to a great extent by the Scott Carter Foundation and the Thrasher Research Fund.

This study is now available online here and is the cover article of the print version issue.

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Lara's video interview for Damon Runyon Foundation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4ax5y8YlO0&sns=em

We are very proud that Lara is a Damon Runyon-Sohn Fellow. The Foundation interviewed its fellows recently, and the interview of Lara describing her project can be seen here. A critical part of Lara's project is a computational approach to determining targeted drug combinations, which is made possible through the innovation of our collaborators, Ranadip Pal and Noah Berlow.

Lara is very passionate about finding new treatments for even the most challenging individual cases of osteosarcoma in pediatric, adolescent and young adults. It means a lot to have her on our team.

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Welcoming Mathew

We are fortunate to have a new physician(surgeon)-scientist training in our laboratory, Dr. Mathew Geltzeiler. Mathew Geltzeiler first visited Oregon in high school when he descended Mt. Hood for ski race training during the summers. He then studied neuroscience at Brown University and medicine at Boston University during which time he had numerous publications in clinical prostate cancer research. He is currently a third year resident in Head and Neck Surgery at OHSU. He has an interest in Head and Neck Oncology and applications of Personalized Cancer Care (his 6 month residency research project in the lab). In his free time, he continues to ski at Mt. Hood as well avidly hike, camp and photograph nature.

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Technology Transfer Achievement Award

Our laboratory is grateful to the OHSU Technology Transfer and Business Development Office for the award of the 2012 Technology Transfer Achievement Award. It is actually the other way around... the staff at the TTBDO that deserve the award! The team of Travis Cook, Ruth Epling and (especially) Tommy Pham make possible relationships with businesses and pharmaceutical makers that open new avenues of exploration in the mission to create tangible new therapies for childhood cancer. This is a unique group of professionals... they are advocates of the children and families touched by these cancers, and this team is integral to our research program. We thank Tommy, Ruth and Travis for all that they do.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Patient Wall: our thanks to many

We are grateful to all the families across the world that contributed to the laboratory patient wall at OHSU. These families, touched by cancer, remind us not only of why innovation and time are of the essence, but also that cancer does not define these families, and there is childhood to return to once cancer is a uniformly curable condition.

The generous employees of Planar made possible the digital presentations of more than 300 family pictures. Most of the credit in designing and implementing the wall goes to lab member, Jen Alabran, whose scientific expertise is matched only by her compassion for children with cancer.

We look forward to the day of Giving Back Childhood to all children touched by cancer.

[additional photos will be accepted on a continuing basis for families wishing to share their photos and stories. contact Charles via keller(at)ohsu.edu ]

Friday, October 19, 2012

The Not-so-Skinny on Muscle Cancer

Click here to read Ken's Cancer Cell commentary on this report of a mouse model of embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma derived from white and brown fat progenitor cells.

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.