Dear Damon Runyon Scientists,

Here is the latest update on exciting news and findings from your fellow Damon Runyon scientists – current and former.  Please see below for a list of publications and awards from October to December 2008.  These are just the ones 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 Members. 

Thanks to those of you who have responded to my request for updates on your recent progress.  It is always a pleasure to learn about the continuing success of our current scientists and alumni and to share your findings with the entire Damon Runyon community.  We hope that you enjoy learning about your colleagues’ research.  Again, please let us know when you have publications coming out.  We also like to hear about faculty appointments, new positions and promotions so that we can stay in touch. 

Happy holidays and best wishes for 2009!
Yung

Yung S. Lie, PhD
Scientific Director
Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation
One Exchange Plaza
55 Broadway, Suite 302
New York, NY 10006
212.455.0521
212.455.0529 FAX
yung.lie@damonrunyon.org

Science Update: October-December 2008

UPCOMING EVENTS

Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation Clinical Investigator Symposium, April 27, 2009, New York Academy of Sciences Conference Center, New York, NY
http://www.nyas.org/damonrunyon

This one-day symposium will commemorate the 10th year of the Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Award.  We will feature distinguished awardees and alumni of the program, who will speak about their groundbreaking discoveries in the area of translational cancer research.  In addition, the schedule will include Keynote speaker Robert A. Weinberg, PhD.  The day will culminate with a panel discussion entitled Moving from Discovery through Development – The Evolving Relationship between Academia and Industry. Come join us for this excellent opportunity to learn about the latest advances by the brightest young physician-scientists in cancer research.

AWARDS and HONORS

Sarkis K. Mazmanian, PhD (Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovator ‘08-‘10) of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, was named one of the 50 Best Brains in Science by Discover magazine.  He was included in the “20 under 40” list, which highlights “a new generation of innovators changing the way we think about everything from theoretical mathematics to cancer therapy.”  Sarkis is developing the novel hypothesis that intestinal bacteria are a critical factor in colon cancer.

Election to the Institute of Medicine is one of the highest honors that can be earned in the fields of medicine and health.  In recognition of their outstanding achievements, 3 Damon Runyon alumni were inducted this October: Raju S. Kucherlapati, PhD (Damon Runyon Grantee ‘73-‘74), Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston; Philippa Marrack, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow ‘71-‘73 and Fellowship Award Committee Member), National Jewish Health Center, Denver; and John E. Niederhuber, MD (Damon Runyon Grantee ‘75-‘76), National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda.

PUBLICATIONS

Scott A. Armstrong, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon-Lilly Clinical Investigator ‘03-‘08), Children’s Hospital Boston and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston
Krivtsov AV, Feng Z, Lemieux ME, Faber J, Vempati S, Sinha AU, Xia X, Jesneck J, Bracken AP, Silverman LB, Kutok JL, Kung AL, Armstrong SA. H3K79 methylation profiles define murine and human MLL-AF4 leukemias. Cancer Cell. 2008 Nov 4;14(5):355-68. PMID: 18977325

Dorothy C. Bennett, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow ‘78-‘80), University of London, United Kingdom
Setty SR, D Tenza, EV Sviderskaya, DC Bennett, G Raposo & MS Marks. Cell-specific ATP7A transport sustains copper-dependent tyrosinase activity in melanosomes.  Nature 454(7208):1142-6. PMID: 18650808

Giovanni Bosco, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow ‘99-‘01), University of Arizona, Tucson
Hartl TA, Smith HF, Bosco G. Chromosome alignment and transvection are antagonized by condensin II. Science. 2008 Nov 28;322(5906):1384-7. PMID: 19039137

Ken Cadwell, PhD (Lallage Feazel Wall Fellow ‘08-‘11), Washington University, Saint Louis
Cadwell K, Liu JY, Brown SL, Miyoshi H, Loh J, Lennerz JK, Kishi C, Kc W, Carrero JA, Hunt S, Stone CD, Brunt EM, Xavier RJ, Sleckman BP, Li E, Mizushima N, Stappenbeck TS, Virgin Iv HW. A key role for autophagy and the autophagy gene Atg16l1 in mouse and human intestinal Paneth cells. Nature. 2008 Oct 5. PMID: 18849966
 
Rachael A. Clark, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator ‘08-‘11), Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston
Clark RA, Huang SJ, Murphy GF, Mollet IG, Hijnen D, Muthukuru M, Schanbacher CF, Edwards V, Miller DM, Kim JE, Lambert J, Kupper TS. Human squamous cell carcinomas evade the immune response by down-regulation of vascular E-selectin and recruitment of regulatory T cells. J Exp Med. 2008 Sep 29;205(10):2221-34. PMID: 18794336

Colleen Delaney, MD, MSc (Damon Runyon-Novartis Clinical Investigator ‘07-‘10), Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle
Delaney C, Brashem- Stein C, Voorhies H, Gutman J, Dallas M, Heimfeld S, Bernstein ID. Notch-Mediated Expansion of Human Cord Blood Progenitor Cells Results in Rapid Myeloid Reconstitution in Vivo Following Myeloablative Cord Blood Transplantation. Blood (ASH Annual Meeting Abstracts) 2008 112: Abstract 212

Arshad B. Desai, PhD (Damon Runyon Scholar ‘04-‘06), Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, University of California, San Diego
Canman JC, Lewellyn L, Laband K, Smerdon SJ, Desai A, Bowerman B, Oegema K. Inhibition of Rac by the GAP activity of centralspindlin is essential for cytokinesis. Science. 2008 Dec 5;322(5907):1543-6. PMID: 19056985

Zhihu Ding, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow ‘05-‘08), Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston
Zheng H, Ying H, Yan H, Kimmelman AC, Hiller DJ, Chen AJ, Perry SR, Tonon G, Chu GC, Ding Z, Stommel JM, Dunn KL, Wiedemeyer R, You MJ, Brennan C, Wang YA, Ligon KL, Wong WH, Chin L, DePinho RA. p53 and Pten control neural and glioma stem/progenitor cell renewal and differentiation. Nature. 2008 Oct 23;455(7216):1129-33. PMID: 18948956

David A. Fruman, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow ‘95-‘98), University of California, Irvine
Kharas MG, Janes MR, Scarfone VM, Lilly MB, Knight ZA, Shokat KM, Fruman DA. Ablation of PI3K blocks BCR-ABL leukemogenesis in mice, and a dual PI3K/mTOR inhibitor prevents expansion of human BCR-ABL+ leukemia cells. J Clin Invest. 2008 Sep;118(9):3038-50. PMID: 18704194

Lu Gan, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow ‘07-‘09), California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Gan L, Chen S, Jensen GJ. Molecular organization of Gram-negative peptidoglycan. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 Nov 24. PMID: 19033194

Maura L. Gillison, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon-Lilly Clinical Investigator ‘00-‘05), The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore
Agrawal Y, Koch WM, Xiao W, Westra WH, Trivett AL, Symer DE, Gillison ML. Oral Human Papillomavirus Infection Before and After Treatment for Human Papillomavirus 16-Positive and Human Papillomavirus 16-Negative Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma. Clin Cancer Res. 2008 Nov 1;14(21):7143-7150. PMID: 18981014

Patrick J. Lupardus, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow ‘06-‘09), Stanford University, Stanford
Lupardus PJ, Shen A, Bogyo M, Garcia KC. Small molecule-induced allosteric activation of the Vibrio cholerae RTX cysteine protease domain. Science. 2008 Oct 10;322(5899):265-8. PMID: 18845756

Pierre P. Massion, MD (Damon Runyon-Lilly Clinical Investigator ‘03-‘08), Vanderbilt University, Nashville
Massion PP, Zou Y, Chen H, Jiang A, Coulson P, Amos CI, Wu X, Wistuba I, Wei Q, Shyr Y, Spitz MR. Smoking-Related Genomic Signatures in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2008 PMID: 18776155
DeBusk LM, Massion PP, Lin PC. I{kappa}B Kinase-{alpha} Regulates Endothelial Cell Motility and Tumor Angiogenesis. Cancer Res 2008;68 10223-10228.

Maxence V. Nachury, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow ‘03-‘05), Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford
Loktev AV, Zhang Q, Beck JS, Searby CC, Scheetz TE, Bazan JF, Slusarski DC, Sheffield VC, Jackson PK, Nachury MV. A BBSome Subunit Links Ciliogenesis, Microtubule Stability, and Acetylation. Dev. Cell. 2008 Dec 9;15(6):854-865.

Yunsun Nam, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow ‘07-‘08), Harvard Medical School, Boston
Erlandson KJ, Miller SB, Nam Y, Osborne AR, Zimmer J, Rapoport TA. A role for the two-helix finger of the SecA ATPase in protein translocation. Nature. 2008 Oct 16;455(7215):984-7. PMID: 18923526
Zimmer J, Nam Y, Rapoport TA. Structure of a complex of the ATPase SecA and the protein-translocation channel. Nature. 2008 Oct 16;455(7215):936-43. PMID: 18923516

Julien Sage, PhD (Damon Runyon Scholar ‘05-‘07), Stanford University, Stanford
Viatour P, Somervaille TC, Venkatasubrahmanyam S, Kogan S, McLaughlin ME, Weissman IL, Butte AJ, Passegué E, Sage J. Hematopoietic stem cell quiescence is maintained by compound contributions of the retinoblastoma gene family. Cell Stem Cell. 2008 Oct 9;3(4):416-28. PMID: 18940733

Sriram Subramaniam, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow ‘87-‘90), National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda
Liu J, Bartesaghi A, Borgnia MJ, Sapiro G, Subramaniam S. Molecular architecture of native HIV-1 gp120 trimers. Nature. 2008 Sep 4;455(7209):109-13. PMID: 18668044

Jedd D. Wolchok, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon-Lilly Clinical Investigator ‘03-‘08), Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York
Improved Tumor Immunity Using Anti-Tyrosinase Related Protein-1 Monoclonal Antibody Combined with DNA Vaccines in Murine Melanoma. Cancer Res 2008;68(23):9884–91

Mark J. Zylka, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow ‘00-‘03), University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Zylka MJ, Sowa NA, Taylor-Blake B, Twomey MA, Herrala A, Voikar V, Vihko P. Prostatic acid phosphatase is an ectonucleotidase and suppresses pain by generating adenosine. Neuron. 2008 Oct 9;60(1):111-22. PMID: 18940592

Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation
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