2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005

Members of the Damon Runyon scientific circle regularly publish findings on the latest cancer research and are frequently recognized for their contributions to the fight against cancer.  Below, you will find new discoveries in cancer research and the most recent honors bestowed upon Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation awardees, alumni and friends.

2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005

Members of the Damon Runyon scientific circle regularly publish findings on the latest cancer research and are frequently recognized for their contributions to the fight against cancer.  Below, you will find new discoveries in cancer research and the most recent honors bestowed upon Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation awardees, alumni and friends.

2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005

Members of the Damon Runyon scientific circle regularly publish findings on the latest cancer research and are frequently recognized for their contributions to the fight against cancer.  Below, you will find new discoveries in cancer research and the most recent honors bestowed upon Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation awardees, alumni and friends.

2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005

Members of the Damon Runyon scientific circle regularly publish findings on the latest cancer research and are frequently recognized for their contributions to the fight against cancer.  Below, you will find new discoveries in cancer research and the most recent honors bestowed upon Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation awardees, alumni and friends.

Matthew G. Vander Heiden, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovator '11-'13, Fellow '06-'08) of MIT, Cambridge, and colleagues, reported the use of imaging technology (magnetic resonance spectroscopy) to visualize whether glioma brain tumors have a particular genetic mutation called IDH.  Several pharmaceutical companies are currently developing drugs that target IDH, with the goal of halting tumor growth.  Knowing whether brain tumors have the IDH mutation will enable physicians to choose appropriate treatments and monitor whether potential drugs are effective.  The study was published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Click here for more. 

Grants totaling over $3.1M give early career investigators independence to pursue novel ideas

New York, NY (January 9, 2012) – The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, a non-profit organization focused on supporting innovative early career researchers, named 18 new Damon Runyon Fellows at its fall Fellowship Award Committee review.  The recipients of this prestigious, three-year award are outstanding postdoctoral scientists conducting basic and translational cancer research in the laboratories of leading senior investigators across the country. The Fellowship encourages the nation's most promising young scientists to pursue careers in cancer research by providing them with independent funding ($156,000 each) to work on innovative projects.

The Committee also named three new recipients of the Dale F. Frey Award for Breakthrough Scientists.  This award provides additional funding to scientists completing a prestigious Damon Runyon Fellowship Award who have greatly exceeded the Foundation’s highest expectations and are most likely to make paradigm-shifting breakthroughs that transform the way we prevent, diagnose and treat cancer.  Each awardee will receive $100,000 to be used toward their research.

Recipients of the Dale F. Frey Award for Breakthrough Scientists:

Sean C. Bendall, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow ’09-’12), Stanford University, Stanford, California
Dr. Bendall is using novel single-cell analysis techniques to investigate how normal regulatory cell signaling networks are rewired, allowing cancer to grow unchecked.  He has applied this technology to examine healthy human blood cells, measuring multiple parameters simultaneously in single cells.  Collectively, such single-cell analyses provide an unprecedented opportunity to identify novel regulators (such as drugs, genes, and protein modifications) of cell development and identity, as well as provide insight into how these regulators interact with genes and mutations that promote cancer cell transformation.  His goal is to use these studies to contribute to the development of more effective diagnostics and treatments to improve clinical outcomes.

Robert K. Bradley, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow ‘09-‘11), Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington
Alternative splicing, the process by which a single gene can give rise to multiple, distinct protein isoforms, is broadly dysregulated in many tumors.  Recent research demonstrates that erroneous splicing can play important roles in tumor formation and growth, making it crucial that we understand the regulatory processes that give rise to aberrant splicing in cancers.  In collaboration with clinicians, Dr. Bradley seeks to identify splicing events with important roles in tumor formation and maintenance.  By combining computational and experimental techniques to understand the regulatory mechanisms underlying aberrant splicing, he aims to gain insight into fundamental tumor biology, potentially pointing the way to future therapeutics.

Dr. Bradley is now Assistant Member at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington. 

Jason M. Crawford, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow ‘09-‘11), Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
Small molecules produced by bacteria and fungi have provided many of our most successful anticancer drugs.  These microbial products have also served as excellent probes for identifying new drug targets in a variety of cancers.  Dr. Crawford will exploit the natural interactions between bacteria and animals to increase the production and identification of new products with anticancer activities.  By understanding how these products are produced in the microbe, the pathways can then be engineered to produce a variety of pharmacologically-relevant molecules.

Dr. Crawford will also explore the chemical interactions that occur between humans and the bacteria on our skin and in our gut. Many of these bacteria help to digest food, produce vitamins, ward off pathogens, and train the immune system.  By parsing apart the chemical interactions at the microbe-human interface, he will better understand how to minimize microbes capable of causing cancer while maximizing protective ones.

Dr. Crawford will soon be moving to an Assistant Professor faculty position at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.

November 2011 Damon Runyon Fellows:

Mary J. Carroll, PhD, with her sponsor Stephen W. Fesik, PhD, at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, aims to design small molecule inhibitor drugs with high affinity for the protein Vav1.  This protein is an attractive target for treating pancreatic cancer because it is highly expressed in pancreatic adenocarcinomas and activates pro-cancer signaling. 

Sidi Chen, PhD, with his sponsor Phillip A. Sharp, PhD, at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, aims to understand the relationship between small RNAs and cancer.  Small RNAs are important regulators of genetic networks inside the cell; perturbation of these networks can lead to malignant cell growth.  His goal is to develop anti-cancer drugs and therapies by targeting the process of small RNA production.

Stephanie T. Chen, PhD, with her sponsor David J. Julius, PhD, at University of California, San Francisco, California, is studying somatosensation, the sense of “touch,” with a focus on pain sensation. She aims to identify novel proteins that a) drive the development of sensory neurons, and b) confer the ability to detect painful stimuli under normal and pathophysiological conditions, including those leading to cancer-induced pain.

Jason A. Hall, PhD, with his sponsor Dan R. Littman, MD, PhD, at New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York, is investigating the biochemical and metabolic pathways that regulate the activity of the protein ROR gamma t, which has crucial importance in metabolism and immune system homeostasis.  It is also linked to the development of chronic inflammation, a known trigger and promoter of certain tumor types.  Understanding its regulation will facilitate the development of new therapeutics to manage chronic inflammatory disease and prevent tumorigenesis.

John J. Karijolich, PhD, with his sponsor Michael Hampsey, PhD, at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, New Jersey, aims to define mechanisms involved in the regulation of gene expression, using a combination of biochemical and genetic approaches.  An understanding of these mechanisms is key to understanding the development of cancer, and may potentially lead to novel cancer therapeutics.

Ralph E. Kleiner, PhD, with his sponsor Tarun M. Kapoor, PhD, at The Rockefeller University, New York, New York, is studying proteins called microtubules, which play a crucial role in the maintenance and proliferation of cancer cells.  Microtubule function is regulated, in part, by chemical modifications or “flags” on the microtubule proteins.  He aims to combine chemical, biochemical and biophysical approaches to better explain the role of these modifications on cell physiology and drug sensitivity.  These studies will enable the identification of novel strategies for improving the efficacy of existing microtubule-targeted cancer drugs. 

Ryota Matsuoka, PhD, with his sponsor Didier Y.R. Stainier, PhD, at University of California, San Francisco, California, is investigating how the nervous and vascular systems cooperate to establish precise patterns of networks.  Neuronal and vascular networks are fundamental for normal tissue function and homeostasis, and abnormalities in these networks lead to tissue dysfunction and diseases, including cancer. 

Robert K. McGinty, MD, PhD, with his sponsor Song Tan, PhD, at Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, is examining the structure and function of enzymes called methyltransferases.  As these enzymes are commonly misregulated in human leukemias, an understanding of their normal function may provide insight into novel platforms for drug development.

Cory Y. McLean, PhD, with his sponsor Joseph F. Costello, PhD, at University of California, San Francisco, California, is interested in understanding how low-grade brain tumors change to become high-grade tumors.  He is studying primary and recurrent brain tumors to identify the genetic and epigenetic alterations that differentiate tumors from normal tissue and cause tumor transformation from low- to high-grade. These studies may identify new targets for future drug development or indicate existing treatments that could be used to effectively treat low-grade tumors.

Katarina Moravcevic, PhD, with her sponsor Amita Sehgal, PhD, at University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is studying sleep deprivation, which leads to an increased risk of several diseases including cancer.  Little is currently known about the function of sleep or about the molecular mechanisms that control the need to sleep.  To begin to understand why sleep deprivation has such a negative impact on human health, she will address how and why the need to sleep builds up after prolonged wakefulness. 

Renee Otten, PhD, with his sponsor Dorothee Kern, PhD, at Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, is investigating the catalytic mechanism of protein kinases, an important family of proteins that are present in bacteria, plants and humans.  These proteins play a central role in signal transduction pathways and orchestrating the cell cycle; aberrant activity, however, has been shown to cause certain human cancers.  A firm grasp of their mechanism is thus of great interest because it holds promise for the development of new therapeutics.

Douglas H. Phanstiel, PhD, with his sponsor Michael P. Snyder, PhD, at Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, is studying transcription factors (TF), proteins that bind to DNA and regulate gene expression.  Certain TFs have well-established roles in cancer and other diseases.  He is using chromatin immunopreciptation combined with high-throughput sequencing (ChIP-Seq) to map TF-DNA binding sites in a variety of yeast strains.  This research is expected to be important for understanding the mechanisms controlling gene expression in humans and their variation across populations, thus providing insights into cancer and other diseases.

Maximilian W. Popp, PhD, with his sponsor Lynne E. Maquat, PhD, at University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York, is focusing on the quality control mechanisms that cells utilize at the RNA level to ensure proper gene expression.  Cells inspect and destroy aberrant mRNA messages using decay pathways; dysregulation of these RNA decay systems is implicated in various cancers.  He will apply a new genetic screening method to identify components of RNA decay pathways and learn more about their role in cancer.

Leah R. Sabin, PhD, with her sponsor Gregory J. Hannon, PhD, at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York, is studying the role of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) in blood cell development.  Although the precise function of most lncRNAs remains unclear, certain lncRNAs are involved in regulating gene expression and may therefore be important for proper blood cell maturation.  Since several types of cancers arise from blood cell progenitors, understanding how lncRNAs function in these cells may provide novel diagnostic and therapeutic targets.

Peter J. Skene, PhD, with his sponsors Mark T. Groudine, MD, PhD, and Steven Henikoff, PhD, at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington, is studying the mechanisms underlying how cells maintain a specific gene expression profile unique to that cell type.  While current technologies allow the reprogramming of differentiated cells into stem cells, the therapeutic use of this technology is limited because not all cellular memory is erased.  He aims to improve the reprogramming process by removing proteins responsible for cellular memory.  Stem cells have great potential in regenerative medicine, such as in renewing bone marrow following chemotherapy during cancer treatment. 

Lora B. Sweeney, PhD, with her sponsors Christopher R. Kintner, PhD, at The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, California, and Thomas M. Jessell, PhD, at Columbia University, New York, New York, is using the frog as a model to study how neurons diversify in the spinal cord as limbs develop and a swimming tadpole becomes a hopping frog.  Many different types of nerve cells, each with their own unique characteristics, make up the healthy nervous system.  Understanding how a cell’s fate is specified will provide the basis for understanding how cancer reprograms a cell.

Yanling Wang, PhD [Robert Black Fellow] with her sponsor Jeffery F. Miller, PhD, at University of California, Los Angeles, California, is studying Bacteroides fragilis, a common human gut bacterium that protects against inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) in experimental models.  This project will explore the mechanisms that contribute to bacterial colonization and long‐term maintenance in the gut.  By combining bioinformatics, molecular genetics, protein biochemistry and innovative animal disease models, she hopes to better understand host‐microbe and microbe‐microbe interactions in the complex mammalian gut environment, and to potentially utilize B. fragilis as a preventative and therapeutic against IBD and/or colon cancer.

Rui Yue, PhD, with his sponsor Sean J. Morrison, PhD, at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, is investigating the role of Leptin receptor signaling in blood stem cells (hematopoietic stem cells, HSCs).  Leptin signals the nutritional status of the body and tightly controls energy metabolism and body weight.  Interestingly, bone marrow stromal cells surrounding HSCs express very high levels of Leptin receptor; it is therefore possible that HSCs, which can initiate leukemia in pathological conditions, are regulated by nutritional changes in the microenvironment through Leptin signaling.  These studies may enable successful HSC expansion and transplantation after chemotherapy in leukemia patients, and may also help prevent or treat other types of cancer.

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DAMON RUNYON CANCER RESEARCH FOUNDATION

To accelerate breakthroughs, the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation provides today’s best young scientists with funding to pursue innovative research.  The Foundation has gained worldwide prominence in cancer research by identifying outstanding researchers and physician-scientists.  Eleven scientists supported by the Foundation have received the Nobel Prize, and others are heads of cancer centers and leaders of renowned research programs.  Each of its award programs is extremely competitive, with less than 10% of applications funded.  Since its founding in 1946, the Foundation has invested over $240 million and funded more than 3,300 young scientists.  This year, it will commit approximately $10.8 million in new awards to brilliant young investigators.

100% of all donations to the Foundation are used to support scientific research.  Its administrative and fundraising costs are paid from its Damon Runyon Broadway Tickets Service and endowment.

For more information visit http://www.damonrunyon.org/

CONTACT
Yung S. Lie, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer
Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation
yung.lie@damonrunyon.org
212.455.0521

Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation awards $2.25M to five innovative young scientists 

New York, NY (January 23, 2012) – The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, announced that five scientists with novel approaches to fighting cancer have been named 2012 recipients of the Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovation Award.  The grant of $450,000 over three years is awarded each year to early career scientists whose projects have the potential to significantly impact the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer. 

2012 Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovators:

Gregory L. Beatty, MD, PhD [Nadia’s Gift Foundation Innovator]
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Tumor-associated immune cells called macrophages are a key component of the tumor microenvironment and often portend a poor prognosis.  Macrophages are critical regulators of tumor angiogenesis and metastasis.  Interestingly, the function of macrophages is dependent on their surrounding microenvironment such that under certain conditions, macrophages can actually become tumor-suppressive.  The central hypothesis of Dr. Beatty’s work is that macrophages are an important yet pliable factor in tumor behavior, which can be therapeutically targeted and instructed to attack tumors and inhibit tumor growth.

Dr. Beatty will evaluate strategies to engineer macrophages to attack tumors and to resist signals produced within tumors that ordinarily prime macrophages with tumor-promoting properties.  He aims to combine these macrophage-directed approaches with standard chemotherapy.  The priority is to develop the necessary data to facilitate the rapid translation of this strategic approach to the clinic for treatment of patients with pancreatic cancer and other malignancies.

Jay R. Hesselberth, PhD
University of Colorado Denver, Aurora, Colorado

Most early detection strategies for cancer focus on identifying protein biomarkers or “molecular signatures” of disease.  However, discovery of new biomarkers has lagged, due in large part to the inability to efficiently sift through complex cellular protein mixtures.  As a result, the number of new FDA-approved biomarker tests has declined over the last decade, and the current rate of biomarker validation is only one per year.

As proteins can be very large, they are typically cleaved into smaller units called peptides for identification and analysis.  The current technology for peptide identification is very slow and lacks the sensitivity and specificity required to quantify proteins in complex samples.  Dr. Hesselberth proposes that a massive acceleration in the rate of peptide sequencing would significantly impact biomarker research.  To accomplish this, he seeks to develop a highly parallel peptide sequencing platform with single molecule resolution that is orders of magnitude faster than existing technology.  This new approach would transform our capability to identify protein and peptide biomarkers for use in the early detection of cancer.

Matthew R. Pratt, PhD
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California

Cellular proteins are often modified with a “flag” that affects their function.  One such modification is the monosaccharide N-acetyl-glucosamine (O-GlcNAc), which is required for normal development and proper regulation of many biological pathways.  During metabolism, elevated glucose levels result in elevated O-GlcNAc modification of proteins.

One common feature of all cancers is an altered metabolism that helps to protect cancer cells from the challenging environments they encounter during tumorigenesis and metastasis.  Dr. Pratt has uncovered a link between this change in metabolism and O-GlcNAc modification of proteins, which directly contributes to the proliferation and survival of cancer cells.  He seeks to understand the details of this link and exactly how it contributes to disease.  This approach will lead to a more complete understanding of how metabolism promotes cancer and may uncover new opportunities for treatment.

Eranthie Weerapana, PhD
Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts

Understanding proteins dysregulated in cancer is a vital step toward the discovery of effective targets for treatment.  Many cellular enzymes demonstrate aberrant activity in cancer, and a significant subset of them contain cysteine amino acid residues required for their function.

Dr. Weerapana aims to use sophisticated chemical genetic approaches to develop novel small molecules that selectively target these cysteines, thus blocking protein function.  Her goal is to create a “chemical library” of these small molecules and use this library to identify compounds that affect cancer cell proliferation, migration and invasion in breast and ovarian cancer cell lines.  The cellular protein targets of these molecules will be identified, followed by analysis of their roles in cancer development and progression.  This multidisciplinary approach, encompassing aspects of synthetic chemistry, cell biology and proteomics, will identify new therapeutic targets and small molecule drug candidates for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

Feng Zhang, PhD
The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Recent genome sequencing studies have identified a large set of candidate genetic mutations implicated in a diverse range of cancer types.  However, in order to determine the causal role of each mutation in disease risk and pathology, researchers must be able to test each mutation individually in cellular or animal models.  This is severely limited by the difficulty of manipulating the genome of cells and organisms with precise control so that a specific disease can be definitively linked to single changes in the genome.

To address this challenge, Dr. Zhang proposes to engineer a comprehensive set of novel molecular tools to enable targeted modification of the mammalian genome.  He will demonstrate the power of these tools by testing genetic mutations associated with neuroblastoma and glioma brain tumors.  The development and application of these tools will establish a powerful new platform for investigating the underlying genetic and molecular mechanisms of cancer and will inform drug development.  To ensure maximal benefit and impact for the cancer community and beyond, he will also facilitate teaching and rapid open-source distribution of all tools developed.

Funding Daring Research

The Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovation Award funds cancer research by exceptionally creative thinkers with “high-risk/high-reward” ideas who lack sufficient preliminary data to obtain traditional funding.  The awardees are selected through a highly competitive and rigorous process by a scientific committee comprised of leading cancer researchers who are innovators themselves.  At the final stage of selection, candidates are screened by an in-person interview with committee members.  Only those scientists with a strong vision and passion for curing cancer are selected to receive the prestigious award. 

This program is possible through the generous support of Andy and Debbie Rachleff, the Island Outreach Foundation and Nadia’s Gift Foundation.

###

DAMON RUNYON CANCER RESEARCH FOUNDATION

To accelerate breakthroughs, the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation provides today’s best young scientists with funding to pursue innovative research.  The Foundation has gained worldwide prominence in cancer research by identifying outstanding researchers and physician-scientists.  Eleven scientists supported by the Foundation have received the Nobel Prize, and others are heads of cancer centers and leaders of renowned research programs.  Each of its award programs is extremely competitive, with less than 10% of applications funded.  Since its founding in 1946, the Foundation has invested over $240 million and funded more than 3,300 young scientists.  This year, it will commit approximately $10.8 million in new awards to brilliant young investigators.
100% of all donations to the Foundation are used to support scientific research.  Its administrative and fundraising costs are paid from its Damon Runyon Broadway Tickets Service and endowment.

For more information visit http://www.damonrunyon.org/

CONTACT
Yung S. Lie, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer
Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation
yung.lie@damonrunyon.org
212.455.0521

New York, NY (January 5, 2012) – Two non-profit organizations committed to eliminating cancer in children and young adults have joined together to address the critical shortage of funding for pediatric cancer research. The Sohn Conference Foundation, dedicated to curing pediatric cancers, has granted $1.5 million to the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, the leading charity supporting innovative young cancer researchers, to establish the Damon Runyon-Sohn Pediatric Cancer Fellowship Award. This Award will provide funding to basic scientists and clinicians who conduct research with the potential to significantly impact the prevention, diagnosis or treatment of one or more pediatric cancers.

Nothing is more important than saving young people from devastating illnesses. Yet, because cancer occurs less frequently in children and young adults than in the adult population, it does not receive significant funding from either the National Cancer Institute (only four percent of its budget) or the biopharmaceutical industry. As a result, there have been limited advances in recent years in treating these cancers, and fewer scientists are working in this field.

“As in the technology world, where transformative innovation most often comes from young minds, the most brilliant and audacious young scientists drive breakthroughs in biomedical research. We are confident that by getting them to focus on childhood cancers, we can cure children and prevent the long-term side effects that result from today’s treatments,” says Lorraine Egan, President and Chief Executive Officer of Damon Runyon.

The goal of this new Fellowship Award is to recruit the top young minds to research childhood cancers. It leverages the success of the internationally-renowned Damon Runyon Fellowship Award, which has an unparalleled track record for identifying future breakthrough scientists. After a national call for proposals, a selection committee chaired by William Carroll, MD, Director of the New York University Cancer Institute and comprised of leaders in pediatric cancer research, will select award recipients. The program is being launched as a pilot project with the potential for expansion if successful.

“Ever since my brother Ira died from cancer at age 29, the Sohn Conference Foundation has been committed to finding cures for cancer affecting kids and young adults,” explains Evan Sohn, founder of the Sohn Conference Foundation. “By partnering with Damon Runyon, we hope to encourage the best young scientists to focus on childhood cancers.”

About The Sohn Conference Foundation

The Foundation was established in memory of Ira Sohn, a Wall Street professional whose life was cut short when he passed away from cancer. For more than fifteen years, the Foundation has raised funds for pediatric cancer research through its highly-respected annual investment conference, the Sohn Investment Conference, which features many of Wall Street’s best and most successful investors. Thanks to the dedication of the conference founders, esteemed speakers, volunteers, and generous donors, the Foundation has invested more than $20 million in innovative research and institutions at the forefront of cancer research and pediatric care.

About the Foundation

To accelerate breakthroughs, the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation provides today’s best young scientists with funding to pursue innovative research. Eleven scientists supported by the Foundation have received the Nobel Prize, seven have received National Medals of Science, and 61 have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, the science “Hall of Fame.”

Since its founding in 1946, Damon Runyon has invested more than $240 million and funded more than 3,300 young scientists. 100% of all donations to the Foundation are used to support cutting-edge scientific research. Its administrative and fundraising costs are paid from Damon Runyon Broadway Tickets and its endowment.

For more information, visit http://www.damonrunyon.org.
 
CONTACT
Todd Brogan
Communications Coordinator
Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation
todd.brogan@damonrunyon.org
212.455.0552

Carla Pisarro
Media Contact
Sohn Conference Foundation
cpisarro@groupgordon.com
212.784.5703

Catherine J. Wu, MD (Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator '07-'12) and Matthew L. Meyerson, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow '95-'98) of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, led the first large-scale genomics study of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).  In tumor samples from 91 patients, they identified nine commonly mutated genes – five of which have been linked to CLL for the first time.  One of these genes, SF3B1, is required for gene splicing (RNA processing), connecting the process to disease progression.  The researchers found that mutation in SF3B1 may indicate a more aggressive form of the disease that requires prompt treatment.  These findings were published in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the American Society of Hematology annual meeting.

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David E. Lebwohl, MD (Damon Runyon Fellow '86-'87) of Novartis, East Hanover, and colleagues, reported results of a Phase III clinical trial testing the treatment combination of everolimus (Afinitor), which blocks a protein known to affect blood vessel growth in cancer cells, and the hormone therapy exemestane (Aromasin).  724 metastatic breast cancer patients with hormone receptor-positive tumors were enrolled in the trial.  Patients who received the combination survived progression-free for twice as long as those who only received exemestane (7.4 months vs. 3.2 months).  The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

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Ralph J. DeBerardinis, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator '11-'14) of UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, and colleagues, discovered a metabolic pathway unique to some tumors.  The tumor-specific pathway is dependent on the amino acid glutamine and reverses many of the chemical reactions of the Krebs cycle, used by normal cells.  This new finding could provide a new target for drugs that could specifically target cancer cells without harming healthy cells.  The study was published in the scientific journal Nature.

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Mark A. Lemmon, PhD (Damon Runyon Scholar '97-'98, Damon Runyon Fellow '93-'96) of University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and colleagues, reported new findings that will allow physicians to identify which neuroblastoma patients are most likely to respond to crizotinib (Xalkori).  The drug was recently approved for treatment of certain lung cancers.  It targets a protein called anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) which is mutated in about ten percent of children with deadly neuroblastoma tumors.  The researchers reported that these patients respond differently to treatment, depending on the particular mutation in ALK.  The drug blocked growth of neuroblastoma cells with the most common mutation, while tumor cells with a separate ALK mutation were more resistant to the drug.  These resistant cells, however, responded to a higher dosage of crizotinib.  The researchers are now conducting a clinical trial to determine the appropriate drug dose in children, potentially providing a safer and more effective treatment option than conventional chemotherapy.  The study was published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

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Naoko Kobayashi, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow '91-'94) and colleagues at University of California, Los Angeles, reported results of a short-term Phase II clinical trial demonstrating anti-cancer benefits of fish oil.  Men who ate a low-fat diet with fish oil supplements for four to six weeks before having their prostate removed had slower cancer cell growth in their prostate tissue than men who ate a typical high-fat Western diet.  The researchers plan to expand this study to a larger group of men who will be monitored over an extended period of time (one year).  This initial study, published in the journal Cancer Prevention Research, suggests that altering the diet may favorably affect the biology of prostate cancer.

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A team of researchers including Wendy S. Garrett, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow '06-'09), Matthew L. Meyerson, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow '95-'98), Akinyemi I. Ojesina, MBBS, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow '08-'11) and Ramesh A. Shivdasani, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon Scholar '98-'99) at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute, Cambridge, reported high levels of a specific type of bacteria, Fusobacterium, in colorectal tumor samples.  Future studies will focus on determining the connection between the bacterium and cancer.  If there is a link to disease development, the bacterium may be important for diagnosis, prevention and/or treatment.  The study was published in the journal Genome Research. 

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July - September 2011 Dear Damon Runyon Scientists, October began with bittersweet news.  We were thrilled to hear that Ralph M. Steinman, MD (Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Mentor) of The Rockefeller University, New York, received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of dendritic cells, yet greatly saddened to hear that he had passed away of pancreatic cancer only days prior to the announcement. On a happier note, we recently held our 11th annual Fellows' Retreat.  This year's meeting, in San Jose, California, was a terrific gathering: the highest-quality science was presented, valuable networking took place, and new friendships and collaborations were developed. Last week, we welcomed all of our Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovators to New York City for the first Innovators' Symposium.  It was amazing to have all of them together and to hear about the progress each of them is making.  In addition, the Innovation Award Committee met to review applications and select finalists for our fifth class of Innovators (to be announced in January).  Our Fellowship Award Committee will meet in November to select a new class of Fellows and the recipients of the new Dale F. Frey Award for Breakthrough Scientists.  Stay tuned for announcements of our newest awardees. Please see below for the latest update on exciting news and findings from your fellow Damon Runyon scientists – current and former.  These are just the publications and awards that we are aware of, so we apologize if we have not included your work.  Lay summaries of some of this work are posted on the News page of our website, along with additional news about our Scientific Committee and Board members.  Thanks again to those of you who have sent us updates on your recent progress.   Please stay in touch, and enjoy the fall! Best regards, Yung S. Lie, PhD Scientific Director Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation AWARDS and HONORS NIH High-Risk Research Award recipients: Pioneer Award: Brenda L. Bass, PhD (Fellow ‘85-‘88), University of Utah, Salt Lake City William M. Clemons, PhD (Fellow ‘02-‘04), California Institute of Technology, Pasadena Tao Pan, PhD (Fellow ‘91-‘93), University of Chicago New Innovator Award: Heather R. Christofk, PhD (Innovator ‘10-‘12), University of California, Los Angeles Lea A. Goentoro, PhD (Fellow ‘07-‘10), California Institute of Technology, Pasadena PUBLICATIONS Koichi Akashi, MD, PhD (Scholar ‘02-‘04), Kyushu University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Japan Self-renewing hematopoietic stem cell is the primary target in pathogenesis of human chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Kikushige Y, Ishikawa F, Miyamoto T, Shima T, Urata S, Yoshimoto G, Mori Y, Iino T, Yamauchi T, Eto T, Niiro H, Iwasaki H, Takenaka K, Akashi K. Cancer Cell. 2011 Aug 16;20(2):246-59. Scott A. Armstrong, MD, PhD (Lilly Clinical Investigator ‘03-‘08) of Children’s Hospital Boston, Boston MLL-Rearranged Leukemia Is Dependent on Aberrant H3K79 Methylation by DOT1L. Bernt KM, Zhu N, Sinha AU, Vempati S, Faber J, Krivtsov AV, Feng Z, Punt N, Daigle A, Bullinger L, Pollock RM, Richon VM, Kung AL, Armstrong SA. Cancer Cell. 2011 Jul 12;20(1):66-78. Differential niche and Wnt requirements during acute myeloid leukemia progression. Lane SW, Wang YJ, Lo Celso C, Ragu C, Bullinger L, Sykes SM, Ferraro F, Shterental S, Lin CP, Gilliland DG, Scadden DT, Armstrong SA, Williams DA. Blood. 2011 Jul 15. Selective Killing of Mixed Lineage Leukemia Cells by a Potent Small-Molecule DOT1L Inhibitor. Daigle SR, Olhava EJ, Therkelsen CA, Majer CR, Sneeringer CJ, Song J, Johnston LD, Scott MP, Smith JJ, Xiao Y, Jin L, Kuntz KW, Chesworth R, Moyer MP, Bernt KM, Tseng JC, Kung AL, Armstrong SA, Copeland RA, Richon VM, Pollock RM. Cancer Cell. 2011 Jul 12;20(1):53-65. James E. Bradner, MD (Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovator ‘11-‘13), Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston BET Bromodomain Inhibition as a Therapeutic Strategy to Target c-Myc. Delmore JE, Issa GC, Lemieux ME, Rahl PB, Shi J, Jacobs HM, Kastritis E, Gilpatrick T, Paranal RM, Qi J, Chesi M, Schinzel AC, McKeown MR, Heffernan TP, Vakoc CR, Bergsagel PL, Ghobrial IM, Richardson PG, Young RA, Hahn WC, Anderson KC, Kung AL, Bradner JE, Mitsiades CS. Cell. 2011 Sep 1. RNAi screen identifies Brd4 as a therapeutic target in acute myeloid leukaemia. Zuber J, Shi J, Wang E, Rappaport AR, Herrmann H, Sison EA, Magoon D, Qi J, Blatt K, Wunderlich M, Taylor MJ, Johns C, Chicas A, Mulloy JC, Kogan SC, Brown P, Valent P, Bradner JE, Lowe SW, Vakoc CR. Nature. 2011 Aug 3. doi: 10.1038/nature10334. Marcia S. Brose, MD, PhD (Siemens Clinical Investigator ‘05-‘10), University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Rationale and design of decision: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled phase III trial evaluating the efficacy and safety of sorafenib in patients with locally advanced or metastatic radioactive iodine (RAI)-refractory, differentiated thyroid cancer. Brose MS, Nutting CM, Sherman SI, Shong YK, Smit JW, Reike G, Chung J, Kalmus J, Kappeler C, Schlumberger M. BMC Cancer. 2011 Aug 11;11:349. Ronald J. Buckanovich, MD, PhD (Clinical Investigator ‘08-‘11), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Novel surface targets and serum biomarkers from the ovarian cancer vasculature. Sasaroli D, Gimotty PA, Pathak HB, Hammond R, Kougioumtzidou E, Katsaros D, Buckanovich R, Devarajan K, Sandaltzopoulos R, Godwin AK, Scholler N, Coukos G. Cancer Biol Ther. 2011 Aug 1;12(3). Joseph A. Califano, III, MD (Lilly Clinical Investigator ‘01-‘06), The Johns Hopkins’ Kimmel Cancer Center, Baltimore Exome Sequencing of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Reveals Inactivating Mutations in NOTCH1. Agrawal N, Frederick MJ, Pickering CR, Bettegowda C, Chang K, Li RJ, Fakhry C, Xie TX, Zhang J, Wang J, Zhang N, El-Naggar AK, Jasser SA, Weinstein JN, Treviño L, Drummond JA, Muzny DM, Wu Y, Wood LD, Hruban RH, Westra WH, Koch WM, Califano JA, Gibbs RA, Sidransky D, Vogelstein B, Velculescu VE, Papadopoulos N, Wheeler DA, Kinzler KW, Myers JN. Science. 2011 Aug 26;333(6046):1154-7. Leah E. Cowen, PhD (Fellow ‘03-‘05), University of Toronto, Toronto Hsp90 governs dispersion and drug resistance of fungal biofilms. Robbins N, Uppuluri P, Nett J, Rajendran R, Ramage G, Lopez-Ribot JL, Andes D, Cowen LE. PLoS Pathog. 2011 Sep;7(9):e1002257. Erik W. Debler, PhD (Fellow ‘08-‘10), The Rockefeller University, New York Structural and functional analysis of an essential nucleoporin heterotrimer on the cytoplasmic face of the nuclear pore complex. Yoshida K, Seo HS, Debler EW, Blobel G, Hoelz A. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Oct 4;108(40):16571-6. The structure of the nuclear pore complex. Hoelz A, Debler EW, Blobel G. Annu Rev Biochem. 2011 Jun 7;80:613-43. Charles G. Drake, MD, PhD (Lilly Clinical Investigator ‘04-‘09), The Johns Hopkins’ Kimmel Cancer Center, Baltimore Anti-tumor effects of endogenous prostate cancer-specific CD8 T cells in a murine TCR transgenic model. Bruno TC, Rothwell C, Grosso JF, Getnet D, Yen HR, Durham NM, Netto G, Pardoll DM, Drake CG. Prostate. 2011 Jul 14. doi: 10.1002/pros.21453. Michael J. Emanuele, PhD (Fellow ‘08-‘11) Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston Global Identification of Modular Cullin-RING Ligase Substrates. Emanuele MJ, Elia AE, Xu Q, Thoma CR, Izhar L, Leng Y, Guo A, Chen YN, Rush J, Hsu PW, Yen HC, Elledge SJ. Cell. 2011 Sep 28. Rafael Fonseca, MD (Lilly Clinical Investigator ‘00-‘05), Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale Impact of gene expression profiling-based risk stratification in patients with myeloma receiving initial therapy with lenalidomide and dexamethasone. Kumar SK, Uno H, Jacobus SJ, Van Wier SA, Ahmann GJ, Henderson KJ, Callander NS, Haug JL, Siegel DS, Greipp PR, Fonseca R, Rajkumar SV. Blood. 2011 Aug 22. Pomalidomide plus low-dose dexamethasone in myeloma refractory to both bortezomib and lenalidomide: comparison of 2 dosing strategies in dual-refractory disease. Lacy MQ, Allred JB, Gertz MA, Hayman SR, Short KD, Buadi F, Dispenzieri A, Kumar S, Greipp PR, Lust JA, Russell SJ, Dingli D, Zeldenrust S, Fonseca R, Bergsagel PL, Roy V, Stewart AK, Laumann K, Mandrekar SJ, Reeder C, Rajkumar SV, Mikhael JR. Blood. 2011 Sep 15;118(11):2970-5. Mark B. Gerstein, PhD (Fellow ‘94-‘96), Yale University, New Haven Identification of a disease-defining gene fusion in epithelioid hemangioendothelioma. Tanas MR, Sboner A, Oliveira AM, Erickson-Johnson MR, Hespelt J, Hanwright PJ, Flanagan J, Luo Y, Fenwick K, Natrajan R, Mitsopoulos C, Zvelebil M, Hoch BL, Weiss SW, Debiec-Rychter M, Sciot R, West RB, Lazar AJ, Ashworth A, Reis-Filho JS, Lord CJ, Gerstein MB, Rubin MA, Rubin BP. Sci Transl Med. 2011 Aug 31;3(98):98ra82. Maura L. Gillison, MD, PhD (Lilly Clinical Investigator ‘00-‘05), Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbus Associations between Oral HPV16 Infection and Cytopathology: Evaluation of an Oropharyngeal "Pap-Test Equivalent" in High-Risk Populations. Fakhry C, Rosenthal BT, Clark DP, Gillison ML. Cancer Prev Res (Phila). 2011 Sep;4(9):1378-84. Nathanael S. Gray, PhD (Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovator ‘08-‘10), Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston Oncogenic PIK3CA-driven mammary tumors frequently recur via PI3K pathway-dependent and PI3K pathway-independent mechanisms. Liu P, Cheng H, Santiago S, Raeder M, Zhang F, Isabella A, Yang J, Semaan DJ, Chen C, Fox EA, Gray NS, Monahan J, Schlegel R, Beroukhim R, Mills GB, Zhao JJ. Nat Med. 2011 Aug 7. doi: 10.1038/nm.2402. A Novel ALK Secondary Mutation and EGFR Signaling Cause Resistance to ALK Kinase Inhibitors. Sasaki T, Koivunen J, Ogino A, Yanagita M, Nikiforow S, Zheng W, Lathan C, Marcoux JP, Du J, Okuda K, Capelletti M, Shimamura T, Ercan D, Stumpfova M, Xiao Y, Weremowicz S, Butaney M, Heon S, Wilner K, Christensen JG, Eck MJ, Wong KK, Lindeman N, Gray NS, Rodig SJ, Jänne PA. Cancer Res. 2011 Sep 15;71(18):6051-60. Kristina M. Herbert, PhD (Fellow ‘09-‘11), Yale University, New Haven A Compound That Inhibits the HOP-Hsp90 Complex Formation and Has Unique Killing Effects in Breast Cancer Cell Lines. Pimienta G, Herbert KM, Regan L. Mol Pharm. 2011 Oct 5. John V. Heymach, MD, PhD (Lilly Clinical Investigator ‘04-‘09), The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston Increased VEGFR-2 gene copy is associated with chemoresistance and shorter survival in patients with non-small-cell lung carcinoma who receive adjuvant chemotherapy. Yang F, Tang X, Riquelme E, Behrens C, Nilsson MB, Giri U, Varella-Garcia M, Byers LA, Lin HY, Wang J, Raso MG, Girard L, Coombes K, Lee JJ, Herbst RS, Minna JD, Heymach JV, Wistuba II. Cancer Res. 2011 Aug 15;71(16):5512-21. Robust gene expression signature from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded samples predicts prognosis of non-small-cell lung cancer patients. Xie Y, Xiao G, Coombes KR, Behrens C, Solis LM, Raso G, Girard L, Erickson HS, Roth J, Heymach JV, Moran C, Danenberg K, Minna JD, Wistuba II. Clin Cancer Res. 2011 Sep 1;17(17):5705-14. Marshall Horwitz, MD, PhD (Fellow ‘94), University of Washington, Seattle Heritable GATA2 mutations associated with familial myelodysplastic syndrome and acute myeloid leukemia. Hahn CN, Chong CE, Carmichael CL, Wilkins EJ, Brautigan PJ, Li XC, Babic M, Lin M, Carmagnac A, Lee YK, Kok CH, Gagliardi L, Friend KL, Ekert PG, Butcher CM, Brown AL, Lewis ID, To LB, Timms AE, Storek J, Moore S, Altree M, Escher R, Bardy PG, Suthers GK, D'Andrea RJ, Horwitz MS, Scott HS. Nat Genet. 2011 Sep 4;43(10):1012-7. Rebecca A. Ihrie, PhD (Fellow ‘07-‘09), University of California, San Francisco Corridors of migrating neurons in the human brain and their decline during infancy. Sanai N, Nguyen T, Ihrie RA, Mirzadeh Z, Tsai HH, Wong M, Gupta N, Berger MS, Huang E, Garcia-Verdugo JM, Rowitch DH, Alvarez-Buylla A. Nature. 2011 Sep 28. doi: 10.1038/nature10487. Katrin Karbstein, PhD (Fellow ‘04-‘06), The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter and Georgios Skiniotis, PhD (Fellow ’04-’07), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Ribosome assembly factors prevent premature translation initiation by 40S assembly intermediates. Strunk BS, Loucks CR, Su M, Vashisth H, Cheng S, Schilling J, Brooks CL 3rd, Karbstein K, Skiniotis G. Science. 2011 Sep 9;333(6048):1449-53. Mondira Kundu, MD, PhD (Fellow ‘00-‘03), St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis Hsp90-Cdc37 chaperone complex regulates Ulk1- and Atg13-mediated mitophagy. Joo JH, Dorsey FC, Joshi A, Hennessy-Walters KM, Rose KL, McCastlain K, Zhang J, Iyengar R, Jung CH, Suen DF, Steeves MA, Yang CY, Prater SM, Kim DH, Thompson CB, Youle RJ, Ney PA, Cleveland JL, Kundu M. Mol Cell. 2011 Aug 19;43(4):572-85. Gabriel C. Lander, PhD (Merck Fellow ‘10-‘13), Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, Berkeley Structures of the RNA-guided surveillance complex from a bacterial immune system. Wiedenheft B, Lander GC, Zhou K, Jore MM, Brouns SJ, van der Oost J, Doudna JA, Nogales E. Nature. 2011 Sep 21;477(7365):486-9. doi: 10.1038/nature10402. Li Li, MD, PhD (Lilly Clinical Investigator ‘01-‘06), Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland Ortiz, A. P., Thompson, C. L., Chak, A., Berger, N. A. and Li, L. Insulin resistance, central obesity, and risk of colorectal adenomas. Cancer (2011), doi: 10.1002/cncr.26454 Costas A. Lyssiotis, PhD (Fellow ‘10-‘13), Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston Phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase diverts glycolytic flux and contributes to oncogenesis. Locasale JW, Grassian AR, Melman T, Lyssiotis CA, Mattaini KR, Bass AJ, Heffron G, Metallo CM, Muranen T, Sharfi H, Sasaki AT, Anastasiou D, Mullarky E, Vokes NI, Sasaki M, Beroukhim R, Stephanopoulos G, Ligon AH, Meyerson M, Richardson AL, Chin L, Wagner G, Asara JM, Brugge JS, Cantley LC, Vander Heiden MG. Nat Genet. 2011 Jul 31;43(9):869-74. Pierre P. Massion, MD (Lilly Clinical Investigator ‘03-‘08), Vanderbilt University, Nashville Expression of focal adhesion kinase in small-cell lung carcinoma. Ocak S, Chen H, Callison C, Gonzalez AL, Massion PP. Cancer. 2011 Jul 28. doi: 10.1002/cncr.26382. Patrick T. McGrath, PhD (Fellow ‘06-‘09), University of California, San Francisco Parallel evolution of domesticated Caenorhabditis species targets pheromone receptor genes. McGrath PT, Xu Y, Ailion M, Garrison JL, Butcher RA, Bargmann CI. Nature. 2011 Aug 17;477(7364):321-5. Matthew L. Meyerson, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow ‘95-‘98), Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston The Mutational Landscape of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma. Stransky N, Egloff AM, Tward AD, Kostic AD, Cibulskis K, Sivachenko A, Kryukov GV, Lawrence M, Sougnez C, McKenna A, Shefler E, Ramos AH, Stojanov P, Carter SL, Voet D, Cortés ML, Auclair D, Berger MF, Saksena G, Guiducci C, Onofrio R, Parkin M, Romkes M, Weissfeld JL, Seethala RR, Wang L, Rangel-Escareño C, Fernandez-Lopez JC, Hidalgo-Miranda A, Melendez-Zajgla J, Winckler W, Ardlie K, Gabriel SB, Meyerson M, Lander ES, Getz G, Golub TR, Garraway LA, Grandis JR. Science. 2011 Jul 28. David Mu, PhD (Fellow ‘94-‘97), Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey miR-17~92 cooperates with RB pathway mutations to promote retinoblastoma. Conkrite K, Sundby M, Mukai S, Thomson JM, Mu D, Hammond SM, MacPherson D. Genes Dev. 2011 Aug 15;25(16):1734-45. Peter S. Nelson, MD (Clinical Investigator Mentor, Scholar ‘02-‘04), Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle Exome sequencing identifies a spectrum of mutation frequencies in advanced and lethal prostate cancers. Kumar A, White TA, Mackenzie AP, Clegg N, Lee C, Dumpit RF, Coleman I, Ng SB, Salipante SJ, Rieder MJ, Nickerson DA, Corey E, Lange PH, Morrissey C, Vessella RL, Nelson PS, Shendure J. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Sep 26. A targeted proteomics-based pipeline for verification of biomarkers in plasma. Whiteaker JR, Lin C, Kennedy J, Hou L, Trute M, Sokal I, Yan P, Schoenherr RM, Zhao L, Voytovich UJ, Kelly-Spratt KS, Krasnoselsky A, Gafken PR, Hogan JM, Jones LA, Wang P, Amon L, Chodosh LA, Nelson PS, McIntosh MW, Kemp CJ, Paulovich AG. Nat Biotechnol. 2011 Jun 19;29(7):625-34. James M. Olson, MD, PhD (Lilly Clinical Investigator ‘02-‘07), Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle Phase I Trial of MK-0752 in Children With Refractory CNS Malignancies: A Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium Study. Fouladi M, Stewart CF, Olson J, Wagner LM, Onar-Thomas A, Kocak M, Packer RJ, Goldman S, Gururangan S, Gajjar A, Demuth T, Kun LE, Boyett JM, Gilbertson RJ. J Clin Oncol. 2011 Sep 10;29(26):3529-34. Elaine A. Ostrander, PhD (Fellow ’87-’90), Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle Genetic Variants in the LEPR, CRY1, RNASEL, IL4, and ARVCF Genes Are Prognostic Markers of Prostate Cancer-Specific Mortality. Lin DW, Fitzgerald LM, Fu R, Kwon EM, Zheng SL, Kolb S, Wiklund F, Stattin P, Isaacs WB, Xu J, Ostrander EA, Feng Z, Grönberg H, Stanford JL. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2011 Sep;20(9):1928-36. Jeremy N. Rich, MD (Lilly Clinical Investigator ‘04-‘09), Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland Glioma stem cell proliferation and tumor growth are promoted by nitric oxide synthase-2. Eyler CE, Wu Q, Yan K, MacSwords JM, Chandler-Militello D, Misuraca KL, Lathia JD, Forrester MT, Lee J, Stamler JS, Goldman SA, Bredel M, McLendon RE, Sloan AE, Hjelmeland AB, Rich JN. Cell. 2011 Jul 8;146(1):53-66. John L. Rinn, PhD (Innovator ‘09-‘11, Fellow ‘05-‘07), Harvard University, Cambridge lincRNAs act in the circuitry controlling pluripotency and differentiation. Guttman M, Donaghey J, Carey BW, Garber M, Grenier JK, Munson G, Young G, Lucas AB, Ach R, Bruhn L, Yang X, Amit I, Meissner A, Regev A, Rinn JL, Root DE, Lander ES. Nature. 2011 Aug 28;477(7364):295-300. John L. Rinn, PhD (Innovator ‘09-‘11, Fellow ‘05-‘07), Harvard University, Cambridge and Cole Trapnell, PhD (Fellow ‘11-‘14), Harvard University, Cambridge Integrative annotation of human large intergenic noncoding RNAs reveals global properties and specific subclasses. Cabili MN, Trapnell C, Goff L, Koziol M, Tazon-Vega B, Regev A, Rinn JL. Genes Dev. 2011 Sep 15;25(18):1915-27. Julien Sage, PhD (Scholar ’05-’07), Stanford University Medical School, Stanford Notch signaling inhibits hepatocellular carcinoma following inactivation of the RB pathway. Viatour P, Ehmer U, Saddic LA, Dorrell C, Andersen JB, Lin C, Zmoos AF, Mazur PK, Schaffer BE, Ostermeier A, Vogel H, Sylvester KG, Thorgeirsson SS, Grompe M, Sage J. J Exp Med. 2011 Sep 26;208(10):1963-76. Discovery and preclinical validation of drug indications using compendia of public gene expression data. Sirota M, Dudley JT, Kim J, Chiang AP, Morgan AA, Sweet-Cordero A, Sage J, Butte AJ. Sci Transl Med. 2011 Aug 17;3(96):96ra77. Ramesh A. Shivdasani, MD, PhD (Scholar ‘98-‘99), Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston Activation of ERBB2 Signaling Causes Resistance to the EGFR-Directed Therapeutic Antibody Cetuximab. Yonesaka K, Zejnullahu K, Okamoto I, Satoh T, Cappuzzo F, Souglakos J, Ercan D, Rogers A, Roncalli M, Takeda M, Fujisaka Y, Philips J, Shimizu T, Maenishi O, Cho Y, Sun J, Destro A, Taira K, Takeda K, Okabe T, Swanson J, Itoh H, Takada M, Lifshits E, Okuno K, Engelman JA, Shivdasani RA, Nishio K, Fukuoka M, Varella-Garcia M, Nakagawa K, Jänne PA. Sci Transl Med. 2011 Sep 7;3(99):99ra86. Aaron F. Straight, PhD (Fellow ‘98-‘01, Scholar ‘05-‘07), Stanford University Medical School, Stanford CENP-C recruits M18BP1 to centromeres to promote CENP-A chromatin assembly. Moree B, Meyer CB, Fuller CJ, Straight AF. J Cell Biol. 2011 Sep 19;194(6):855-71. In vitro centromere and kinetochore assembly on defined chromatin templates. Guse A, Carroll CW, Moree B, Fuller CJ, Straight AF. Nature. 2011 Aug 28;477(7364):354-8. Jesús Torres-Vazquez, PhD (Fellow ‘02-‘05), New York University, New York Semaphorin-PlexinD1 signaling limits angiogenic potential via the VEGF decoy receptor sFlt1. Zygmunt T, Gay CM, Blondelle J, Singh MK, Flaherty KM, Means PC, Herwig L, Krudewig A, Belting HG, Affolter M, Epstein JA, Torres-Vázquez J. Dev Cell. 2011 Aug 16;21(2):301-14. Monte M. Winslow, PhD (Fellow ‘06-‘09), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge Nuclear factor I/B is an oncogene in small cell lung cancer. Dooley AL, Winslow MM, Chiang DY, Banerji S, Stransky N, Dayton TL, Snyder EL, Senna S, Whittaker CA, Bronson RT, Crowley D, Barretina J, Garraway L, Meyerson M, Jacks T. Genes Dev. 2011 Jul 15;25(14):1470-5. John M. Timmerman, MD (Lilly Clinical Investigator ‘05-‘10), University of California, Los Angeles Programmed death ligand 1 is expressed by non-hodgkin lymphomas and inhibits the activity of tumor-associated T cells. Andorsky DJ, Yamada RE, Said J, Pinkus GS, Betting DJ, Timmerman JM. Clin Cancer Res. 2011 Jul 1;17(13):4232-44. Jedd D. Wolchok, MD, PhD (Lilly Clinical Investigator ‘03-‘08), Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York Imatinib potentiates antitumor T cell responses in gastrointestinal stromal tumor through the inhibition of Ido. Balachandran VP, Cavnar MJ, Zeng S, Bamboat ZM, Ocuin LM, Obaid H, Sorenson EC, Popow R, Ariyan C, Rossi F, Besmer P, Guo T, Antonescu CR, Taguchi T, Yuan J, Wolchok JD, Allison JP, Dematteo RP. Nat Med. 2011 Aug 28;17(9):1094-100. Hai Yan, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon Scholar ‘05-‘07), Duke University, Durham Mutations in CIC and FUBP1 contribute to human oligodendroglioma. Bettegowda C, Agrawal N, Jiao Y, Sausen M, Wood LD, Hruban RH, Rodriguez FJ, Cahill DP, McLendon R, Riggins G, Velculescu VE, Oba-Shinjo SM, Marie SK, Vogelstein B, Bigner D, Yan H, Papadopoulos N, Kinzler KW. Science. 2011 Sep 9;333(6048):1453-5. » Visit the New Discoveries and Honors page for more

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October - December 2011 Dear Damon Runyon Scientists, Happy holidays from all of us at Damon Runyon!  We wish you a healthy and successful new year.   We are pleased to announce a new funding opportunity: Damon Runyon has joined together with the Sohn Conference Foundation, dedicated to curing pediatric cancers, to establish the Damon Runyon-Sohn Pediatric Cancer Fellowship Award.  This award provides funding to basic scientists and clinicians who conduct research with the potential to significantly impact the prevention, diagnosis or treatment of one or more pediatric cancers.  See our website for award details and application guidelines.  The first application deadline will be March 15, 2012.  Please spread the word and tell your colleagues!  Our Scientific Committees met this fall to select the newest awardees of the Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovation Award, Fellowship Award and Dale F. Frey Award for Breakthrough Scientists.  Stay tuned for the announcement of these new awardees in January. Please see below for the latest update on exciting news and findings from your fellow Damon Runyon scientists – current and former.  These are just the publications and awards that we are aware of, so we apologize if we have not included your work.  Lay summaries of some of this work are posted on the News page of our website, along with additional news about our Scientific Committee and Board members. Thanks again to those of you who have sent us updates on your recent progress.  Please continue to stay in touch. Best regards, Yung Yung S. Lie, PhD Scientific Director Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation A Message from our President and CEO, Lorraine Egan Thank you for doing what you do. The work of most scientists is unheralded.  In the current environment, it is often unfunded.  We, at Damon Runyon, want you to know how much we appreciate your commitment to scientific discovery and dedication to unlocking the mysteries of human biology.  You are the great explorers of our generation.  Damon Runyon remains committed to helping next generations of extraordinary scientists.  If you can, please help us continue this vitally important work with a gift of any amount. We wish you great success in your work in the upcoming year.  More importantly, we wish you joy and good health.   Thank you again, and all the best, Lorraine Lorraine Egan President and CEO Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation UPCOMING DEADLINES and EVENTS Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Award application deadline February 15, 2012 Damon Runyon Fellowship application deadline March 15, 2012   Damon Runyon-Sohn Pediatric Cancer Fellowship application deadline March 15, 2012 AWARDS and HONORS 2011 Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research Scott A. Armstrong, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon-Lilly Clinical Investigator ’03-’08), Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Children’s Hospital Boston PUBLICATIONS Eric J. Bennett, PhD (Fellow ’08-’11), University of California, San Diego Defining human ERAD networks through an integrative mapping strategy. Christianson JC, Olzmann JA, Shaler TA, Sowa ME, Bennett EJ, Richter CM, Tyler RE, Greenblatt EJ, Wade Harper J, Kopito RR. Nat Cell Biol. 2011 Nov 27. doi: 10.1038/ncb2383. N-terminal acetylation acts as an avidity enhancer within an interconnected multiprotein complex. Scott DC, Monda JK, Bennett EJ, Harper JW, Schulman BA. Science. 2011 Nov 4;334(6056):674-8. Kate S. Carroll, PhD (Fellow ’03-’06), The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter Peroxide-dependent sulfenylation of the EGFR catalytic site enhances kinase activity. Paulsen CE, Truong TH, Garcia FJ, Homann A, Gupta V, Leonard SE, Carroll KS. Nat Chem Biol. 2011 Dec 11;8(1):57-64. Howard Y. Chang, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon Scholar ’06-’08), Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford Genomic Maps of Long Noncoding RNA Occupancy Reveal Principles of RNA-Chromatin Interactions. Chu C, Qu K, Zhong FL, Artandi SE, Chang HY. Mol Cell. 2011 Nov 18;44(4):667-78. Roger J. Davis, PhD (Fellow ’84-’85), University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester MLK3 regulates bone development downstream of the faciogenital dysplasia protein FGD1 in mice. Zou W, Greenblatt MB, Shim JH, Kant S, Zhai B, Lotinun S, Brady N, Hu DZ, Gygi SP, Baron R, Davis RJ, Jones D, Glimcher LH. J Clin Invest. 2011 Nov 1;121(11):4383-92. Ralph J. DeBerardinis, MD, PhD (Clinical Investigator ’11-’14), UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas Reductive carboxylation supports growth in tumour cells with defective mitochondria. Mullen AR, Wheaton WW, Jin ES, Chen PH, Sullivan LB, Cheng T, Yang Y, Linehan WM, Chandel NS, Deberardinis RJ. Nature. 2011 Nov 20. doi: 10.1038/nature10642. Channing J. Der, PhD (Fellow ’81-’83), University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill and Laura M. Machesky, PhD (Fellow ’93-’96), The Beatson Institute, Glasgow, Scotland P-Rex1 is required for efficient melanoblast migration and melanoma metastasis. Lindsay CR, Lawn S, Campbell AD, Faller WJ, Rambow F, Mort RL, Timpson P, Li A, Cammareri P, Ridgway RA, Morton JP, Doyle B, Hegarty S, Rafferty M, Murphy IG, McDermott EW, Sheahan K, Pedone K, Finn AJ, Groben PA, Thomas NE, Hao H, Carson C, Norman JC, Machesky LM, Gallagher WM, Jackson IJ, Van Kempen L, Beermann F, Der C, Larue L, Welch HC, Ozanne BW, Sansom OJ. Nat Commun. 2011 Nov 22;2:555. doi: 10.1038/ncomms1560. Victoria M. D'Souza, PhD (Scholar ’06-’09), Harvard University, Cambridge An equilibrium-dependent retroviral mRNA switch regulates translational recoding. Houck-Loomis B, Durney MA, Salguero C, Shankar N, Nagle JM, Goff SP, D'Souza VM. Nature. 2011 Nov 27. doi: 10.1038/nature10657. William S. Dynan, PhD (Fellow ’80-’82), Georgia Health Sciences University, Augusta Intranuclear Delivery of a Novel Antibody-Derived Radiosensitizer Targeting the DNA-Dependent Protein Kinase Catalytic Subunit. Xiong H, Lee RJ, Haura EB, Edwards JG, Dynan WS, Li S. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2011 Dec 2. Dean W. Felsher, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon-Lilly Clinical Investigator ’03-’08), Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford Survival and death signals can predict tumor response to therapy after oncogene inactivation. Tran PT, Bendapudi PK, Lin HJ, Choi P, Koh S, Chen J, Horng G, Hughes NP, Schwartz LH, Miller VA, Kawashima T, Kitamura T, Paik D, Felsher DW. Sci Transl Med. 2011 Oct 5;3(103):103ra99. Harrison W. Gabel, PhD (Fellow ’10-’12), Harvard Medical School, Boston Genome-wide activity-dependent MeCP2 phosphorylation regulates nervous system development and function. Cohen S, Gabel HW, Hemberg M, Hutchinson AN, Sadacca LA, Ebert DH, Harmin DA, Greenberg RS, Verdine VK, Zhou Z, Wetsel WC, West AE, Greenberg ME. Neuron. 2011 Oct 6;72(1):72-85. Wendy S. Garrett, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow ’06-’09), Matthew L. Meyerson, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow ’95-’98), Akinyemi I. Ojesina, MBBS, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow ’08-’11) and Ramesh A. Shivdasani, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon Scholar ’98-’99), Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute, Cambridge Genomic analysis identifies association of Fusobacterium with colorectal carcinoma. Kostic AD, Gevers D, Pedamallu CS, Michaud M, Duke F, Earl AM, Ojesina AI, Jung J, Bass AJ, Tabernero J, Baselga J, Liu C, Shivdasani RA, Ogino S, Birren BW, Huttenhower C, Garrett WS, Meyerson M. Genome Res. 2011 Oct 18.   Maura L. Gillison, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon-Lilly Clinical Investigator ’00-’05), The Ohio State University, Columbus Human papillomavirus and rising oropharyngeal cancer incidence in the United States. Chaturvedi AK, Engels EA, Pfeiffer RM, Hernandez BY, Xiao W, Kim E, Jiang B, Goodman MT, Sibug-Saber M, Cozen W, Liu L, Lynch CF, Wentzensen N, Jordan RC, Altekruse S, Anderson WF, Rosenberg PS, Gillison ML. J Clin Oncol. 2011 Nov 10;29(32):4294-301. William M. Grady, MD (Damon Runyon-Lilly Clinical Investigator ’02-’07), Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle Aberrantly methylated PKP1 in the progression of Barrett's esophagus to esophageal adenocarcinoma. Kaz AM, Luo Y, Dzieciatkowski S, Chak A, Willis JE, Upton MP, Leidner RS, Grady WM. Genes Chromosomes Cancer. 2011 Dec 14.   Michael E. Greenberg, PhD (Fellow ’83-’84), Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston Cyclin E constrains Cdk5 activity to regulate synaptic plasticity and memory formation. Odajima J, Wills ZP, Ndassa YM, Terunuma M, Kretschmannova K, Deeb TZ, Geng Y, Gawrzak S, Quadros IM, Newman J, Das M, Jecrois ME, Yu Q, Li N, Bienvenu F, Moss SJ, Greenberg ME, Marto JA, Sicinski P. Dev Cell. 2011 Oct 18;21(4):655-68. David A. Guertin, PhD (Fellow ’03-’06), University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester Sarcomas induced in discrete subsets of prospectively isolated skeletal muscle cells. Hettmer S, Liu J, Miller CM, Lindsay MC, Sparks CA, Guertin DA, Bronson RT, Langenau DM, Wagers AJ. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Dec 13;108(50):20002-7. Yoh Isogai, PhD (Fellow ’08-’11), Harvard University, Cambridge Molecular organization of vomeronasal chemoreception. Isogai Y, Si S, Pont-Lezica L, Tan T, Kapoor V, Murthy VN, Dulac C. Nature. 2011 Sep 21;478(7368):241-5. Naoko Kobayashi, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow ’91-’94), University of California, Los Angeles Phase II Prospective Randomized Trial of a Low-Fat Diet with Fish Oil Supplementation in Men Undergoing Radical Prostatectomy. Aronson WJ, Kobayashi N, Barnard RJ, Henning S, Huang M, Jardack PM, Liu B, Gray A, Wan J, Konijeti R, Freedland SJ, Castor B, Heber D, Elashoff D, Said J, Cohen P, Galet C. Cancer Prev Res (Phila). 2011 Dec;4(12):2062-71. Carla M. Koehler, PhD (Scholar ’00-’02, Fellow ’95-’98), University of California, Los Angeles UCP2 regulates energy metabolism and differentiation potential of human pluripotent stem cells. Zhang J, Khvorostov I, Hong JS, Oktay Y, Vergnes L, Nuebel E, Wahjudi PN, Setoguchi K, Wang G, Do A, Jung HJ, McCaffery JM, Kurland IJ, Reue K, Lee WN, Koehler CM, Teitell MA. EMBO J. 2011 Nov 15;30(24):4860-73. Albert C. Koong, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon-Lilly Clinical Investigator ’02-’07), Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford A novel aldehyde dehydrogenase-3 activator leads to adult salivary stem cell enrichment in vivo. Banh A, Xiao N, Cao H, Chen CH, Kuo P, Krakow T, Bavan B, Khong B, Yao M, Ha C, Kaplan MJ, Sirjani D, Jensen K, Kong CS, Mochly-Rosen D, Koong AC, Le QT. Clin Cancer Res. 2011 Dec 1;17(23):7265-72. David E. Lebwohl, MD (Fellow ’86-’87), Novartis, East Hanover Everolimus in Postmenopausal Hormone-Receptor-Positive Advanced Breast Cancer. Baselga J, Campone M, Piccart M, Burris HA, Rugo HS, Sahmoud T, Noguchi S, Gnant M, Pritchard KI, Lebrun F, Beck JT, Ito Y, Yardley D, Deleu I, Perez A, Bachelot T, Vittori L, Xu Z, Mukhopadhyay P, Lebwohl D, Hortobagyi GN. N Engl J Med. 2011 Dec 7. Mark A. Lemmon, PhD (Scholar ’97-’98, Fellow ’93-’96), University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Differential inhibitor sensitivity of anaplastic lymphoma kinase variants found in neuroblastoma. Bresler SC, Wood AC, Haglund EA, Courtright J, Belcastro LT, Plegaria JS, Cole K, Toporovskaya Y, Zhao H, Carpenter EL, Christensen JG, Maris JM, Lemmon MA, Mossé YP. Sci Transl Med. 2011 Nov 9;3(108):108ra114. Judith Lieberman, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow ’84-’86), Immune Disease Institute and Harvard Medical School, Boston Coding-independent regulation of the tumor suppressor PTEN by competing endogenous mRNAs. Tay Y, Kats L, Salmena L, Weiss D, Tan SM, Ala U, Karreth F, Poliseno L, Provero P, Di Cunto F, Lieberman J, Rigoutsos I, Pandolfi PP. Cell. 2011 Oct 14;147(2):344-57. Jun O. Liu, PhD (Fellow ’91-’93), Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore Itraconazole inhibits angiogenesis and tumor growth in non-small cell lung cancer. Aftab BT, Dobromilskaya I, Liu JO, Rudin CM. Cancer Res. 2011 Nov 1;71(21):6764-72. Itraconazole side chain analogues: structure-activity relationship studies for inhibition of endothelial cell proliferation, vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2) glycosylation, and hedgehog signaling. Shi W, Nacev BA, Aftab BT, Head S, Rudin CM, Liu JO. J Med Chem. 2011 Oct 27;54(20):7363-74. Henry T. Lynch (Grantee ’69-’70), Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK Long-term effect of aspirin on cancer risk in carriers of hereditary colorectal cancer: an analysis from the CAPP2 randomised controlled trial. Burn J, Gerdes AM, Macrae F, Mecklin JP, Moeslein G, Olschwang S, Eccles D, Evans DG, Maher ER, Bertario L, Bisgaard ML, Dunlop MG, Ho JW, Hodgson SV, Lindblom A, Lubinski J, Morrison PJ, Murday V, Ramesar R, Side L, Scott RJ, Thomas HJ, Vasen HF, Barker G, Crawford G, Elliott F, Movahedi M, Pylvanainen K, Wijnen JT, Fodde R, Lynch HT, Mathers JC, Bishop DT; on behalf of the CAPP2 Investigators. Lancet. 2011 Oct 27. Matthew L. Meyerson, MD, PhD (Fellow ’95-’98), Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston Glioblastoma-Derived Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Carboxyl-Terminal Deletion Mutants Are Transforming and Are Sensitive to EGFR-Directed Therapies. Cho J, Pastorino S, Zeng Q, Xu X, Johnson W, Vandenberg S, Verhaak R, Cherniack AD, Watanabe H, Dutt A, Kwon J, Chao YS, Onofrio RC, Chiang D, Yuza Y, Kesari S, Meyerson M. Cancer Res. 2011 Dec 15;71(24):7587-96. Toru M. Nakamura, PhD (Fellow ’99-’02), University of Illinois, Chicago Tel1(ATM) and Rad3(ATR) kinases promote Ccq1-Est1 interaction to maintain telomeres in fission yeast. Moser BA, Chang YT, Kosti J, Nakamura TM. Nat Struct Mol Biol. 2011 Nov 20;18(12):1408-13. John M. Pagel, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon-Lilly Clinical Investigator ’05-’10), Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle Pretargeted radioimmunotherapy using genetically engineered antibody-streptavidin fusion proteins for treatment of non-hodgkin lymphoma. Park SI, Shenoi J, Frayo SM, Hamlin DK, Lin Y, Wilbur DS, Stayton PS, Orgun N, Hylarides M, Buchegger F, Kenoyer AL, Axtman A, Gopal AK, Green DJ, Pagel JM, Press OW. Clin Cancer Res. 2011 Dec 1;17(23):7373-82. John E.J. Rasko, MD, PhD (Fellow ’96-’99), University of Sydney, Australia Androgen Receptor and Nutrient Signaling Pathways Coordinate the Demand for Increased Amino Acid Transport during Prostate Cancer Progression. Wang Q, Bailey CG, Ng C, Tiffen J, Thoeng A, Minhas V, Lehman ML, Hendy SC, Buchanan G, Nelson CC, Rasko JE, Holst J. Cancer Res. 2011 Nov 28. John L. Rinn, PhD (Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovator ’09-’11, Damon Runyon Fellow ’05-’07) and Cole Trapnell, PhD (Fellow ’11-’14), Harvard University, Cambridge Targeted RNA sequencing reveals the deep complexity of the human transcriptome. Mercer TR, Gerhardt DJ, Dinger ME, Crawford J, Trapnell C, Jeddeloh JA, Mattick JS, Rinn JL. Nat Biotechnol. 2011 Nov 13. doi: 10.1038/nbt.2024. Michael G. Roth, PhD (Fellow ’82-’84), UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas Chemical inhibition of RNA viruses reveals REDD1 as a host defense factor. Mata MA, Satterly N, Versteeg GA, Frantz D, Wei S, Williams N, Schmolke M, Peña-Llopis S, Brugarolas J, Forst CV, White MA, García-Sastre A, Roth MG, Fontoura BM. Nat Chem Biol. 2011 Sep 11;7(10):712-9. Julien Sage, PhD (Damon Runyon Scholar ’05-’07), Stanford University, Stanford A crucial requirement for Hedgehog signaling in small cell lung cancer. Park KS, Martelotto LG, Peifer M, Sos ML, Karnezis AN, Mahjoub MR, Bernard K, Conklin JF, Szczepny A, Yuan J, Guo R, Ospina B, Falzon J, Bennett S, Brown TJ, Markovic A, Devereux WL, Ocasio CA, Chen JK, Stearns T, Thomas RK, Dorsch M, Buonamici S, Watkins DN, Peacock CD, Sage J. Nat Med. 2011 Oct 9;17(11):1504-8. PDGF signalling controls age-dependent proliferation in pancreatic β-cells. Chen H, Gu X, Liu Y, Wang J, Wirt SE, Bottino R, Schorle H, Sage J, Kim SK. Nature. 2011 Oct 12;478(7369):349-55 Vered Stearns, MD (Damon Runyon-Lilly Clinical Investigator ’00-’05), Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore Preclinical and clinical evaluation of intraductally administered agents in early breast cancer. Stearns V, Mori T, Jacobs LK, Khouri NF, Gabrielson E, Yoshida T, Kominsky SL, Huso DL, Jeter S, Powers P, Tarpinian K, Brown RJ, Lange JR, Rudek MA, Zhang Z, Tsangaris TN, Sukumar S. Sci Transl Med. 2011 Oct 26;3(106):106ra108. Jean Y. Tang, MD, PhD (Clinical Investigator ’11-’14), Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford Sun protective behaviors and vitamin D levels in the US population: NHANES 2003-2006. Linos E, Keiser E, Kanzler M, Sainani KL, Lee W, Vittinghoff E, Chren MM, Tang JY. Cancer Causes Control. 2011 Nov 2. Matthew G. Vander Heiden, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovator ’11-’13, Fellow ’06-’08), MIT, Cambridge Reductive glutamine metabolism by IDH1 mediates lipogenesis under hypoxia. Metallo CM, Gameiro PA, Bell EL, Mattaini KR, Yang J, Hiller K, Jewell CM, Johnson ZR, Irvine DJ, Guarente L, Kelleher JK, Vander Heiden MG, Iliopoulos O, Stephanopoulos G. Nature. 2011 Nov 20. Inhibition of Pyruvate Kinase M2 by Reactive Oxygen Species Contributes to Antioxidant Responses. Anastasiou D, Poulogiannis G, Asara JM, Boxer MB, Jiang JK, Shen M, Bellinger G, Sasaki AT, Locasale JW, Auld DS, Thomas CJ, Vander Heiden MG, Cantley LC. Science. 2011 Nov 3. Maria del Mar Vivanco-Ruiz, PhD (Fellow ’92), CIC bioGUNE, Derio, Spain and Lee Zou, PhD (Fellow ’00-’03), Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown Homeobox B9 induces epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition-associated radioresistance by accelerating DNA damage responses. Chiba N, Comaills V, Shiotani B, Takahashi F, Shimada T, Tajima K, Winokur D, Hayashida T, Willers H, Brachtel E, Vivanco MD, Haber DA, Zou L, Maheswaran S. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Sep 20. Robert H. Vonderheide, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon-Lilly Clinical Investigator ’00-’05), University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Karin U. Sorenmo, Erika Krick, Christina M. Coughlin, Beth Overley, Thomas P. Gregor, Robert H. Vonderheide, Nicola J. Mason. CD40-Activated B Cell Cancer Vaccine Improves Second Clinical Remission and Survival in Privately Owned Dogs with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. PLoS ONE, 2011; 6 (8): e24167 Xiaodong Wang, PhD (Fellow ’91-’94), University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas SMAC Mimetic (JP1201) Sensitizes Non-Small Cell Lung Cancers to Multiple Chemotherapy Agents in an IAP-Dependent but TNF-α-Independent Manner. Greer RM, Peyton M, Larsen JE, Girard L, Xie Y, Gazdar AF, Harran P, Wang L, Brekken RA, Wang X, Minna JD. Cancer Res. 2011 Dec 15;71(24):7640-8. Catherine J. Wu, MD (Clinical Investigator ’07-’12), Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston and Matthew L. Meyerson, MD, PhD (Fellow ’95-’98), Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston SF3B1 and Other Novel Cancer Genes in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. Wang L, Lawrence MS, Wan Y, Stojanov P, Sougnez C, Stevenson K, Werner L, Sivachenko A, Deluca DS, Zhang L, Zhang W, Vartanov AR, Fernandes SM, Goldstein NR, Folco EG, Cibulskis K, Tesar B, Sievers QL, Shefler E, Gabriel S, Hacohen N, Reed R, Meyerson M, Golub TR, Lander ES, Neuberg D, Brown JR, Getz G, Wu CJ. N Engl J Med. 2011 Dec 12. Hongtao Yu, PhD (Scholar ’99-’00, Fellow ’95-’98), UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas SIRT2 maintains genome integrity and suppresses tumorigenesis through regulating APC/C activity. Kim HS, Vassilopoulos A, Wang RH, Lahusen T, Xiao Z, Xu X, Li C, Veenstra TD, Li B, Yu H, Ji J, Wang XW, Park SH, Cha YI, Gius D, Deng CX. Cancer Cell. 2011 Oct 18;20(4):487-99. » Visit the New Discoveries and Honors page for more

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