Janet Davison Rowley, M.D., is the Blum Riese Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine, Molecular Genetics & Cell Biology and Human Genetics at The University of Chicago. She is an American human geneticist and the first scientist to identify a chromosomal translocation as the cause of leukemia and other cancers. Rowley is internationally renowned for her studies of chromosome abnormalities in human leukemia and lymphoma, which have led to dramatically improved survival rates for previously incurable cancers and the development of targeted therapies. In 1999 President Clinton awarded her the National Medal of Science--the nation's highest scientific honor. White House Press Release

In a show devoted to a discussion of breast cancer, one of the leading authorities on cancer risk assessment, Dr. Olufunmilayo Olopade, explains the research, efforts and resources available. And, breast cancer survivors Diahann Carroll and Jessica Queller share their experiences. Watch (Travis Smiley, PBS.org, July 10, 2009)

Dr. Charles Huggins, the first Director of the Ben May Department for Cancer Research at the University of Chicago, was awarded the Nobel Prize for discovering that hormones are required for breast and prostate cancer growth, a discovery that led to the design of more effective cancer treatments. To celebrate Dr. Huggins great discovery, and recent advances in cancer research, we cordially invite you to the Seventh Annual Charles B. Huggins Lectures, a series of eight lectures describing some of the frontiers of modern science. The lectures are designed for the University community and the public at large.  You need not have a background in biological sciences; we appeal to your curiosity and invite you to share the excitement of modern scientific research.

The Seventh Annual Charles B. Huggins Lectures Presented by Wei Xu
Committee on Cancer Biology, Barbara Kee Laboratory

"Blood, Stem Cells and Cancer of the Blood"
January 10 through February 28, 2009, 11 A.M. - 12 P.M.
(8 Consecutive Saturdays)
Billings Auditorium, Room AMB P117

Wei Xu Lecture Notes - General Huggins Information

Originally from Rockford, Illinois, Sylvester moved to Georgia when she was 15 years old. She attended college at Howard University in Washington, D.C. where she received her BS in biology... Full Version (Imprint, Spring 2009, pg. 6)

Bernard Liu, of the Committee on Cancer Biology, won a travel scholarship to a Keystone Symposia conference entitled “Omics Meets Cell Biology,” held in
Breckenridge, Colorado. His advisor is Dr. Piers Nash. Full Version (Imprint, Spring 2009, pg. 7)

Learning how leukemia takes over privileged "niches" within the bone marrow is helping researchers develop treatment strategies that could protect healthy blood-forming stem cells and improve the outcomes of bone marrow transplantation for leukemia and other types of cancer... Full Version

A person diagnosed with therapy-related acute myeloid leukemia (t-AML), a cancer that typically arises five years after successful treatment of a first cancer, will live on average just eight months after his or her diagnosis. To address the dynamic nature of this cancer as well as myriad other complex diseases, a new, interdisciplinary approach to medicine that combines a wide array of disciplines with the talents of a number of researchers has been established. Dubbed “systems biology,” this new approach is the impetus behind a groundbreaking project led by a nationally recognized team of experts at the University of Chicago Medical Center. Combining cutting-edge blood stem cell research with genomic analysis, clinical trial work, and informatics—the study and engineering of information systems—this project has the potential to radically change cancer science...Cover Story (Legacy, Vol. 24, May 2009)

Brooke Sylvester, of the Committee on Cancer Biology, received the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (F31 grant) from the National Cancer Institute. Her advisor is Dr. Olufunmilayo Olopade. Full Version (Imprint, Fall 2008, pg. 11)

Marcus E. Peter, PhD, professor in the Ben May Department for Cancer Research, has identified a microRNA (miR-200) that is present in epithelial (less invasive) tumors, but not in mesenchymal (more invasive) tumors. Peter and his team found that miR-200 plays a role in regulating epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT), and that introduction of miR-200 can reverse tumors from the more-invasive to the less-invasive form. Consequently, miR-200 may be used to stage tumor development, and might be a good target for new forms of cancer treatment. Full Version (Imprint, Summer 2008, pg. 5)

After a competitive review process, the BSD Travel Awards Committee chose to support eight students for travel to national meetings in Winter and Spring 2008. Students awarded funds include: Gregory Darnell (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology), to give a talk at the American Crystallographic Association Symposium; W. Vallen Graham (Pathology), to give both a poster and a talk at Experimental Biology 2008; Jin Huang (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology), to give a poster at the Keystone Symposia: Frontiers of Structural Biology; Daniel Matute (Ecology and Evolution), to give a poster at the 49th Annual Drosophila Research Conference; Atsushi Tanaka (Immunology) to give both a poster and a talk at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory: Gene Expression and Signaling in the Immune System; Wenjun Ziong (Cancer Biology) to give a talk at the 49th Annual Drosophila Research Conference; Dan Yu (Pathology) to give a talk at Digestive DiseaseWeek 2008; and Yading Yuan (Medical Physics), to give a talk at the SPIE Medical Imaging Symposium. The BSD Travel Fund was generously created by an award from the University of Chicago Women’s Travel Board in 2004 and continues with support from alumni donations. Full Version (Imprint, Summer 2008, pg. 13)

A New Genetic Variant
Separate research at the university has uncovered two tiny genetic variations that may help scientists fi nd more precise ways to estimate prostate cancer risk and improve screening and early detection for men of African descent. Researchers from the University of Chicago and the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) in Phoenix, Ariz., reported the results in the December 2007 issue of the journal Genome Research. The researchers set out to determine whether results from four previous studies that linked genetic variations on one region of chromosome 8 to increased prostate cancer risk among Caucasians also were valid for men of African heritage. In the process, however, they found an additional genetic variation among African-American men that was an even stronger marker for cancer risk for these men. That variation is located within a gene that plays a role in DNA repair. A malfunction in DNA repair could contribute to cancer development. “This fi nding emphasizes the importance of ancestry in studying genetics,” said study author Rick Kittles, PhD, associate professor of medicine... Full Version (Chicago Medicine, Spring 2008, pg. 7)

Four Chicago faculty members have won National Institutes of Health grants to pursue biological sciences research crossing disciplinary
boundaries. In the BSD, psychiatrist Kristen Jacobson and hematologist/oncologist Dorothy Sipkins each received $1.5 million grants. Jacobson will study the effects of individuals, family, peers and neighborhood on adolescent problem behavior. Sipkins will investigate molecular characteristics of microenvironments within bone marrow and how normal, healthy hematopoietic stem cells compete with malignant cells to occupy these coveted niches. Physicist Margaret Gardel and chemist Rustem Ismagilov were awarded $2.5 million each. Gardel will study differences between living, biological matter and inert, physical matter, which could lead to new therapies for cancer and other diseases. Ismagilov studies microfl uidic technologies—the flow of fl uids through channels thinnerthan a human hair—for aging and disease research... Full Version (Chicago Medicine, Spring 2008, pg. 7)

Maciej Lesniak, MD, Associate Professor of Surgery (Neurosurgery), has received NIH grants for “Novel Combination Treatments for Brain Tumors” and “Conditionally Replicative Adenoviral Vectors for Malignant Glioma.”

Mrinal Shah, of the Committee on Cancer Biology, received the American Association for Cancer Research-Busch Scholar-in-Training Award and will give a presentation at the annual meeting in April. Her advisor is Dr. Lucy Godley. Full Version (Imprint, Spring 2008, pg. 8)

At the Biomedical Sciences Retreat April 25-27 at Lake Lawn Resort in Delavan, Wisconsin, the following awards were given out: Best Overall Presenation went to William Zeiger (Department of Pathology/Molecular Pathology and Molecular Medicine, Thinakaran Lab) for “Mechanism of Stanniocalcin 2 Mediated
Neuroprotection”; Best Predoctoral Oral Presentation went to Benjamin Boyerinas (Committee on Cancer Biology, Peter Lab) for “Identification of Let-7 Regulated Oncofetal Genes”; and Best Overall Predoctoral Poster Presentation went to Sogyong Auh (Department of Pathology/Molecular Pathology and Molecular Medicine, Fu Lab) for “Anti-tumor Response by Radiation is Dependent on Adaptive Immunity: The Role of Type 1 Interferons.” There was a tie for Best Predoctoral Poster Presentation: Adam Savage (Committee on Immunology, Bendelac Lab) for “Zbtb 16 is Critical for NKT Cell Development” and Stefani Eames (Committee on Molecular Metabolism and Nutrition) for “Genetically Targeted Calcium Indicator Facilitates Functional Imagin of Beta-cells in Live Zebrafish.” At the Retreat, they also gave Best Teaching Assistant Awards to the following students: Shamsideen Musa, Committee on Cancer Biology, for CABI 300800: Introduction to Cancer Biology, Autumn 2007; Jeannette Messer, Committee on Immunology, for IMMU 31200: Host Pathogen Interactions, Autumn 2007; Claire Cornelius, Committee on Microbiology, for MICR 35900: Medical Microbiology, Autumn 2007; Arpad Danos, Committee on Molecular Metabolism and Nutrition, for BIOS 25226: Endocrinology I: Cell Signaling, Autumn 2007; and William Zieger for PATH 30100: Cellular Pathology and Immunology, Autumn 2007. Full Version (Imprint, Summer 2008, pg. 13)

Learn about cancer and immune system interactions as well as cancer therapies from a University Medical Center expert in a series of eight free lectures beginning Saturday, Jan. 12.
During the sixth annual Charles B. Huggins Lecture Series, cancer and immunology specialist Judy Cannon, a postdoctoral fellow in Medicine, Section of Pulmonary and Critical Care, will talk about how knowing the immune system can help doctors and patients better understand and treat cancer. (Chronicle, January 2008)

The fellowship includes a 10 to 12 week internship at Abbott Laboratories. Liu also won the Committee on Cancer Biology Ehrman Award which recognizes senior students working in the field of cancer biology. His advisor is Dr. Piers Nash.

The University of Chicago and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) have launched a new Interdisciplinary Scientist Training Program (ISTP) to train graduate students at Chicago and HHMI's new Janelia Farm Research Campus (JFRC) in Loudoun County, Virginia. The goal of the program is to combine the exceptional academic resources of the University and the highly interdisciplinary research environment of Janelia Farm to train "well-prepared, highly committed, and gifted studets" in the biomedical sciences. The University is one of two partner institutions for the new program, the other being Cambridge University, and the first student began his study in the fall. "Graduate study in biology needs to change," said Dr. Harinder Singh, HHMI investigator and Louis Block Professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology, who is directing the Chicago program. "We need to give students interdisciplinary training and take advantage of multiple mentors." (The Imprint, Fall 2007)

Harinder Singh, Chicago's Louis Block professor of molecular genetics and cell biology, has developed an approach that models the cell-fate mechanism as a circuit, much as an engineer design an electrical circuit. But where an electrical circuit might map how a light is turned on or off, Singh's circuit maps how genetic triggers turn on gene sets that determine whether a cell becomes a macrophage or neutrophil. Described in an August 2006 Cell, Singh's first cell-fate circuit holds broad promise, he says, that could help create entirely new cell types for therapeutic purposes.
The circuit--a mathematical model of the cell-fate mechanism--was developed using data from an elaborate experimental system. "In biology, generally speaking, people are experimentalists," says Singh, also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. "We need to better integrate theoretical analysis with the traditional experimental analysis we've been doing in the past." (The University of Chicago Magazine, July-August 2007).