Mahendra S. Rao, MD, PhD, has been appointed as the director for the new National Institutes of Health (NIH) Intramural Center for Regenerative Medicine (NIH-CRM). The NIH-CRM initiative is part of the NIH Common Fund and will be administered by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS). The new center will be located on the NIH campus, and will be focused on furthering stem cell research and technology toward ultimately developing cell-based therapies in the NIH Clinical Center. The center will provide stem cells and supporting protocols, as well as standard operating procedures used to establish and propagate the needed lines. The resources provided by the center will also facilitate effecting development of the appropriate cell types for use in intramural and extra mural research.
Dr. Rao will hold a joint research appointment in NIAMS and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). He is a leading expert in research involving human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and other somatic stem cells, and has been involved in stem cell research for more than two decades. He formerly served at the National Institute on Aging (NIA), a part of the NIH, as chief of the Neurosciences Section. During his tenure at the NIA, his research focused on neural progenitor cells and their clinical potential.
Dr. Rao earned his MD from Bombay University in India and his PhD in developmental neurobiology from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, CA. He completed postdoctoral training at Case Western Reserve University and subsequently joined the University of Utah, where he established a research laboratory in neural development. Dr. Rao is co-founder of Q Therapeutics, a neural stem cell company based in Salt Lake City, UT. He most recently served as vice president of Regenerative Medicine at Life Technologies in Carlsbad, CA. He has served as the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine and International Society for Stem Cell Research liaison to the International Society for Cellular Therapy. In addition to serving on various advisory boards and committees, including those of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as well as for companies involved in stem cell processing, he has served as chair of the US FDA's Cellular Tissue and Gene Therapies Advisory Committee.
USC Academic Medical Center Receives $150 Million Gift
The University of Southern California (USC) received $150 million from the W. M. Keck Foundation to advance pioneering medical, clinical and translational research and education at the institution. The gift will also serve to unify the school's medical enterprise under one permanent brand name - Keck Medicine of USC. The Keck School of Medicine previously received $110 million from the W.M. Keck Foundation in 1999.
Keck Medicine of USC will include the Keck Medical Center of USC, comprised of Keck Hospital of USC (formerly USC University Hospital) and Keck Doctors of USC (formerly Doctors of USC), and Keck School of Medicine. The Keck Medical Center of USC also includes USC Norris Cancer Hospital, which will not be renamed. Keck Medicine of USC also includes: the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute; the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC; the Institute for Genetic Medicine; the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center; the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center; the USC Institute for Health Promotion & Disease Prevention Research, and the USC Institute for Global Health.
Yale University Receives $1.5 Million Donation From Li Ka Shing Foundation
Yale University has received a $1.5 million donation from the Li Ka Shing Foundation (LKSF) to expand its human embryonic stem cell core and the genomics core of the Yale Stem Cell Center (YSCC). The YSCC was established in 2006 with funding from Yale University and the State of Connecticut, and is located at Yale School of Medicine. The YSCC is directed by Haifan Lin, PhD, who also serves as Professor of Cell Biology and of Genetics. The LKSF funds will support YSCC's effort to produce iPS cell lines and will enable the Center to enhance technology and to upgrade DNA sequencing software.
The Li Ka Shing foundation is a Hong Kong-based philanthropy. One of the Foundation's guiding objectives is to aid in the advancement of medical research and services. For additional information on the LKSF, visit the Foundation's website at http://www.lksf.org/en/about/foundation.
Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Announces 2011 Clinical Scientist Development Awards
The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) announced recipients of its 2011 Clinical Scientist Development Awards (CSDA). CSDA awards are aimed at physician-scientists who are in the process of establishing their own research teams. The award provides $486,000 in support for each recipient over three years, enabling them to secure 75% of their professional time for clinical research.
Since 1998, the DDCF has awarded 186 Clinical Scientist Development Awards. Awardees are selected by a panel of experts, including 10 Doris Duke Distinguished Clinical Scientists who review nominations submitted by U.S. accredited, degree-granting institutions. Qualifying institutions may nominate up to two junior faculty-level physician-scientists conducting clinical research. 130 nominations were reviewed for the 2011 round of funding. Among other areas of research, this year's awardees are conducting research on HIV, Parkinson's disease, and Type I Diabetes.
The 2011 awardees, their institutions and areas of research are:
Arash Ash Alizadeh, MD, PhD
Stanford University
Genomic Approaches for Targeting Risk in Hematological Malignancies
Alice S. Chen-Plotkin, MD, MSc
University of Pennsylvania
Parkinson's Disease Biomarkers: Finding and Understanding Clinically Useful Markers for PD and Endophenotypes within PD
Keith A. Choate, MD, PhD
Yale University
Genetics and Pathobiology of Disorders of Keratinization
Sarah Cooley, MD
University of Minnesota
Role of NK Cell Receptors in Improving Outcomes after Umbilical Cord Blood Transplantation for Hematologic Malignancies
Maria E. Figueroa, MD
University Of Michigan
Epigenetic Characterization of Progressive vs. Stable Myelodysplastic Syndromes
David J. Friedman, MD
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard
Medical School
APOL1 Variants and Renal Disease in African Americans
Bryan Greenhouse, MD, MA
University of California, San Francisco
Impact of Chemoprevention on Humoral Antimalarial Immunity
Faoud T. Ishmael, MD, PhD
Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Pennsylvania
State University College of Medicine
MicroRNAs as Biomarkers and Therapeutic Targets in Allergy
Annette S. Kim, MD, PhD
Vanderbilt University
MicroRNAs in Myelodysplastic Syndrome
Maya L. Petersen, MD, PhD
University of California, Berkeley
Mobile Monitoring Technology to Improve Patient Outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evaluation of Remote Biosensors and Wireless Adherence Monitors to Detect Early Morbidity and Treatment Failure among HIV-Infected Patients in Rural Uganda
Christian P. Schaaf, MD, PhD
Baylor College of Medicine
Characterization of Neuropsychiatric Phenotypes and Therapeutic Intervention in Patients with Copy Number Variants of CHRNA7
Marc W. Slutzky, MD, PhD
Northwestern University
A Minimally-Invasive Brain-Machine Interface for Grasp
Agata Smogorzewska, MD, PhD
The Rockefeller University
Interplay Between Non-Homologous End Joining Pathway and DNA Crosslink Repair in Fanconi Anemia
Maureen A. Su, MD
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Myeloid Derived Suppressor Cells in Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus
Aaron Tobian, MD, PhD
Johns Hopkins University
HIV and HSV-2 Shedding and Transmission in Recently Circumcised Men
Timothy E. West, MD, MPH
University of Washington
Exome Sequencing of Melioidosis Patients to Illuminate Mechanisms of Host Susceptibility to Severe Sepsis
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine to Establish Two New NHLBI Programs of Excellence
The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has awarded two groups at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine funding to establish Programs of Excellence in Glycosciences. Each group will receive approximately $2.3 million annually for seven years. One group, to be led by Ronald Schnaar, PhD, professor of pharmacology and molecular sciences, will explore the roles of sugar molecules in asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and other lung inflammatory diseases. Gerald Hart, PhD, will direct a second group which will focus on glycoproteins in cardiovascular disease. The unit directed by Dr. Hart will examine the involvement of specific glycoproteins in heart disease and stroke.
Dr. Schnaar's research team will include Bruce Bochner, MD, director of the Asthma and Allergy Center and Zhou Zhu, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine at the school of medicine; James Paulson, PhD, of The Scripps Research Institute; and Michael Tiemeyer, PhD, of the University of Georgia Complex Carbohydrate Research Center. The team led by Dr. Hart will include Subroto Chatterjee, PhD, of the Johns Hopkins Children's Center; David Kass, MD, professor of medicine; Jennifer van Eyk, MD, director of the Hopkins NHLBI Proteomics Center and professor of medicine; Kevin Yarema, PhD, associate professor of biomedical engineering; Natasha Zachara, PhD, of biological chemistry; and Hui Zhang, PhD, of pathology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; and Allen Bush, PhD, of the University of Maryland Baltimore County.
2011 Grand Prix Scientifique Award Announced
The Lefoulon-Delalande Foundation of the Institut de France has awarded the 2011 Grand Prix Scientifique to Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD, Director of Mount Sinai Heart, the Zena and Michael A. Wiener Cardiovascular Institute and the Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Center for Cardiovascular Health. He is recognized for his contributions in the field of atherothrombosis. The prize was awarded on June 8 under the presidency of the Chancellor of the Institut de France and the President of the French Academy of Sciences. The &020AC;500,000 award was created by the Laboratories Delalande and is awarded annually to recognize an individual for significant scientific contribution to physiology, biology, or cardiovascular medicine.
Dr. Fuster is the Richard Gorlin, MD/Heart Research Foundation Professor, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and also serves as General Director of the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III (CNIC) in Madrid, Spain. He is a past President of the American Heart Association and past President of the World Heart Federation. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and serves as Chair of the committee on Preventing the Global Epidemic of Cardiovascular Disease. Dr. Fuster previously served as a member of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Advisory Council, and as Chairman of the Fellowship Training Directors Program of the American College of Cardiology.
After completing his MD at Barcelona University and internship at Hospital Clinic in Barcelona, Dr. Fuster completed residency at the Mayo Clinic. He subsequently became Professor of Medicine and Consultant in Cardiology at the Mayo Clinic before joining Mount Sinai School of Medicine as head of Cardiology in 1981. He served as Mallinckrodt Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Chief of Cardiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital from 1991 until returning to Mount Sinai in 1994 as Director of the Zena and Michael A. Wiener Cardiovascular Institute.
Dr. Fuster has received numerous other honors and awards, including honorary doctorate degrees from 26 distinguished universities throughout the world. He is the only cardiologist to have been awarded the highest gold medal awards and all four research awards from the Interamerican Society of Cardiology, the European Society of Cardiology, the American Heart Association, and the American College of Cardiology.
Rita Allen Foundation Awards Announced
The Rita Allen Foundation (RAF) announced recipients of its 2011 Rita Allen Foundation Scholars award. Seven researchers were selected to receive a total of over $3.5 million in funding to support their research in biomedical sciences. The Scholars are nominated by research institutions within the United States and are selected by members of the RAF Scientific Advisory Committee. Awardees and their affiliated institutions receive grants from RAF of up to $110,000 annually, for a maximum of five years.
The 2011 Scholars and their affiliated institutions are:
Briana Burton, PhD - Harvard University
Dr. Burton was also designated as the Milton E. Cassel Scholar for the 2011 class of Rita Allen Foundation Scholars.
Elissa Hallem, PhD - University of California, Los Angeles
Dr. Rahul Kohli, MD, PhD - University of Pennsylvania
Dr. Michael Lin, MD, PhD - Stanford University
Dr. Axel Nimmerjahn, PhD - The Salk Institute for Biological Studies
Edgar Romero-Sandoval, MD, PhD - Dartmouth Medical School
Dr. Yuanxiang Tao, PhD - Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Drs. Romero-Sandoval and Tao received the Rita Allen Award in Pain, and were awarded jointly by the RAF and the American Pain Society.
Hogg Foundation Mental Health Grants Awarded
The Hogg Foundation for Mental Health has named 13 academic researchers who will each receive a one-year grant to support research on various aspects of mental health. Awardees were selected from a group of 48 proposals submitted by tenure-track assistant professors at 17 schools in Texas. Each grant is capped at $17,500.
The children of former Texas Governor, James S. Hogg, created The Hogg Foundation in 1940. The Foundation provides support for mental health services, as well as policy analysis, research and public education in the state of Texas. The Foundation is part of the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement at The University of Texas at Austin.
The recipients and their projects, as described by the Hogg Foundation, are listed below. Additional project information is available on the Foundation's website at http://www.hogg.utexas.edu/.
Dr. Ezequiel Peña, Our Lady of the Lake University, Department of Psychology
Dr. Peña will examine how additional Spanish language training and feedback for bilingual counselor trainees improves their ability to provide mental health services to Spanish speakers.
Dr. Tam Dao, University of Houston, Department of Educational Psychology
Dr. Dao will study how people of different Asian American ethnic groups in Houston seek and respond to mental health treatment. Dr. Allison Dempsey, Department of Educational Psychology, will develop a screening tool to identify behavioral health issues common among children who are born prematurely and their caregivers, and will assess the effectiveness of follow-up services.
Dr. Pablo Mora, University of Texas at Arlington, Psychology Department
Dr. Mora will examine how Latinos' cultural views affect their decision to seek mental health services and contribute to mental health disparities for Latinos.
Dr. Germine Awad, The University of Texas at Austin, Educational Psychology Department
Dr. Awad will examine how the mental health of Arab Americans is affected by their religious self-identification and perceived discrimination by others. Dr. Janay Sander, Educational Psychology Department, will analyze the impact of academic success and failure on the mental health of high school students.
Dr. Su Yeong Kim, The University of Texas at Austin, Department of Human Development and Family Sciences
Dr. Kim will study how children serving as interpreters in immigrant families affects the mental health of both parents and children.
Dr. Dnika Travis, The University of Texas at Austin, School of Social Work
Dr. Travis will investigate the mental health of child care providers and barriers they encounter in seeking mental health treatment.
Dr. Kathleen O'Connor, University of Texas at El Paso, School of Nursing
Dr. O'Connor will measure the mental health impact of recent Texas - Mexico border violence on university students.
Dr. Sarah Sass, University of Texas at Tyler, Department of Psychology and Counseling
Dr. Sass will find out if anxiety can be treated by diverting people's attention away from emotionally arousing stimuli.
Dr. M. Danet Lapiz-Bluhm, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, School of Nursing
Dr. Lapiz-Bluhm will study the relationship between post-traumatic stress disorder and the nervous system.
Dr. Daniel Lodge, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, Department of Pharmacology
Dr. Lodge will investigate a new method for treating schizophrenia.
Dr. Jason O'Connor, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, Department of Pharmacology
Dr. O'Connor will research the link between brain inflammation and depression and anxiety in people with Alzheimer's disease.
Oishei Foundation Grant to Expand New York State COE in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences
The John R. Oishei Foundation has announced a grant award of $850,000 to expand bioinformatics and computational biology at the University of Buffalo's New York State Center of Excellence (COE) in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. The grant, awarded over two years, will support the hiring of new tenure-track faculty and computational support staff in the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
St. Baldrick's Foundation Announces $19.6 Million in Grants
The St. Baldrick's Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness and funds for childhood cancer research, has announced more than $19.6 million in new grants. Awardees were selected by a volunteer panel of prominent pediatric cancer researchers who reviewed grant applications and made recommendations to the St. Baldrick's Foundation's board of directors. Awards are given in five areas, the newest of which is the Consortium category. The other four categories are: Fellows, Scholars, Research Grants and Supportive Care Research Grants.
Consortium Grants are awarded to groups of researchers at multiple institutions, with one participating institution being designated as the managerial leader of the group. The following consortium grants were awarded, as announced by the St. Baldrick's Foundation:
Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Committee of the Children's Oncology Group, Arcadia, CA
Childhood and Adolescent Lymphoma Cell Therapy Consortium, New York Medical College, Maria Fareri Children's Hospital at Westchester Medical Center, Valhalla, NY
Children's Oncology Group, Arcadia, CA
Consortium for Pediatric Interventional Research, Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope, Duarte, CA
Consortium on Pediatric Myelodysplastic Syndromes and Ribosome Dysfunction, The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, New Hyde Park, NY
Ex vivo Expanded Hematopoietic Progenitors for Acute Myelogenous Leukemia Supportive Care, Seattle Children's Hospital, Seattle, WA
International Plueropulmonary Blastoma Registry, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH
New Approaches for Neuroblastoma Therapy, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium, University of Utah Medical School/National Marrow Donor Program, Minneapolis, MN
Pediatric Cancer Genomics Conference, The Translational Genomics Institute, Phoenix, AZ
Texas-Oklahoma Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Consortium, Texas Children's Hospital at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
The Interactive International Neuroblastoma Risk Group Database, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Translating the Science of Testicular Tissue Cryopreservation, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
St. Baldrick's Fellows receive funding for two years. Based on progress, recipients may receive an additional year of funding. The following institutions received St. Baldrick's Fellows awards:
Columbia University Medical Center, Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital, New York, NY
Comer Children's Hospital at The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Indiana University, Riley Hospital for Children, Indianapolis, IN
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins Children's Center, Baltimore, MD
Northwestern University, Children's Memorial Hospital, Chicago, IL
Penn State University College of Medicine, Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital, Hershey, PA
Texas Children's Hospital at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital, Cleveland, OH
University of California San Francisco Benioff Children's Hospital, San Francisco, CA
University of California, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
University of Colorado, Children's Hospital Colorado, Denver, CO
University of Pittsburgh, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Children's Medical Center, Dallas, TX
Vanderbilt University, Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt, Nashville, TN
St. Baldrick's Scholars receive funding for three years. Based on progress, recipients may receive an additional two years of support. The following institutions were awarded St. Baldrick's Scholars awards:
Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope, Duarte, CA
Children's Hospital Boston, Boston, MA
Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH
Dana-Farber/Children's Cancer Center, Boston, MA
Emory University, Aflac Cancer Center, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins Children's Center, Baltimore, MD
Penn State University College of Medicine, Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital, Hershey, PA
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN
Stanford University Medical Center, Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford, Stanford, CA
Steven and Alexandra Cohen Children's Hospital, New Hyde Park, NY
The University of Michigan, C.S. Mott Children's Hospital, Ann Arbor, MI
The University of North Carolina, North Carolina Children's Hospital, Chapel Hill, NC
University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital, Cleveland, OH
University of California San Francisco Benioff Children's Hospital, San Francisco, CA
University of Colorado, Children's Hospital Colorado, Denver, CO
Research Grants awards are for a period of one year. The following institutions received Research Grant funding from the St. Baldrick's Foundation:
Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University, The Children's Hospital at Montefiore Medical, Bronx, NY
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Children's Hospital, Boston, MA
Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
Columbia University Medical Center, Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital, New York, NY
Dana-Farber/Children's Hospital Cancer Center, Boston, MA
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins Children's Center, Baltimore, MD
New York University School of Medicine, Langone Medical Center, New York, NY
Rush Children's Hospital at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Chicago, IL
Stanford University Medical Center, Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford, Stanford, CA
Texas Children's Hospital at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
The University of Iowa Children's Hospital, Iowa City, IA
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD
University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital, Cleveland, OH
University of Alabama at Birmingham, Children's of Alabama, Birmingham, AL
University of California Davis Children's Hospital, Sacramento, CA
University of California San Diego, Rady Children's Hospital San Diego, San Diego, CA
University of Hawaii, Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children, Honolulu, HI
University of Illinois Medical Center - Chicago, Chicago, IL
Wayne State University, Children's Hospital of Michigan, Detroit, MI
West Virginia University Children's Hospital, Morgantown, WV
Yale University, Yale-New Haven University Children's Hospital, New Haven, CT
Supportive Care Research Grants were awarded at the following institutions:
Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
Connecticut Children's Medical Center, Hartford, CT
Primary Children's Medical Center, Salt Lake City, UT
Wake Forest University Health Sciences, Brenner Children's Hospital, Winston-Salem, NC
NIAID Announces Martin Delaney Collaboratory Grants for HIV Research
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), announced that three research teams will receive more than $14 million per year, for up to five years, to support development of strategies to help rid the body of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). The grants are part of the Martin Delaney Collaboratory funding opportunity, which was established to accelerate the search for a cure for HIV through public-private partnerships.
Primary funding for the awards is being provided by NIAID. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), a part of NIH, is also providing support. Funding beyond the first year is subject to the availability of appropriations. Merck Research Laboratories will not receive federal funds for their contribution to this research.
As announced by the NIH, research teams receiving the grants include:
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC) in Seattle, working with Sangamo Biosciences Inc., a biopharmaceutical company based in Richmond, CA In five projects led by co-principal investigators Keith R. Jerome, MD, PhD, and Hans-Peter Kiem, MD, of FHCRC, scientists will attempt to develop proteins that directly attack HIV reservoirs, and they also will study whether a patient's immune cells can be made resistant to the virus. These approaches for eliminating the viral reservoirs will be further tested in a preclinical model. Five core facilities will be funded as well, to provide shared resources and support services to facilitate the collaborative projects. First-year funding is $3.9 million.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), working with Merck Research Laboratories, headquartered in Whitehouse Station, NJ Led by principal investigator David Margolis, MD, of UNC, this initiative consists of 15 scientific projects and four core facilities located at multiple universities nationwide. The researchers aim to enhance the understanding of how HIV persists in patients on antiretroviral therapy, and to develop small-molecule drug candidates and other therapies to target the viral reservoirs. First-year funding is $6.4 million.
University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and the Vaccine & Gene Therapy Institute of Florida (VGTI) in Port St. Lucie,FL, also working with Merck Research Laboratories Led by co-principal investigators Steven Deeks, MD, and Mike McCune, MD, PhD, of UCSF, and Rafick-Pierre Sekaly, PhD, of VGTI, this research initiative comprises seven projects and three core facilities. The researchers seek to define the nature and location of the cells where HIV hides, better understand the immunology of how these viral reservoirs are created and maintained, and develop and test targeted treatments that eliminate HIV reservoirs without broadly activating the immune system. First-year funding is $4.3 million.
Conquer Cancer Foundation Announces 2011 Breast Cancer Symposium Merit Awards
The Conquer Cancer Foundation of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) has announced the recipients of its 2011 Breast Cancer Symposium Merit Awards. Recipients are recognized for their contributions in the area of breast cancer research and receive a $25,000 award at the annual Breast Cancer Symposium. The Symposium is cosponsored by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Society of Breast Disease, the American Society of Breast Surgeons, the American Society of Radiation Oncology, the National Consortium of Breast Centers Inc., and the Society of Surgical Oncology. This year's meeting was held in September in San Francisco, CA. Support for the 2011 Symposium Merit Awards was provided by Amgen; Bristol-Myers Squibb; Celgene Corporation; Lilly USA, LLC; Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company; Novartis Oncology; Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; and Sanofi-Aventis U.S.
As announced by the Conquer Cancer Foundation, the 2011 Breast Cancer Symposium Merit Award recipients and the research they presented at the Symposium include:
Laleh Amiri-Kordestani, MD, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health
Determining the rate of tumor growth and decay in patients with metastatic breast cancer as an early efficacy endpoint: A study assessing ixabepilone efficacy.
Maria Ascierto, MD, National Institutes of Health
Immunologic markers associated with favorable prognosis in breast cancer patients: Role of innate immune system.
Mariana Chavez-MacGregor, MD, MSc, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Relationship between differences in RNA or protein expression and the effects of race/ethnicity on breast cancer outcomes.
Stephanie Childs, MD, Harvard Radiation Oncology Program
Surgical margins and the risk of local-regional recurrence following mastectomy for early-stage breast cancer.
John Cox, MD, Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Texas
Pleomorphic lobular breast carcinoma: A review of 35 cases at a single institution.
Lana De Souza Lawrence, MD, The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University
Triple-negative breast cancer outcomes with partial breast irradiation and concurrent chemotherapy compared with whole breast irradiation and sequential chemotherapy.
Makenzi Evangelist, MD, University of Tennessee Cancer Institute
Quantitative nuclease protection assay (qNPA) for gene expression analysis on breast cancer core biopsies.
Nooshin Hashemi Sadraei, MD, Cleveland Clinic
Expression of FIP200 and rb in breast cancer metastasis to the brain.
Komal Jhaveri, MD, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Standardized uptake value by positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) as a prognostic variable in metastatic breast cancer.
Dr. Jhaveri is also the recipient of a 2011 Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO Young Investigator Award.
Andrew Kim, MD, Los Angeles County and University of Southern California Medical Center
Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging in patients with known or suspected breast malignancy: Correlation between apparent diffusion coefficient and histopathologic diagnoses.
John Lyons, MD, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Axillary node staging for microinvasive breast cancer: Is it justified?
Shannon MacLaughlan, MD, Alpert Medical School of Brown University Women and Infants Hospital
Comparison of hypnotherapy versus gabapentin in the treatment of hot flashes: A pilot study.
Mark Jesus Magbanua, PhD, University of California, San Francisco
Genome-wide copy number analysis of circulating tumor cells from patients with metastatic breast cancer.
Usama Mahmood, MD, University of Maryland
Equivalent survival with breast-conservation therapy or mastectomy in the management of young women with early-stage breast cancer.
Aju Mathew, MD, MPhil, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Prognostic role of triple-negative subtype in breast cancer patients with brain metastases.
Lee McGhan, MB, BCh, Mayo Clinic
The impact of breast reconstruction on the decision to undergo contralateral prophylactic mastectomy.
David H. A. Nguyen, MD, FRCPC, British Columbia Cancer Agency
Can locoregional treatment of the primary tumor improve outcomes for women with stage IV breast cancer at diagnosis?
Kanwal Raghav, MD, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Nomogram for predicting development of brain metastasis in patients with inflammatory breast cancer.
Chirag Shah, MD, Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine, Beaumont Cancer Institute
The impact of lymph node status on clinical outcomes following accelerated partial breast irradiation.
Michelle Sowden, DO, Yale University
Who provides ongoing care to breast cancer survivors and does it make a difference?
Shawn Steen, MD, John Wayne Cancer Institute at Saint John's Hospital
Predicting nipple-areolar involvement using preoperative breast MRI and primary tumor characteristics.
John Wilkinson, MD, Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine, Beaumont Cancer Institute
Outcomes by breast cancer subtype in patients treated with accelerated partial breast irradiation.
Dong Xiang, MD, James Graham Brown Cancer Center, University of Louisville
A vaccine approach for breast-cancer immunotherapy by targeting HER-2/neu antigen to cells via CD19 molecule.
Urszula Zurawska, MD, University of Toronto
Management of early-stage breast cancer: Are we headed in the right direction?