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accepting a challenge targeting cancer 2009

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many ways to learn about and communicate with the cancer center write johnson cancer center ksu 1 chalmers hall manhattan ks 66506-3901 phone 785-532-6705 fax 785-532-6707 internet www.cancer.k-state.edu and now you can link from our web site this publication is not printed or supported in any way by donations to the center that are designated for cancer research and education purposes during the preparation of this publication we have made every effort to ensure its accuracy and completeness if you find any errors or omissions we apologize and ask that you call them to our attention thank you is an annual publication of the johnson center for basic cancer research accepting a challenge

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a letter from the director 1 statement of purpose 5 affiliated faculty 6-7 new affiliated faculty 8-9 targeting cancer with cross-disciplinary research 2-4 2009 table of contents on behalf of the cancer center sunny 102.5 fm coach bill snyder 29 3rd annual rooftop event 29 th 12 rob regier memorial golf tournament 30-31 3rd kaw valley rodeo fundraiser tough enough to wear pink 32-33 fraternal order of eagles state auxiliary 34 5th smoky valley chiropractic fundraiser 34 fredonia high school raises awareness funds 35 3rd annual alpha kappa psi cats against cancer 35 briggs jeep jamboree fundraiser 35 endowed funds 40-41 a tribute in celebration 42 in honor 42-43 mason s wish 43 in memory 43-49 the college cancer challenge 49 leadership research education advisory council 36 about our council members 36-38 cancer center staff 39 2009 research innovative research awards 10-12 equipment awards 13 faculty travel fellowships 14 2009 education undergraduate students cancer research awards mentors 15-18 june hull sherrid scholarships 19 graduate students summer stipends 20-21 travel fellowships 22-23 biology travel fellowships 23 heart research 24 2009 outreach presentations events tours 26 community activities 27 cancer resource network 27 women s health matters 27 in the pink 28 2009 contributors individuals 49-84 companies providing matching contributions 85 businesses organizations 85-88 becoming a partner 89 u.s cancer cases deaths continue to decline 14 tobacco risks documented 25 u.s smoking rate still coming down 28 gary johnson p1 group inc 51 council meetings 54-55 benefactors come in all sizes 58 cra banquet award presentations 63 tetwp sponsors cra more 66 sandy regier receives prudential grant 71 making connections on facebook 72 regier golf tournament extra 76 kaw valley rodeo supports the community 78 volunteers make a difference 81 eureka students teach skin cancer prevention 85 konza prairie quilters guild think pink quilt exhibition inside back cover special stories asst editor photography marcia locke contributors rob denell jean bridges betty book tracy robinson front cover photo dr stefan bossmann and dr viktor chikan observe a glass vial filled with hyperthermia active nanoparticles the apparatus on the table is used for mouse hyperthermia experiments editor design janis clare galitzer

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accepting a challenge 2009

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1 from the director dear friends scientists have something of a reputation for being dispassionate ivory tower people disconnected from the real world the cancer center gets many visitors most of whom we take to visit an affiliated laboratory over and over again these visitors tell me how impressed they are with the enthusiasm and energy with which our affiliated scientists talk about and perform their work and about the researchers obviously strong commitment to the fight against cancer some of our affiliates are cancer survivors and virtually all have been touched by cancer through a family member or friend my wife and i are cancer survivors ourselves having had breast and nasopharyngeal cancer respectively k-state cancer researchers are not merely trying to accumulate research papers and patents they are working to alleviate the burden of cancer for us all once in a while we make contacts that inspire our efforts to an even higher level mason wolfe is an 11-year-old in colorado whose father a k-state alum was diagnosed with cancer she decided she wanted to raise money for cancer research so she and her mother nancy also a k-state alum established mason s wish and sold scented candles they raised several thousand dollars for leukemia research then recently mason visited us to present a gift of more than eleven thousand dollars that s a lot of candles while here mason and nancy visited drs deryl troyer and stefan bossmann who told them about their work to directly attack tumors without the side effects of radiation and chemotherapy see next article mason was very taken by their dedication and the promise of their work and declared to her mother afterwards that now she knew what she was working towards this young lady is extraordinary and her commitment and energy should be a model for us all i often describe the diversity of our affiliated researchers we are pleased that this diversity has broadened even further into a fifth college the college of engineering thanks to the inspiration of an undergraduate student andrew satterlee fought cancer himself during his teens and has dedicated his life to stopping these terrible diseases he came to talk to me about what he might do and i referred him to some affiliates with whom he could work he did me one better he recruited two other engineering students and his honor s program advisor dr john schlup to initiate cancer studies they are investigating how to deliver boroncontaining molecules to a tumor site and activate them with a neutron beam to kill cells there the research of all three students is being supported by our cancer research award program which helps k-state s very best undergraduate students do cancer research in our affiliated laboratories over the years we have provided more than $775,000 for 738 of these opportunities we know that many of the students went on to become health care professionals and biomedical researchers i usually write a bit about some of the cancer research projects happening at k-state in this issue i will emphasize studies in the physical sciences i hope to demonstrate basic research s huge potential for conquering cancer perusal of the rest of the magazine will bring you up to date on our activities in the areas of research education training and outreach although our funding level has been slightly diminished in this bad economy thanks to your generous support we have been able to maintain substantial funding in all of these areas sincerely university distinguished professor and director johnson cancer center ksu rob denell acceptingachallen ge 2 0 0 9

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2 targeting cancer with cross-disciplinary research by rob denell phd history has shown us that the expertise of physicists and chemists can make major impacts in studying biologicallydefined problems arguably the most important discovery for biology and cancer research in the last one hundred years was the structure of dna our genetic material interestingly when one looks at this discovery s four key scientists only one james watson was trained as a biologist maurice wilkins a physicist and rosalind franklin a chemist were experts at x-ray crystallography in which highly purified and crystallized material is bombarded by x-rays and its structure inferred by the way the rays are deflected as visualized by exposing photographic film this discovery of dna demonstrates that many important contributions to the biological sciences are made by researchers crossing over from the physical sciences which are traditionally the branches of natural sciences studying non-living systems we are pleased that a number of the cancer center s affiliated researchers are in the physical sciences among them is dr christer aakeröy a chemist who by the way was recently appointed to the board of governors of the prestigious international cambridge crystallographic data centre located at the university of cambridge one of the homes of the double helix aakeröy s specialization is crystal engineering in which properties of a chemical franklin wilkins a key finding by franklin was never published by her but was seen by watson and served as the basis for the famous dna double helix structure proposed by him and physicist francis crick watson crick and wilkins shared the nobel prize in medicine or physiology in 1962 for this discovery unfortunately franklin had died by then of ovarian cancer probably caused by x-ray exposure and the prize is only awarded to living scientists crick watson a chemist works to improve anti-cancer drugs are changed by co-crystallizing it with a partner he has recently applied his expertise to anti-cancer drugs the actual therapeutic effect of any drug is affected by its solubility and other chemical and physical factors which often are not effective within the human body of the thousands of promising drugs identified only a vanishingly small proportion proves to be useful for treatment aakeröy is working to improve the characteristics of anti-cancer drugs to make them more effective accepting a challenge 2009

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3 conventional chemotherapy kills all dividing cells in the body including normal non-cancerous cells which causes many harmful side effects thus a strong focus of current cancer research is on ways to kill or suppress the tumor cells specifically the national cancer institute has been promoting nanotechnology to achieve this end nanotechnology in cancer research a nanometer is extremely small ­ one billionth of a meter in an approach analogous to a guided missile the concept is to use various methods to deliver payloads of tiny machines to the tumor that will aid in diagnosis monitoring or destruction while k-state physical scientists are working to provide new potential payloads they are interacting with members of the veterinary college to test the use of stem cells as the guided missile the size of things nanoscale devices are 100 to 10,000 times smaller than human cells for example hemoglobin the molecule that carries oxygen in red blood cells is approximately 5 nanometers in diameter nanoscale devices smaller than 50 nanometers can easily enter most cells while those smaller than 20 nanometers can move out of blood vessels as they circulate through the body using stem cells to guide constructs to the tumor internationally a number of potential delivery methods are being studied including antibodies viruses and vitamins drs deryl troyer mark weiss and masaaki tamura in the college of veterinary medicine have been doing exciting studies using stem cells harvested from the matrix core of the umbilical cord of humans and other mammals these are different from cord blood stem cells a stem cell is one that proliferates in an unspecialized state to maintain its own population and spins off cells which achieve specialized functions stem cells are very promising for treating a variety of conditions e.g neurological diseases as they can give rise to multiple cell types some of which can replace bad cells each cell type has a specific job in our body in contrast stem cells do not yet have a specific job in the body but with the right stimulation they can develop into any cell type and perform all the jobs of that specific cell stem cells have two important characteristics that set them apart from our other body cells the morph-able stem cell 1 they are able to divide and produce more stem cells self-renew over long periods of time or indefinitely 2 receiving the right signals stem cells can differentiate to become a specific type of body cell these scientists and others in k-state s midwest institute of comparative stem cell biology are examining a variety of potential uses their cancer-related studies have shown that in mice and rats these stem cells will find their way to tumors and kill tumor cells either by providing anti-cancer agents or by themselves thus these researchers are working with many of the following physical scientists to use stem cells to carry payloads to the tumor site accepting a challenge 2009

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4 in chemistry drs stefan bossmann viktor chikan and duy hua are designing nanomachines that can be delivered directly to tumors iron-based constructs can be heated by application of a magnetic field to kill tumor cells or can improve imaging of the tumor studies by physical scientists drs jun li and christopher culbertson are each using biological molecules to assess various genetic or protein factors in tumors potentially yielding new techniques for early diagnosis or monitoring tumors throughout treatment dr john schlup of the college of engineering is taking a similar tack with assistance from three undergraduate students who are cancer research award winners see director s letter they seek to direct boron-containing nanoparticles to tumors and kill the cells there by activating boron with a neutron beam their stories will be reported in next year s magazine back in chemistry dr daniel higgins joins bossmann in studying ways of using chemical luminescence or lasers respectively to activate certain light-sensitive drugs and bossmann and chikan also shown on magazine cover finally biochemist dr om prakash is taking a different approach to cancer prakash is an expert in nuclear magnetic resonance a technique in which cell nuclei are placed in a strong magnetic field and absorption or radiation of an electromagnetic pulse is measured this technology is related to magnetic resonance imaging [mri often used to detect tumors or other abnormalities in patients he is presently on sabbatical leave at harvard medical school where he is studying the use of nuclear magnetic resonance to assess metabolic changes in tumor cells specifically those associated with chronic myelogenous leukemia at k-state prakash works in the mary l vanier nmr laboratory named in recognition of the generous support mary has provided for cancer research the bottom line is that your support is one of the key factors in the chain of successes of our scientists as you read the accepting a challenge 2009 you can see how you help make it all happen thank you all of these projects have been supported by the johnson cancer center which very much encourages multidisciplinary research funding from the national institutes of health and the national science foundation has been secured for many of these affiliates thanks to promising preliminary studies some supported by the center furthermore collaborations which would enable rapid translation into clinical trials are being explored bringing it all together accepting a challenge 2009

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5 statement of purpose vision the kansas state university johnson cancer center will take a leading role in conquering cancers in our time further the understanding of cancers by funding basic cancer research and by supporting higher education training and public outreach mission 0 0 0 0 improve cancer-related research and education provide scholarships and fellowships enrich the student experience educate citizens about cancer and cancer research goals these programs are designed to bring the vision mission and goals to life research assistance for faculty s ongoing and new projects 0 0 innovative research grants for new faculty establishing research programs and veteran faculty exploring new frontiers technical support for scientists to purchase new equipment to remain competitive cancer research award mentors provide training and support to cra winners faculty travel fellowships for collaboration and training on new research techniques assistant professorship funds to encourage k-state departments to recruit cancer scientists education and training 0 0 0 0 laboratory research and support faculty mentors 2 june hull sherrid scholarships awarded to k-state undergraduates from kansas high schools with career interests in human health 0 graduate students 1 summer stipends support original research 2 travel fellowships provide support to attend and present research at professional meetings 3 heart research awards support heart research publications a day with dr waddle a coloring/activity book for children and their caretakers to learn about cancer available in english and spanish when a friend has cancer 50 ways to show you care a booklet that offers ideas for giving practical help and emotional support to loved ones facing cancer 1 cancer research awards encourage undergraduate students opportunities for students outreach to inform the public about cancer and k-state cancer research presentations about cancer risk reduction and cancer research 0 collaborations with community organizations to inform the public about cancer and address local cancer issues 0 events activities raise awareness about cancer and cancer research at k-state 0 outreach facility for visitors to do research on the internet with optional assistance from staff 0 0 accepting a challenge 2009

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6 affiliated faculty a multidisciplinary approach to cancer research makes the most of the knowledge and talents of numerous scientists across the k-state campus cancer researchers are found in departments throughout k-state s colleges of arts sciences agriculture engineering veterinary medicine human ecology and the school of leadership studies affiliation with the center is voluntary and at the discretion of the director faculty scientists with regular appointments at k-state are eligible only affiliates are eligible to receive funding from the center this is a list of our affiliated scientists and their areas of study college of veterinary medicine college of agriculture 1 anatomy physiology 1 clinical sciences 2 3 1 4 frank blecha innate immune responses important to cancer 2 lisa freeman ion channels important to normal ovarian function and cancer 3 bruce d schultz hormone-induced changes in epithelial function 4 masaaki tamura role of angiotensin ii signaling in lung and colon cancer formation and chemoprevention 5 deryl troyer umbilical cord matrix stem cells as a potential therapy for degenerative diseases cancer 6 lei wang treatment of malignant gliomas with stem cell transplantation 7 philine wangemann fluid homeostasis and blood flow regulation in the inner ear 8 mark weiss use of stem cells for gene delivery vehicles especially to brain tumors grain science industry college of engineering chemical engineering 1 xiaoyan tang programmed cell death/cancer 2 dorith rotenberg anti-viral defense pathways 3 anna whitfield virus entry and cellular response to viral infection plant pathology ron madl identification/isolation of phytochemical components from cereal grains to breed high antioxidant wheat and show health benefits to humans john schlup improving boron neutron capture therapy by enhanced targeting of cancer cells diagnostic medicine/pathobiology 2 laura armbrust diagnostic imaging features of various naturally occurring cancers in animals mary lynn higginbotham diagnosis/treatment of feline lymphoma and clinical trials for treatment of cancer in animals dudley mccaw treatments of cancer in pets and protein changes that occur in canine lymphoma thomas schermerhorn cellular secretion and protein movement in normal/cancer cells roman ganta evaluation of how host cell biology is modified by pathogens t annelise nguyen regulation of gap junction in colon cancer cells college of human ecology 1 mark haub antioxidants phytochemicals and exercise in prevention/treatment of chronic disease 2 dingbo lin phytochemicals in prevention of leukemia which may lead to development of efficient low cost and long-term safe dietary regimens 3 brian lindshield potential of dietary compounds or supplements to decrease prostate tumor growth 4 tonatiuh melgarejo role of host defense peptides and their clinical application in treating infectious disease and inflammatory disorders 5 weiqun george wang cancer prevention by dietary calorie restriction exercise and plant chemicals human nutrition school of leadership studies john carlin leadership skills to improve the quality of citizen access to cancer services 10 university distinguished professors 9 new affiliates in 2009 in bold accepting a challenge 2009

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7 college of arts sciences 1 biochemistry 2 3 5 6 7 4 8 12 1 11 9 10 geography christer aakeröy chemical approaches to maximize effectiveness of anticancer drugs 2 stefan bossmann potential photodynamic anticancer agents 3 viktor chikan treatment of cancers with magnetic nanoparticles 4 christopher culbertson misregulation of signal transduction pathways in the development of cancers 5 daniel higgins use of multiphoton methods to trigger anticancer drugs 6 duy hua synthesis and evaluation of new anticancer agents 7 takashi ito new techniques for sampling biomarkers for cancer diagnosis 8 ryszard jankowiak activity of metabolites formed from estrogens and/or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons 9 stefan kraft synthesis and evaluation of novel ptii and ptiv anti-cancer drugs 10 jun li nanotechnology for early cancer diagnosis and therapeutic monitoring 11 sundeep rayat synthesis and biological evaluation of novel dna cleaving agents chemistry ahlam al-rawi modeling peptide nano vesicles capable of delivering drugs to cancer cells jianhan chen computer modeling of disordered proteins in cell signaling/cancer michael kanost immunological mechanisms relevant to human cancers subbarat muthukrishnan functions of genes involved in exoskeleton synthesis and turnover om prakash anticancer agents using multidimensional nmr spectroscopy and computer aided molecular modeling gerald reeck protein correlated with human cancers thomas roche killing cancer cells by altering their energy metabolism dolores takemoto role of antioxidants in cancer prevention john tomich cellular constituents important to cancers qize wei mechanism of cell division and its relationship to cancer anna zolkiewska cell-cell interactions and communications in cancer michal zolkiewski role of antioxidants in cancer prevention 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 biology 17 18 19 16 15 14 12 13 11 9 10 max lu geographic differentials in cancer incidence and mortality rates using spatial statistics and geographic information systems gis technology 24 23 22 20 21 physics robert szoszkiewicz force-dependent molecular mechanisms of cancers and uses of nanolithography techniques in cancer detection katsura asano control of protein synthesis and the alterations in gene expression that can lead to cancer sandy beeser mechanisms of communication between cells the relationship between its disruption and cancer susan brown genes important to normal development and cancer s keith chapes macrophages and other inflammatory cells rollie clem regulation of cell death abigail conrad genes involved in the formation of cell coverings in tissues that do and do not form cancers gary conrad cell pinching during cell division and cell interactions with extracellular matrix in development/cancer rob denell genes important to both development and cancer walter dodds nitrate and drinking water quality sherry fleming complement activation and regulatory proteins and innate immune molecules lynn hancock pathogenesis for the opportunistic bacterial pathogen enterococcus faecalis michael herman cell development and polarity kristin michel serpin function in mosquito transmitted malaria and potential relationship to human cancer beth montelone genes involved in dna repair in yeast whose counterparts help prevent cancer in humans lorena passarelli viral transcription and genome replication and its links to cancer jean-pierre perchellet preclinical development of novel synthetic classes of anti-cancer drugs jeroen roelofs protein degradation by the proteasome the target of the cancer drug bortezomib kathrin schrick interactions of lipids sterols and regulatory proteins that are key to cell division and development teresa shippy genes important to normal development and cancer larry takemoto anti-oxidant enzymes in the cell chris thorpe genes required for intercellular signaling in early development that can contribute to cancer in adults tonia von ohlen genes important to nervous system development/cancer ruth welti roles of lipid signaling and lipid metabolism in cancer samantha wisely cytokine functions important to cancer in non-model species accepting a challenge 2009

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8 new affiliated faculty several researchers became affiliates of the center in 2009 some of them are new to k-state and some are pursuing new cancer-related directions we look forward to the positive impact these individuals will make on our fight against cancer research assistant professor human nutrition studies phytochemicals in prevention of leukemia which may lead to development of efficient low cost and long-term safe dietary regimens for the community dingbo lin subbarat muthukrishnan professor biology studies interactions of lipids/sterols and regulatory proteins that are key to cell division and development this laboratory group is interested in matrix materials which control his lab group studies molecular mechanisms of the shape and activities of underlying cell types extracellular phytochemicals in prevention and/or delay of the onset matrix materials regulate a variety of processes including of leukemia they have demonstrated that water soluble tube morphogenesis abnormalities in tube morphogenesis phytochemicals from the wolfberry fruit have dual can be associated with some diseases and matrix functions in leukemia cell death as antioxidants and also as components are critical for attachment of cancer cells during cellular signaling molecules the wolfberry phytochemicals metastasis this group is doing functional genomics analysis induce leukemia cell death through multiple biochemical of all genes involved in chitin insect matrix material responses further studies on identification of major active metabolism in the red flour beetle using rna interference components may help to develop novel complementary they have shown that there is functional specialization therapeutic agents and/or dietary regimens for cancer among the genes that form and degrade chitin prevention and treatment university distinguished professor biochemistry studies the functions of genes involved in exoskeleton synthesis and turnover kathrin schrick assistant tonatiuh melgarejo cholesterol and other small fat soluble molecules play critical roles in cell division during early development this team studies the role of sterols in embryonic development using the plant arabidopsis many studies in this plant have generated information important to understanding human health in humans they are very important for normal development and when mutated are associated with many cancers the goal of this research is to understand how the interactions of lipids and homeodomain proteins are related to the control of cell division associate professor human nutrition investigates the role of host defense peptides hdps and their clinical application in treating infectious disease and inflammatory disorders the immune system plays a central role in maintaining health and combating disease this group studies hdps aka antimicrobial peptides key elements of an innate immune response in both domestic and wild living animals the peptides implicated in host defense against infection and other immune reactions inflammation and wound-repair processes may also have anticancer properties developing strategies to enhance the body s natural antitumor responses is a promising scientific path and one through which hdps will likely have a direct clinical application accepting a challenge 2009

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dorith rotenberg research assistant professor plant pathology studies anti-viral defense pathways this team identifies characterizes and measures host proteins that interact with or respond to virus during infection of tissue systems clarifying these interactions makes it easier to design unique virus control strategies using the specific interaction between host and virus several human viruses including epstein-barr virus human papillomavirus and hepatitis b and c viruses have been shown to cause or contribute to the development of cancer this work centers on natural immunity and the network of pathways that have been implicated in cellular response to cancer-associated viruses it will help identify proteins that respond to cancer-causing viruses professor chemical engineering studies improving boron neutron capture therapy by enhanced targeting of cancer cells present in biological systems they operate in muscles are necessary for protein transport across cell membranes and are involved in cell transport and movement molecular mechanisms leading to some cancers are also affected by forces at the single molecule level this group has pioneered a thermochemical nanolithography technique to build the nanopatterned templates for controllable assembly of single molecules and cells and to facilitate novel cancer detection schemes research assistant professor anatomy physiology studies treatment of malignant gliomas with stem cell transplantation 9 lei wang john schlup boron neutron capture therapy bnct is a very promising cancer therapy its potential is currently limited by our ability to selectively deliver boron to the tumor site stem cells are known to assist in the targeted delivery of therapeutic agents in cancer treatment this group focuses on improving the effectiveness of bnct by attaching boron-containing compounds and or nanoparticles to the surfaces of stem cells which can then deliver these agents to the tumor site they are synthesizing novel boron-containing agents and or nanoparticles that can bind to stem cells the nuclear reactions that take place between boron and the neutron beam are simulated to determine the nature of alpha particles generated and ultimately tumor cell death her team focuses on developing stem cellbased gene therapy for the treatment of malignant gliomas gliomas are the most common highly invasive brain tumors which infiltrate surrounding healthy tissue current cancer treatments fall short against these highly aggressive tumors new therapies are urgently needed to selectively target tumor cells gene therapy appears to be a perfect candidate for brain tumor treatment because of its selective toxicity to tumor cells commonly used vectors have limited therapeutic potential to glioma cells infiltrating the normal brain parenchyma neural stem cells have the unique capacity to migrate toward invading tumor cells showing therapeutic potential jeroen roelofs assistant professor biology studies protein degradation by the proteasome the target of the cancer drug bortezomib robert szoszkiewicz assistant professor physics studies forcedependent molecular mechanisms of cancers and uses nanolithography techniques in cancer detection this group studies protein dynamics using single protein molecules and mechanical force mechanical forces are to remain healthy and functional it is essential for cells to remove damaged and unwanted proteins many such proteins are degraded by the proteasome and it plays an important role in several cancers the proteasome inhibitor bortezomib has been used successfully in the treatment of multiple myeloma his group studies how all 66 subunits of the proteasome form a complex and how this complex degrades proteins they identified several proteins chaperones that assist in the assembly of the proteasome one of these is an oncogene overexpressed in hepatocellular carcinoma this work will hopefully lead to new and more specific drug targets for cancer treatment accepting a challenge 2009

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10 2009 research innovative research awards researchers use these awards to do baseline studies to become eligible to receive major grants from extramural funders this includes new faculty or established faculty pursuing new areas of study in 2009 the cancer center provided over $188,000 to support innovative research projects of affiliated scientists assistant professor anatomy physiology lei wang project a new therapeutic target in malignant gliomas assistant professor biochemistry qize wei malignant gliomas escape from conventional therapy new therapeutic strategies are needed to target tumor cells and the cells that have migrated away from the main tumor neural stem cells nscs have the unique capacity to target invading tumor cells in this study nscs will be used to deliver potential anticancer therapeutic proteins to treat malignant gliomas in mouse glioma models $12,500 professor anatomy physiology project roles of myogef in breast cancer cell invasion deregulation of cell migration in tumor cells leads to tumor metastasis the major reason for death in cancer patients this study will help us to understand how myogef regulates breast cancer cell invasion and metastasis and will provide new molecular strategies that target invasive breast carcinomas $15,000 assistant professor biology sandy beeser mark weiss project producing a rat pancreatic cancer model in the u.s pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths pancreatic cancer is highly metastatic and is usually detected late in the disease one and five-year survival statistics are grim 21 and less than 5 respectively human pancreatic cancer is related to mutation in amino acid 12 of the kras gene his team will develop a pancreatic cancer model in the rat because rats are superior to mice for diagnostic and therapeutic drug development $5,000 project evaluation of the oncogenic potential of genes within the 1q23 amplicon a chromosomal rearrangement strongly associated with soft tissue sarcomas a better understanding of the events that move normal cells towards cancerous behaviors is basic to our ongoing fight against cancer there are two soft tissue sarcomas sts known to harbor amplifications of a specific region of chromosome 1 and the driver genes within this region this study will identify which one is the more sts-relevant gene with hopes that this information will expose novel vulnerabilities that could be exploited therapeutically $16,000 accepting a challenge 2009

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11 stefan bossmann professor chemistry the project uses umbilical stem cells as living transport vessels to carry nanoplatforms for the detection and treatment of cancer stem cells are known to actively find tumor sites while they evade detection by the human immune system and are ideal for the transport of anticancer remedies our nanoplatforms are nanoscopic machines which can fulfill several functions 1 they will enter the stem cells and act as harmless passengers 2 at the tumor site they will act as molecular terrorists and blow up the stem cell 3 then they sense the presence of enzymes that are indicators for the progression of the tumor if these enzymes are present a very toxic protein will be released to kill cancer cells by perforating their cell walls 4 finally these nano-machines can overheat and self-destruct in or near the tumor site $15,000 project stemcell delivery of a multitasking nanoplatform for cancer diagnosis and treatment ryszard jankowiak professor chemistry project on stabilization of neutral aromatic ligands by the pi-cation and pi-pi interactions in monoclonal antibodies antibodies are produced by our bodies to target foreign invaders for destruction and a quality of this process is their tremendous diversity they recognize the invader by a mechanism often described by a lock-and-key analogy in nobel prize-winning work methods were devised in which descendents of a single cell clones all produced an identical antibody in the laboratory these are called monoclonal antibodies mabs a particular mab may bind to a unique target or to multiple targets the goal of this project is to demonstrate that mabs with more rigid binding sites are more selective the main objective is to show that a certain class of molecules polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons may adopt multiple conformations that reduce binding specificity $5,000 katsura asano project studies of the mechanism of tumorigenesis caused by int6 oncoprotein assistant professor biology robert szoszkiewicz project singlemolecule studies of notch activation assistant professor physics notch is a protein involved in transmitting biochemical signals relevant to breast cancer external mechanical force is necessary for this transmission using atomic force microscopy afm this team will study structural changes of notch due to force afm involves a microscopic flexible beam which is able to bind notch molecules to stretch them and to precisely measure forces and displacements thus afm might address molecular mechanisms of the notch signal transmission $19,000 studies using yeast as a model system have indicated that changes in specific protein synthesis caused by alteration of translation factor int6 can increase oxidative dna damage this project is to translate the yeast finding to human medical relevance since such damage will likely cause cancer this group will examine the alteration to see if it increases oxidative damage within human cells $9,327 accepting a challenge 2009

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