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Feature
Stories: Kidney Cancer
Circumventing
angiogenic escape mechanisms in kidney cancer |
Much like Houdini, who
freed himself from handcuffs and shackles, tumors find
clever routes of escape from VEGF receptor inhibitors, a new class of
drugs heralded for prolonging the survival of patients with renal cell
carcinoma
(RCC), the most common kidney cancer. In recent months, a team of
DF/HCC investigators has been studying these angiogenic escape
mechanisms and
searching for new therapies to circumvent them. [more]
"X" marks the
spot for new Wilms' tumor gene
When investigators went hunting for a gene implicated in Wilms' tumor - the
most common pediatric kidney cancer - they found it in an unlikely spot. The new gene, called WTX,
is the first tumor suppressor gene
discovered on the X chromosome and, unlike other tumor suppressors,
requires only a single damaging mutation or deletion to inactivate it. [more]
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Spotlight
Brigham and Women's Hospital: Signature
strengths advance cancer research
Brigham
and Women's Hospital, renowned for excellence in
patient care, research, and teaching, traces its roots in medicine back
to 1832. Throughout its long history, the institution has achieved
milestones
in clinical, population, and basic research within the formal structure
of individual departments. That research model is beginning to change. [more]
Q&A
with Jeff Clark: Recent steps streamline clinical trials process
 Jeffrey Clark's
appointment as medical
director of Clinical Trials Operations at DF/HCC became official about
two months ago, but the helm is hardly new to him. For over a decade,
Clark
has guided investigators through the clinical trials process, and
beginning last year, he helped pilot a comprehensive effort to enhance
and
streamline clinical trial review, activation, and monitoring. [more]
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Leadership
Since our last edition of eNews, the following members have assumed new DF/HCC leadership
positions:
David
Kwiatkowski, MD, PhD (BWH), Leader, Cancer Genetics Program
Nicholas Dyson,
PhD (MGH), Co-Leader, Cancer Genetics Program
Charles Stiles,
PhD (DFCI), Co-Leader, Neuro-Oncology Program
Paul Catalano,
ScD (DFCI), Director, Biostatistics Core
Hans-Olov Adami
MD, PhD (HSPH), Associate Director, Population Science
Howard Koh, MD,
MPH (HSPH), Leader, Cancer Disparities Program
A. Lindsay
Frazier, MD, SM (HMS), Co-Leader, Cancer Risk Reduction Program
Frank Kuo, MD,
PhD (BWH), Director, Virtual Specimen Locator
Thirty-eight individuals from our seven member institutions have recently joined DF/HCC. Learn
more
about these scientists and their research interests.
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More on
Cores
Community Practice
Core
Director: Larissa
Nekhlyudov, MD, MPH
The Community Practice
Core
(CPC) offers DF/HCC investigators access to a clinical laboratory of
over ten million patients within Harvard Vanguard Medical
Associates, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, and the HMO Cancer Research
Network. These large, diverse populations are ideal for studies
in basic,
clinical and population sciences; addressing topics in cancer
screening, prevention, treatment and quality of care; as well as
dissemination. The CPC
provides DF/HCC investigators access to comprehensive computerized
patient and provider data including medical records, pathology and
radiology
reports, tumor registry data, and offers support to members developing
research proposals within these community practice settings. Learn more
about
the core's work with Karen Emmons, PhD (DFCI), and Stuart Schnitt, MD
(BIDMC). [more]
Monoclonal Antibody
Directors: James DeCaprio,
MD and Laura Corral, PhD
The Monoclonal Antibody
Core
produces novel monoclonal antibodies for use in basic research, drug
discovery, and clinical applications including diagnosis,
surrogate markers for disease status, response to therapy, and drug
toxicity. Services include molecular cloning and scale-up of
immunization
antigens to
purification of the resulting antibodies. Researchers can choose to
have all of the phases of antibody production conducted by the core or
perform
particular steps in their own lab. Learn about the antibodies this core
produced for William Hahn, MD, PhD (DFCI) and William Kaelin, MD
(DFCI). [more]
Rodent
Histopathology
Director: Thomas Benjamin,
PhD
Pathologist: Roderick Bronson, DVM
The Rodent
Histopathology Core
provides technical, professional, and educational services on rodent
pathology. The core offers high quality mouse
dissection, tissue processing, histological slide preparation from
paraffin embedded and frozen tissues, and expert interpretation of
paraffin-embedded, hematoxylin, and eosin stained slides. Learn about
the core's pathology work for Bruce Spiegelman, PhD (DFCI). [more]
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News and
Events
DF/HCC offers multiple members-only funding
opportunities
DF/HCC announces a new small grant
program available year-round that will provide up to $5,000 for new seminars, meetings, symposia, or retreats designed to
encourage interactions and collaborations among members and to stimulate the pursuit of new research themes.
Other year-round grants that are available from DF/HCC include:
Timely Special Opportunity Awards:
Awards of up to $10,000 enhance the ability
of program leaders and core directors to respond to new
time-sensitive projects or opportunities that will contribute
to their
program or core. Projects might involve new technology development, the
purchase of a piece of equipment not planned for in the annual
budgeting
process, or programmatic research opportunities of a timely nature.
New Minority Faculty Recruitment: Awards of up to $100,000 to provide partial
funding for the recruitment of new faculty (new faculty must be eligible for DF/HCC membership) from under-represented racial/ethnic or disadvantaged
backgrounds (URM) to a DF/HCC member institution.
Pilot Projects Program for Current URM Faculty: Awards of up to $75,000 to
provide pilot project funding for existing DF/HCC URM faculty who are doing innovative cancer research.
For more information on these and other DF/HCC funding opportunities, visit
the funding section of the DF/HCC website.
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Aster awarded Marshall A. Lichtman Specialized
Center of Research Grant
DF/HCC Member Jon
Aster, MD, PhD (BWH), has received one of three new
Marshall A. Lichtman Specialized Center of Research (SCOR) grants
awarded by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in 2007. Aster will
receive $6.25m in
total costs over five years. The SCOR, entitled "Targeting the Notch
Pathway," consists of four projects:
Targeting Extracellular Notch
Stephen Blacklow, MD, PhD (BWH)
Targeting Intracellular Notch
James Bradner, MD (DFCI)
Novel
Notch Inhibitors and Enhancers
Jon Aster, MD, PhD (BWH)
Identifying the Leukemia Initiating Cell in T-ALL
Warren Pear, MD, PhD
Four DF/HCC members receive NIH Director's New
Innovator Award
Despite current
constraints, the NIH continues to award funding to a number
of DF/HCC research initiatives. Recently, these awards
included four NIH Director's New Innovator Awards, which provide
support to promising
investigators who have yet to become PIs on an R01 or equivalent grant,
or leaders of a P01 or center grant peer-reviewed project. The concept
behind
this new funding mechanism is that these individuals often have
exceptionally innovative research ideas, but lack the required
preliminary data to
compete successfully in the traditional peer review system at this
stage in their careers.
In total, the NIH awarded 29 Innovator Awards this year. Each awardee will
receive approximately $2.5m in total costs over five years. The four DF/HCC recipients and their projects are:
Defining Melanoma Therapeutic Avenues by Integrative Functional Genomics
Levi Garraway, MD, PhD (DFCI)
Revealing Pathogen-Sensing Pathways Using RNAi Libraries
Nir Hacohen, PhD (MGH)
Reprogramming of Somatic Cells by Defined Factors
Konrad Hochedlinger, MSc, PhD (MGH)
MicroRNA Biogenesis and the Cancer Proteome
Mark Johnson, MD, PhD (BWH)
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Save the
Date
Cancer Prevention Dialogue Series: Otis Brawley, MD, Chief Medical
Officer of the American Cancer Society
On January 16, Otis Brawley, MD, chief
medical officer for the American Cancer Society and a
renowned leader in the field of health disparities research, will
be speaking to the Harvard community on disparities-related
issues such
as cancer outcomes and how to equalize treatment differences. The
lecture will be held at the Harvard School of Public
Health, Kresge
502, and is sponsored by the DF/HCC Cancer Disparities Program. [more]
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Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center
Central Administration
44 Binney Street, BP332A
Boston, MA 02115
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