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Every October, scientists and the public from around the world eagerly await the announcement of the winners of the Nobel Prize in Medicine. This year, the prize was given to three U.S. scientists for the discovery and identification of telomeres and telomerase, a process that seals off the tips of chromosomes like the cap on the end of shoelaces, and is a key to understanding both aging and cancer.

Telomeres are essentially caps that protect the ends of chromosomes. The telomerase enzyme determines the length of the caps. The longer the caps, the more frequent the chromosomes can be copied, therefore, controlling how often the cell divides.

The potential impact of this discovery is obvious. Inhibiting the enzyme activity can reduce the cell capacity to divide, a hallmark of cancer. In aging cells, the caps, or telomeres, become shorter. Thus, maintaining telomerase activity may prevent aging.

The Nobel Committee cited the scientists' work that was published approximately 30 years ago (telomeres in 1978 and telomerase in 1985). This means that two of the recipients were in their 30s and one was in her 20s when they made these discoveries.

Intriguing selection process
The secretive nomination and selection process of the committee remains intriguing, and continuously generates rumors and fascinating stories. According to Alfred Nobel's instructions in his will, the committee members should always be selected from the Karolinska Institute faculty in Stockholm.  In 1901, the committee included 19 members. Today, it includes 50. A total of 195 individuals have received the Nobel Prize in Medicine.

I visited Karolinska Institute in 1999, and had the opportunity to meet with its president, Dr. Hans Wigzell. At the time, Dr. Wigzell was the chairman of the Nobel Assembly that awards the prize in medicine. The following year I invited him to visit M. D. Anderson and to give a lecture on his scientific work in immunology. However, my hidden agenda was to get him to meet with our young medical oncology fellows, to discuss the award and to inspire them. He graciously accepted the invitation.

As planned, Dr. Wigzell met with our fellows in a small conference room over coffee and bagels. The informal meeting lasted 90 minutes, and the discussion spanned many interesting topics and anecdotes regarding the Nobel Prize. Although he couldn't reveal any secrets, he provided very important facts and insights.

The first fact was that nominations are kept very secretive and are not released to the public. You know that you got the prize when someone calls you from Stockholm early in the morning, shortly before the announcement is made public. So this is not like the Oscars. Although several investigators are nominated on a short list, the names remain secret and, therefore, there is no reward or even an acknowledgement for being nominated. Nothing to write about in your C.V.

The second fact was that no matter how important the discovery might be, the award is given only to a living scientist. No award is given after death.

The third, and most important observation that I recall from our meeting with Hans Wigzell, was that the majority of awards were given to scientists for discoveries that they made when they were young, mostly when they were in their 30s. A remarkable observation that strongly endorses the notion than many creative ideas come from young, unestablished investigators.

However, these discoveries have to be validated over time, and thus the awards are frequently given 20-30 years after their discoveries. This year's award was no exception.

Funding the young still critical
As research funds continue to decrease, a debate in the scientific community is focusing on who should get more research support: established senior investigators or new junior investigators. No one argues that established senior investigators should continue to receive research funding. However, a quick look at the history of the Nobel Prize and its laureates should convince everyone that funding young investigators is also critical for the continued progress through major discoveries that will have the greatest impact on humanity.
 

Leukemia Studies Earned Claudia Miller NIH National Research Service Award

By Sara Farris, Staff Writer

Brownsville native Claudia Miller, Ph.D., credits her father, a science teacher, for cultivating her interest in research. She wanted to do something to help people, and it was during a summer program at the University of Utah where she realized that research would be her answer.

"The program at Utah showed me the impact I could have with my research and that I didn't have to be a doctor to help people," Miller says. "I chose cancer research because I lived in Houston, and I knew of M. D. Anderson's reputation, but most importantly because cancer is a disease that affects everyone in some way, either directly or indirectly."

As a student in The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston (GSBS), Miller volunteered for two years with the school's outreach program, primarily working with and teaching disadvantaged youth in the classroom about science. She then served as coordinator for the program for four years.

Her commitment to science education, research and community service earned Miller the Butcher Award from the graduate school and led her to being selected as one of four President's Research Scholars. 

In 2004, after completing her master's degree and starting work on her doctorate, Claudia joined the lab of Joya Chandra, Ph.D., associate professor in the Children's Cancer Hospital at M. D. Anderson.

"Now that I've worked in Joya's lab for five years, I can honestly say that her students are the luckiest," Miller says. "She is an excellent mentor, and she has really made a difference in my life as a researcher, student and as a person."

Miller has given four oral presentations at AACR and one at the American Society of Hematology annual conference. She also has been the first author on two papers published in the journal Blood for her work with a novel proteasome inhibitor, NPI-0052.

Miller's and Chandra's latest research with NPI-0052 showed, for the first time, that the proteasome inhibitor shares similar functions as the histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor, vorinostat. These cross-over similarities between the two anti-cancer agents increased cell death in chronic lymphocytic leukemia five-fold in preclinical tests. For acute leukemia, the efficacy was even greater.

She was selected for the National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of Health based on her outstanding research in leukemia with proteasome inhibitors and HDAC inhibitors. The award is a fellowship grant that covers three years of research. 

"Claudia is a very special student. She is very meticulous and pays attention to detail, which is the key to success in scientific research," Chandra says. "She has a high standard for quality, is very motivated and interested in finding the answers through research, and she is always willing to take the time to share her expertise and teach others about her findings."

Miller has received her doctorate and continues to work in Chandra's lab.

By Dawn Dorsey, staff writer

Being an accomplished researcher demands painstaking adherence to detail and a firm grasp of the scientific method. But success also requires qualities more difficult to quantify -- independent thinking, integrity, and respect for science and people.

When he mentors a budding scientist, Keping Xie, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor in M. D. Anderson's Departments of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology and Cancer Biology, models and nurtures these traits. As a staff research scientist in Xie's lab, Qiang Li, Ph.D., has learned his lessons well.

Li, who recently was first author on a paper in Cancer Research, received his doctorate this spring from The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston (GSBS). The GSBS is a joint program of M. D. Anderson and The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

A pivotal study

Li's study examined the role of transcription factor FoxM1b (mammalian forkhead box) in gastric cancer. Transcription factors are proteins that bind to DNA and control the transfer of genetic information.

Among the findings was a strong correlation between FoxM1b and gastric cancer in humans. In mouse models, over-expression of FoxM1b significantly promoted growth and metastasis of gastric cancer cells, whereas decrease of FoxM1b expression by small interfering RNA had the opposite effect.

Although gastric cancer, also known as stomach cancer, is not common in the United States, this dangerous cancer is the second most prevalent around the world. In this country, 21,130 new cases of stomach cancer will be diagnosed this year, and 10,620 people will die from the disease.

"The underlying mechanism that causes gastric cancer is still unknown," Li says. "There is no effective therapy, especially for advanced disease. It's very important to identify why this cancer starts and grows and to develop drugs to treat it."

"These are very interesting findings," Xie says. "We suggest FOXM1b has a molecular connection with gastric cancer and drives it from low malignancy to high. In the future, this information may be a prognostic and diagnostic factor and provide a targeted therapy."

Personal traits are key

Xie says it's not enough for a researcher to know how to go through the motions of investigation.

"A scientist isn't just a machine that does experiments," he says. "A good scientist has to be a good person -- caring, honest, respectful, a team worker and a good leader. Integrity is the foundation."

Li, who received his master's degree from Shangai Medical University, was drawn to Xie's lab because of ample opportunity to be involved in a broad variety of translational research projects. He's worked in Xie's lab for six years and will remain for six months to finish his research and, he hopes, publish another paper.

"Dr. Xie is a role model to me," Li says. "He has given me a lot of inspiring guidance. We communicate a lot about my projects, and he is always available to answer questions or discuss ideas I have."

Independence sets him apart

Xie has been impressed with Li's work ethic, but he's even more pleased that Li shows independence and initiative.

"He's the No. 1 worker in the lab, and he knows how to design and perform research," Xie says. "But more importantly, he has good ideas and proposes projects. Independence is an essential quality. A lot of people can be researchers, but very few qualify to be principal investigators."

Did you know that Mentor, the teacher of Telemachus, Odysseus' son, was actually Athena in disguise? I didn't, until my friend and colleague, Janis Apted, and I were discussing a mentoring talk I was preparing and she related this startling factoid.

The story goes like this. Mentor was an old friend of Odysseus. When Odysseus joined the alliance that sailed against Troy, he left Mentor in charge of keeping his household safe. Several times during that period, Athena assumed the shape of Mentor and became the guide of Telemachus, giving him prudent counsel. Since then, wise and trusted advisers have been called "mentors."

This made me reflect on the times through the ages when women have disguised themselves as men, both literally and figuratively, so they could be taken seriously as professionals. And we're still doing it today.


Remember the blue suits and little bow ties that professional women wore? When I started my career, I told my mother not to buy me anything for work that did not have a jacket. I never presented a talk in anything but a suit. And although things have changed for women in all fields, there's still a sense that we must disguise ourselves -- how we look, how we speak and how we act.

Take for example the photo below of the 26 authors in our book, "Legends and Legacies." These are accomplished women. They're physicians, scientists, department chairs, division heads, vice presidents. However, many of them thought we should dress professionally, in suits and lab coats, to take this photo. But Maria Dungler, the artist behind the book, convinced me and then them, to be seen as women -- and physicians and scientists -- and we produced the Annie Liebovitz-type photo you see here.







I'm so glad that no longer does Athena have to disguise herself as a man.

Legends and Legacies on Facebook

As the associate vice president for women faculty programs, still a relatively new program at M. D. Anderson, I am often asked "What do you do?" and "Why do we need this office?"   
When I think about these questions, it comes down to three issues

We need all the best minds to focus on finding cures and treating cancer.
The frequently quoted figure is that the pipeline for physicians and scientists contains 50% women. This has been true for the last five years, but these numbers aren't reflected in faculty ranks at any institution. More relevant to M. D. Anderson, however, is that 49% of the fellows completing oncologic fellowships are women -- although this percentage is specialty dependent -- but only 24% of practicing oncologists are women. That begs the question, "What happens to these women?"

For the Ph.D.s, we know that the pipeline from assistant professor to professor is leaky. So, by the time we reach the professor rank, the numbers of women have greatly diminished to only 20%. With the impending shortage of oncologists and the projected increase in cancer incidence in our aging population, compounded by the good news of increased numbers of survivors, M. D. Anderson must cultivate and fully engage women scientists and physicians if we are to fulfill our mission of Making Cancer History.

Women Faculty Programs' charge is to initiate and implement initiatives to do just that: recruit, promote and retain women faculty. We work across the board to examine existing policies and recommend revisions, so that they're more aligned with women's (and frequently men's) lives. Examples are extending the tenure/tenure track clock for faculty who have a new child in the family and implementing career development programs. By the way, many of these policies "lift all boats" as they're gender neutral policies.

We also help identify and recruit women to leadership positions in the institution, since it's clear that more women at the top attract more women at all levels of the organization. In addition, our patients tell us that they want doctors who are like them -- men and women, and from a variety of cultures.

Finally, it's good business. Research indicates that organizations with the highest   representation of women on their boards outperform those with the least by 53%. In terms of sales, companies with more women board directors outpace those with fewer by 42%. So, too, with medicine and science. Who could argue with that?

Resources
The other physician-scientist problem: Where have all the young girls gone? (Nature)

A gender gap in the next generation of physician-scientists: medical student interest and participation in research (PubMed)

Legends and Legacies: Personal Journeys of Women Physicians and Scientists at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center

Every July, the new academic year begins for U.S. medical training programs. It's a time when new interns and fellows join new hospitals to learn and to be educated.

In addition to taking care of new patients on their first day of service, they have to adapt to a new environment, know the nurses and doctors, find their way in new buildings and, sometimes, new cities, and take care of their own personal and family matters: the rent, car insurance, schools for their kids and finding new friends. I remember the first day of my July internship very well. When you're a doctor, it's a day that you never forget.

It was 1986. I had just moved to New York City three days before and was still trying to settle in. I found a studio apartment overlooking the Statue of Liberty and New York bay, bought new furniture and kitchenware, insured my car, got my phone and electricity connected, and got my clothes and medical books out of the boxes. Then came July 1st.

On my first day, I was very excited but nervous. The graduating intern introduced me to my newly assigned patients with a big smirk on his face that made me even more nervous. I bet that also made some of the patients nervous. 

In a weak moment, I decided to join the 21st century and "blog" on issues for graduate students and advisors.  Summer is one of the most exciting and busy times for both.  For students having chosen a laboratory in which to pursue their degree, this is usually the first time to spend "full time" in the laboratory.  Those fancy experiments you read about in class- now you actually get to do them!  ... 24hrs a day!  If one is to find joy as a research scientist, surely it is in the thrill of seeing the result of a well-designed experiment for the first time, and possibly the first time anyone has seen such a result.  The senior student's notebook so chock full of data and notes looks less and less intimidating as you begin to develop data of your own.   

We advisors actually visit the lab more often, reacquainting ourselves with what a microscope actually looks like, and often musing about the "good ole days" when we did all of our experiments ourselves.  Far be it for me to put a damper on this excitement, but wizened professors never miss an opportunity to offer advice. 

So...summer often provides the best chances to think beyond the next experiment.  Meaning-read of course.  What professor does not advise you to be current with the literature?  But thinking and breathing deeply are even more advisable.  When you get that sought-after result, what is its context?  Does it move you toward a publication or does it move you toward a discovery? -Not always the same. Yet, thinking about where your data lead means thinking about where your career will lead you.  And advisors?  They (on rare occasion) have the time to think as well, and like nothing better than being interrupted from writing the latest modification to the latest animal protocol by students with new data, new ideas and even new problems.  Summer is an excellent opportunity to take advantage of the successful and failed experiments that led to all that gray hair.  So work hard, focus on the next experiment but gaze into the distance. And the balance?

 Kipling had it about right:  

"If you can dream, and not make dreams your master
If you can think, and not make thoughts your aim..."

And those who might be reading this contemplating graduate school?  Summer is the time to think about where.  And, of course, I'd encourage you to think about us, part of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS). 

Find all the information you might want at: http://gsbs.uth.tmc.edu/.  And information not there?  Hopefully that will become the subject of future blogs.

A very exciting Symposium on Cellular Energy, Metabolism and Cancer was recently held at M. D. Anderson. The focus of the meeting was the role of alterations in metabolism in cancer, a topic that has been debated since first proposed by Dr. Otto Warburg ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Heinrich_Warburg ) in the early 20th century.

With the tremendous advances in genomics, proteomics and delineation of regulatory pathways, cancer biologists are taking a second close look at metabolism and finding that the switch to non-oxidative glycolysis is a hallmark of cancer.

A high point of the meeting was a keynote lecture by Dr. Craig Thompson from the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania, who gave a broad overview of the field and set the stage for ensuing discussions. Another keynote at the end of the meeting by Dr. Ron Evans of the Salk Institute described some elegant work on how agents targeting nuclear receptors can be used to mimic exercise in mice -- fitness in a bottle.

The Bertner Award Prize was received by Dr. Lew Cantley of Harvard Medical School, whose work on PI3 kinase signaling has been a major force in the cancer field for years, and in the context of cellular energy is showing new, important directions. Three poster prizes also were presented.

The program was very multidisciplinary, including population sciences and therapeutic development. It was planned by the meeting's three co-chairs: Drs. Michele Forman, Cheryl Walker and Dihua Yu of M. D. Anderson.

A new facet of the symposium is that we recorded 18 of the 24 presentations, which are being posted on M. D. Anderson's iTunes University site.

 So, if you didn't get a chance to attend, you can catch the great science on your computer or MP3 player.

Give it a look or listen and let us know what you think.

Jer-Yen Yang's publications include a lead-authorship in Nature Cell Biology

Jer-Yen Yang graduated Saturday from The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston (GSBS), departing with hard-earned expertise about a crucial cancer-suppressing protein, an impressive publication record and a blueprint for success as a scientist. And his doctorate, of course.

"I've learned a lot here from Dr. Hung about how to do science, how to stay focused and to not waste time," Yang says. "I want to cure cancer patients. This is my goal, and I'm trying to achieve it step by step."

"Dr. Hung" is Mien-Chie Hung, Ph.D., professor and chair of M. D. Anderson's Department of Molecular and Cellular Oncology, and one of the world's leading experts on the molecular disruptions that fuel cancer.  Hung also is a multi-year winner of the graduate school's annual teaching award.  The GSBS is a joint graduate program of M. D. Anderson and The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. 

Hung hired Yang as a staff research scientist and quickly noted one of the many things that he has come to admire about the young researcher. "This guy is highly committed," Hung says. "He didn't view it as just an 8-to-5 job."  In 2004, Yang's work earned him co-authorship on a paper published in the journal Cell. Hung's group demonstrated that the oncoprotein IKKbeta promotes cancer growth by inhibiting the tumor-suppressing transcription factor FOXO3a.

The scientists suspected other proteins might block FOXO3a from its regulatory role in the cell nucleus. Yang, by now a GSBS student, set up a project to examine that proposition. In early 2008, Yang was first author of a paper in Nature Cell Biology showing how two known cancer-causing proteins gang up to destroy FOXO3a.  

First, the protein kinase ERK attaches phosphate groups to FOXO3a, which forces the tumor-suppressor out of the cell nucleus. Out in the cytoplasm, the phosphorylated FOXO3a is marked for death by the oncoprotein MDM2. By attaching a string of targeting proteins called ubiquitins, MDM2 subjects FOXO3a to destruction by the ubiquitin-proteasome degradation pathway.

"So this important tumor-suppressor is targeted by three oncoproteins. If we can knock out those three, we can fully restore FOXO3a to inhibit tumor growth," Yang says.

In Hung's lab, Yang is the FOXO man. "He probably knows the literature better than I," Hung says. The two co-authored a review of the tumor suppressor that was published in February 2009 by Clinical Cancer Research.

Yang moved to the United States from Taiwan, where he earned a master's degree from the prestigious Academica Sinica. Hung efficiently sums up his student's strong points: "He works hard. He's smart, reads a lot, thinks and comes up with an idea. Then he sits down and gets it done. When you teach him something, he listens, digests and he improves."

Yang says lessons learned go well beyond the lab. Hung is great at sharing information, he says, whether it's the latest from a scientific meeting or important internal updates about M. D. Anderson that keep his team in the loop. Yang has had opportunities to explore grant applications and the review process, getting a feel for the lifeblood of scientific funding, and to hone both his presentation and writing skills.  

Hung taps an extensive collaborative network to help his researchers. "If you need a reagent or tumor samples, he'll know someone who can help and we can get it, sometimes within days," Yang says.

Such collaborations lead to a critically important lesson: Share. "Teamwork is so important," Yang says, "you can't do anything by yourself. Opening your mind to share information with others helps you gain their respect, and it helps everyone do better research." Yang's sharing earned him 11 co-authorships, along with the six papers on which he was lead author.

"Learning how to be part of a team is a critical factor in becoming a scientist and a leader," Hung says. "I expect Jer-Yen to do even better as a postdoctoral fellow, and to make significant contributions to science in the future."

If Yang has one bit of advice for new students, it's to focus. "Some students are smart, they work hard, but they try to do too many things," Yang says. "Initiate one project at a time and you'll be successful."

About 140 nurses from M. D. Anderson Cancer Center -- more than 30 who presented research and clinical projects -- attended the 34th Annual Oncology Nursing Society Congress in San Antonio April 30 - May 3. The meeting attracted more than 6,000 oncology nurses from across the nation and across clinical sub specialties.

 Here are some ONS highlights as experienced by a couple of M. D. Anderson nurses:

 
Thursday, April 30

For three M. D. Anderson nurses, this morning's opening session was an enthusiastic and inspiring reminder of why they became oncology nurses.

 Anita Broxson, MSN, RN and program director of the Beth Sanders Moore Young Breast Cancer Survivors Program; Faith Strunk, MSN, RN, a family nurse practitioner in Breast Medical Oncology; and Linh Thai, RN, a clinical inpatient nurse on P9 agreed that the enthusiasm of the attendees and program re-ignited a personal energy that they each will take back to their patients and co-workers.

 While a mariachi group set the stage for the lively culture of San Antonio, it was keynote speaker Geralyn Lucas, the sassy author of the book, "Why I Wore Lipstick to my Mastectomy," who touched the hearts of the attendees. Her humorous and touching stories about her nurses left many in the ballroom dabbing their eyes, nodding and laughing in agreement and remembering fond patients.

"Geralyn so beautifully articulated what it means to be an oncology nurse, and the fact that it was a patient who had the insight made it even more incredible," said Broxson, a veteran M. D. Anderson nurse who is now pursuing her Ph.D.  Broxson presented research in the afternoon poster session.

Strunk, a colleague of Broxson's said, "It's so great to have someone outside our profession speaking so upbeat, so beautifully about what we do.  We know our patients and their families appreciate what we do, but until you've encountered an oncology nurse, people don't know the level of commitment and true expertise."


For Thai, this was the first ONS meeting she had attended in nine years.  When she attended her last meeting, also in San Antonio, she had just graduated from nursing school and joined M. D. Anderson.  This year's meeting brought a new perspective and she more fully appreciates the value of not just the sessions but meeting fellow professionals.  "I appreciate the networking with other nurses," said Thai who also attended a morning educational session on new research in renal cell carcinoma.

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Friday, May 1
 
Before a crowd of about 200 nurses, Joyce Dains, DrPH, JD, RN, FNP-BC, director for Advanced Practice Nurses (APN) Programs and a member of the Survivorship Steering Committee at M. D. Anderson, outlined M. D. Anderson's model for addressing the needs of a growing population of breast cancer survivors.

Dains was one of three panelists who presented on the topic and stressed the tremendous role that APNs have in the transitional care. M. D. Anderson has opened disease-specific survivorship clinics to serve survivors of thyroid, genitourinary and gynecologic cancers; a clinic dedicated to breast cancer survivorship care is opening soon. The clinics are staffed by an interdisciplinary health care team including Advanced Practice Nurses. Fran Zandstra, MBA, BSN, RN, OCN, director of M. D. Anderson's Survivorship Program, attended the session and took questions from attendees who lingered after the session.

 The issue of survivorship is great interest to Tiffany Richards, ANP, AOCNP, RN, an advanced practice nurse in the Lymphoma and Myeloma Clinic.  Also an active volunteer with the International Myeloma Foundation, Richards said she too believes that survivorship programs must be disease specific.  She reports that in myeloma, 30 to 40 percent of patients are living with the disease 10 years and beyond and that their needs are much different than those of a breast or prostate cancer survivor.

Richards also presented at a myeloma education session today that attracted about 500 people, a great response to a session dedicated to a relatively rare cancer. She said that meetings like ONS are a great way to not only network with care providers who share specialties but to share information with nurses who work beyond the large academic centers.  Plus, it's also a chance to talk about future research collaborations.

"ONS is great for bringing together a diversity of nurses, those who work in the large academic centers and those who are the community oncology setting or rural areas," said Richards.  "Those who work in settings beyond the large academic centers often are dealing with patients who are underinsured and uninsured and who have many other burdens at home in addition to their cancer. Their experience with patients with myeloma, and any cancer, is going to be much different from what we experience here."

Richards, who has worked at M. D. Anderson since 2004, received that 2009 ONS Excellence in Patient / Public Education Award.

 

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Saturday, May 2

Mary Hughes, a clinical nurse specialist in the Department of Psychiatry, today delivered the ONS Foundation Mara Mogensen Flaherty Memorial Lecture entitled, "Sexuality and Cancer: The Final Frontier for Nurses."

A frequent lecturer on sexuality and quality of life issues of cancer patients, Hughes works with patients at M. D. Anderson as well as the Harris County Hospital District's Lyndon Baines Johnson Hospital where M. D. Anderson supervises the oncology program.

Advanced Practice Nurse Tiffany Richards was part of the large audience assembled in the massive hall to hear Hughes' lecture on a subject that few health care providers or patients discuss, especially in the cancer setting.

Richards said that Mary's message to nurses was this:  "Don't be afraid to ask or talk about sexuality or intimacy issues."

Richards, who has an extensive clinical background not only in oncology but sexual abuse and domestic violence, said sexuality issues cut across disease sites, gender and age but what's vital is communication.  "It can be intimidating to ask a patient about sexuality issues but it can be meaningful to patients that you are opening the door to them talking about their concerns," said Richards.

 Richards also attended other sessions given by Sergio Giralt, M.D. and Maria Guerrero regarding nursing management issues associated with hematologic malignancies and T-cell lymphoma.

 
The Oncology Nursing Society Congress ended on Sunday, May 3.
 

Young scientists from M. D. Anderson earned eleven Scholar-in-Training Awards at the American Association for Cancer Research 100th Annual Meeting 2009, the most of any institution at the session in Denver.

 About 17,000 scientists from 90 countries are attending. The highly competitive travel grants go to postdoctoral fellows and graduate students judged to have submitted meritorious abstracts for the AACR meeting.  Overall, 200 were awarded.

Three of M. D. Anderson's winners came from the lab of XifengWu in the Department of Epidemiology - two postdocs and one graduate student.

M. D. Anderson honorees are:

Ahmed A. Ahmed of Experimental Therapeutics
Ugur Akar, Breast Medical Oncology
Chandra Bartholomeusz, Breast Medical Oncology
Tina Cascone, Thoracic Head and Neck Medical Oncology
Meng Chen, Epidemiology, and a graduate student in The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.
Puja Gaur, Surgical Oncology.
Longfei Huo, Molecular and Cellular Oncology
Xia Pu, Epidemiology
Manish Shanker, Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery
Jingmin Shu, Leukemia
Hushan Yang, Epidemiology. 

The American Association for Cancer Research 100th Annual Meeting 2009 officially started this morning. Even so, senior M. D. Anderson researchers were heavily involved Saturday in the customary meeting eve educational sessions.

Saturday's sessions were divided into four general areas - educational programs, methods workshops, basic science-clinical interface sessions and professional advancement.

Methods Workshops

Xifeng Wu of Epidemiology presented "Use of biomarkers in case-control studies of etiology and prognosis: Functional Assays" in a workshop on development of biomarkers for epidemiological studies.

Chun Li of Experimental Diagnostic Imaging discussed "Multifunctional, multimodality cancer imaging based on biodegradable water-soluble synthetic polymers" at a session on nanotechnology platforms for cancer imaging.

J. Jack Lee of Biostatistics co-chaired two sessions on clinical trials design, one on early phase I trials and discovery and one on late phase trials and validation. In the first session, he presented "Adaptive designs for speeding up drug discovery."

Chris Amos of Epidemiology discussed "Copy number variation and cancer risk" at a workshop on new tools for molecular epidemiology.

Professional Advancement Sessions

Elizabeth Travis, associate vice president of women faculty programs, participated on a panel titled "Principles of negotiations: Building dynamic and reciprocal partnerships in your world," the Fourth Women in Cancer Research Leadership Development Workshop.

James Abbruzzese, chair of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology, and Mien-Chie Hung, chair of Molecular and Cellular Oncology served as mentors in the 12th Annual Grant Writing Workshop.

Basic Science-Clinical Interface Sessions

Gordon Mills, chair of Systems Biology presented "mTOR pathway components as therapeutic targets: Preclinical and recent clinical experience," in a session on targeting mTOR to inhibit cancer cell growth and cell cycle.

Dihua Yu of Breast Medical Oncology chaired a session on HER-2 targeting therapies, resistance and counteracting strategies.

Educational Sessions

George Calin of Experimental Therapeutics co-chaired a session on cross-talk between epigenetic modifications and non-coding RNAs in cancer. He also discussed "Non-coding RNA paradigms in medical practice."

Jean-Pierre Issa of Leukemia discussed "In vivo epigenetic modulation after DNA hypomethylation therapy" during a session on epigenetic therapies to overcome resistance.