New Discoveries eNewsletter: Oct.-Dec. 2009

 
Winter 2009
 
   
 

 

Science Update: October-December 2009

Happy holidays from the Damon Runyon Foundation!  We wish you a healthy and successful new year.

Our Scientific Committees met this fall to select the newest awardees for the Fellowship and Innovation Awards.  Awardees will be announced in January; stay tuned.  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 Members.

Thanks again to those of you who have sent us 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.   Please continue to stay in touch.

Best regards,

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

 

  




 
  


Upcoming Deadlines

> March 1, 2010
Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Award application deadline

» Details available on our website

> March 15, 2010
Damon Runyon Fellowship Award application deadline

» Details available on our website

 
  




 
  


Awards and Honors

> Election to the Institute of Medicine
Thomas Curran, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow ‘82-‘84, Former Fellowship Award Committee Member), University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia



> 2010 L’ORÉAL-UNESCO Award
Elaine V. Fuchs, PhD (Damon Runyon Board Member, Damon Runyon Fellow ‘77-‘79), The Rockefeller University, New York



> 2009 Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research
Matthew L. Meyerson, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow ‘95-‘98, Current Fellowship Sponsor), Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston



> 2009 New York Academy of Sciences Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists
Sreekanth H. Chalasani, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow ‘04-‘07), The Rockefeller University, New York



> Popular Science magazine’s “Brilliant 10”
John L. Rinn, PhD (Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovator ‘09-‘11, Damon Runyon Fellow ‘05-‘07), Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston 



 
  




 
  


Publications

Scott A. Armstrong, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon-Lilly Clinical Investigator ‘03-‘08), Children’s Hospital, Boston
Association of high-level MCL-1 expression with in vitro and in vivo prednisone resistance in MLL-rearranged infant acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Stam RW, Den Boer ML, Schneider P, de Boer J, Hagelstein J, Valsecchi MG, de Lorenzo P, Sallan SE, Brady HJ, Armstrong SA, Pieters R. Blood. 2009 Dec 4.

Joseph A. Califano, III, MD (Damon Runyon-Lilly Clinical Investigator ‘01-‘06), Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore
The Ligamp TP53 Assay for Detection of Minimal Residual Disease in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Surgical Margins. Poeta ML, Manola J, Goldenberg D, Forastiere A, Califano JA, Ridge JA, Goodwin J, Kenady D, Saunders J, Westra W, Sidransky D, Koch WM. Clin Cancer Res. 2009 Dec 8.

Andrew T. Chan, MD, MPH (Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator ‘08-‘11), Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston
Interaction of molecular markers and physical activity on mortality in patients with colon cancer. Meyerhardt JA, Ogino S, Kirkner GJ, Chan AT, Wolpin B, Ng K, Nosho K, Shima K, Giovannucci EL, Loda M, Fuchs CS. Clin Cancer Res. 2009 Sep 15;15(18):5931-6.

Christine H. Chung, MD (Damon Runyon-Lilly Clinical Investigator ‘05-‘10), Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, and Maura L. Gillison, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon-Lilly Clinical Investigator ‘00-‘05), The Ohio State University, Columbus
Human papillomavirus in head and neck cancer: its role in pathogenesis and clinical implications. Chung CH, Gillison ML. Clin Cancer Res. 2009 Nov 15;15(22):6758-62.

Jason M. Crawford, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow ‘09-‘12), Harvard Medical School, Cambridge
Structural basis for biosynthetic programming of fungal aromatic polyketide cyclization. Crawford JM, Korman TP, Labonte JW, Vagstad AL, Hill EA, Kamari-Bidkorpeh O, Tsai SC, Townsend CA. Nature. 2009 Oct 22;461(7267):1139-43.

Marc I. Damelin, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow ‘03-‘06), Pfizer Center for Integrative Biology and Biotherapeutics
Tumour-initiating cells: challenges and opportunities for anticancer drug discovery. Zhou BB, Zhang H, Damelin M, Geles KG, Grindley JC, Dirks PB. Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2009 Oct;8(10):806-23.

Erik W. Debler, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow ‘08-‘10), The Rockefeller University, New York
An aspartate and a water molecule mediate efficient acid-base catalysis in a tailored antibody pocket. Debler EW, Müller R, Hilvert D, Wilson IA. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Nov 3;106(44):18539-44.
Structure of a trimeric nucleoporin complex reveals alternate oligomerization states. Nagy V, Hsia KC, Debler EW, Kampmann M, Davenport AM, Blobel G, Hoelz A. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Oct 20;106(42):17693-8.

Charles G. Drake, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon-Lilly Clinical Investigator ‘04-‘09), The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore
Tc17 CD8 T cells: functional plasticity and subset diversity. Yen HR, Harris TJ, Wada S, Grosso JF, Getnet D, Goldberg MV, Liang KL, Bruno TC, Pyle KJ, Chan SL, Anders RA, Trimble CL, Adler AJ, Lin TY, Pardoll DM, Huang CT, Drake CG. J Immunol. 2009 Dec 1;183(11):7161-8.

Phillip G. Febbo, MD (Damon Runyon-Lilly Clinical Investigator ‘05-‘10), Duke University Medical Center, Durham
MYC activity mitigates response to rapamycin in prostate cancer through eukaryotic initiation factor 4E-binding protein 1-mediated inhibition of autophagy. Balakumaran BS, Porrello A, Hsu DS, Glover W, Foye A, Leung JY, Sullivan BA, Hahn WC, Loda M, Febbo PG. Cancer Res. 2009 Oct 1;69(19):7803-10.

Nathanael S. Gray, PhD (Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovator ‘08-‘10), Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston
N-myristoylated c-Abl tyrosine kinase localizes to the endoplasmic reticulum upon binding to an allosteric inhibitor. Choi Y, Seeliger MA, Panjarian SB, Kim H, Deng X, Sim T, Couch B, Koleske AJ, Smithgall TE, Gray NS. J Biol Chem. 2009 Oct 16;284(42):29005-14.

Kevin M. Haigis, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow ‘03-‘05), Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown
RAS mutations affect tumor necrosis factor-induced apoptosis in colon carcinoma cells via ERK-modulatory negative and positive feedback circuits along with non-ERK pathway effects. Kreeger PK, Mandhana R, Alford SK, Haigis KM, Lauffenburger DA. Cancer Res. 2009 Oct 15;69(20):8191-9.

William C. Hahn, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow ‘98-‘99), Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston
Systematic RNA interference reveals that oncogenic KRAS-driven cancers require TBK1. Barbie DA, Tamayo P, Boehm JS, Kim SY, Moody SE, Dunn IF, Schinzel AC, Sandy P, Meylan E, Scholl C, Fröhling S, Chan EM, Sos ML, Michel K, Mermel C, Silver SJ, Weir BA, Reiling JH, Sheng Q, Gupta PB, Wadlow RC, Le H, Hoersch S, Wittner BS, Ramaswamy S, Livingston DM, Sabatini DM, Meyerson M, Thomas RK, Lander ES, Mesirov JP, Root DE, Gilliland DG, Jacks T, Hahn WC. Nature. 2009 Nov 5;462(7269):108-12.
Proteomic and genetic approaches identify Syk as an AML target. Hahn CK, Berchuck JE, Ross KN, Kakoza RM, Clauser K, Schinzel AC, Ross L, Galinsky I, Davis TN, Silver SJ, Root DE, Stone RM, DeAngelo DJ, Carroll M, Hahn WC, Carr SA, Golub TR, Kung AL, Stegmaier K. Cancer Cell. 2009 Oct 6;16(4):281-94.

Gregory J. Hannon, PhD (Innovation Award Committee Member, Damon Runyon Fellow ‘92-‘94), Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Functional identification of tumor-suppressor genes through an in vivo RNA interference screen in a mouse lymphoma model. Bric A, Miething C, Bialucha CU, Scuoppo C, Zender L, Krasnitz A, Xuan Z, Zuber J, Wigler M, Hicks J, McCombie RW, Hemann MT, Hannon GJ, Powers S, Lowe SW. Cancer Cell. 2009 Oct 6;16(4):324-35.

John V. Heymach, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon-Lilly Clinical Investigator ‘04-‘09), M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston
Reciprocal regulation of c-Src and STAT3 in non-small cell lung cancer. Byers LA, Sen B, Saigal B, Diao L, Wang J, Nanjundan M, Cascone T, Mills GB, Heymach JV, Johnson FM. Clin Cancer Res. 2009 Nov 15;15(22):6852-61.
Distinct patterns of cytokine and angiogenic factor modulation and mrkers of benefit for vandetanib and/or chemotherapy in patients With non-small-cell lung cancer. Hanrahan EO, Lin HY, Kim ES, Yan S, Du DZ, McKee KS, Tran HT, Lee JJ, Ryan AJ, Langmuir P, Johnson BE, Heymach JV. J Clin Oncol. 2009 Nov 30.

Edison T. Liu, MD (Damon Runyon Fellow ‘83-‘84), Genome Institute of Singapore
An oestrogen-receptor-alpha-bound human chromatin interactome. Fullwood MJ, Liu MH, Pan YF, Liu J, Xu H, Mohamed YB, Orlov YL, Velkov S, Ho A, Mei PH, Chew EG, Huang PY, Welboren WJ, Han Y, Ooi HS, Ariyaratne PN, Vega VB, Luo Y, Tan PY, Choy PY, Wansa KD, Zhao B, Lim KS, Leow SC, Yow JS, Joseph R, Li H, Desai KV, Thomsen JS, Lee YK, Karuturi RK, Herve T, Bourque G, Stunnenberg HG, Ruan X, Cacheux-Rataboul V, Sung WK, Liu ET, Wei CL, Cheung E, Ruan Y. Nature. 2009 Nov 5;462(7269):58-64.

John M. Pagel, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon-Lilly Clinical Investigator ‘05-‘10), Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle
Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation after conditioning with 131I-anti-CD45 antibody plus fludarabine and low-dose total body irradiation for elderly patients with advanced acute myeloid leukemia or high-risk myelodysplastic syndrome. Pagel JM, Gooley TA, Rajendran J, Fisher DR, Wilson WA, Sandmaier BM, Matthews DC, Deeg HJ, Gopal AK, Martin PJ, Storb RF, Press OW, Appelbaum FR. Blood. 2009 Sep 28.

Gopal P. Sapkota, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow ‘04-‘06), University of Dundee, Scotland
Nuclear CDKs drive Smad transcriptional activation and turnover in BMP and TGF-beta pathways. Alarcón C, Zaromytidou AI, Xi Q, Gao S, Yu J, Fujisawa S, Barlas A, Miller AN, Manova-Todorova K, Macias MJ, Sapkota G, Pan D, Massagué J. Cell. 2009 Nov 13;139(4):757-69.
Ubiquitin ligase Nedd4L targets activated Smad2/3 to limit TGF-beta signaling. Gao S, Alarcón C, Sapkota G, Rahman S, Chen PY, Goerner N, Macias MJ, Erdjument-Bromage H, Tempst P, Massagué J. Mol Cell. 2009 Nov 13;36(3):457-68.

Vered Stearns, MD (Damon Runyon-Lilly Clinical Investigator ‘00-‘05), The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore
Timed sequential treatment with cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and an allogeneic granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor-secreting breast tumor vaccine: a chemotherapy dose-ranging factorial study of safety and immune activation. Emens LA, Asquith JM, Leatherman JM, Kobrin BJ, Petrik S, Laiko M, Levi J, Daphtary MM, Biedrzycki B, Wolff AC, Stearns V, Disis ML, Ye X, Piantadosi S, Fetting JH, Davidson NE, Jaffee EM. J Clin Oncol. 2009 Dec 10;27(35):5911-8.

John M. Timmerman, MD (Damon Runyon-Lilly Clinical Investigator ’05-‘10), University of California, Los Angeles
Phase I study of ipilimumab, an anti-CTLA-4 monoclonal antibody, in patients with relapsed and refractory B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Ansell SM, Hurvitz SA, Koenig PA, LaPlant BR, Kabat BF, Fernando D, Habermann TM, Inwards DJ, Verma M, Yamada R, Erlichman C, Lowy I, Timmerman JM. Clin Cancer Res. 2009 Oct 15;15(20):6446-53.

Marcel van den Brink, M D, PhD (Damon Runyon Scholar ’01-’04), Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York
The cytolytic molecules Fas ligand and TRAIL are required for murine thymic graft-versus-host disease. Na IK, Lu SX, Yim NL, Goldberg GL, Tsai J, Rao U, Smith OM, King CG, Suh D, Hirschhorn-Cymerman D, Palomba L, Penack O, Holland AM, Jenq RR, Ghosh A, Tran H, Merghoub T, Liu C, Sempowski GD, Ventevogel M, Beauchemin N, van den Brink MR. J Clin Invest. 2009 Dec 1. pii: 39395. doi: 10.1172/JCI39395.

Robert H. Vonderheide, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon-Lilly Clinical Investigator ‘00-‘05), University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
Interferon-gamma-dependent infiltration of human T cells into neuroblastoma tumors in vivo. Reid GS, Shan X, Coughlin CM, Lassoued W, Pawel BR, Wexler LH, Thiele CJ, Tsokos M, Pinkus JL, Pinkus GS, Grupp SA, Vonderheide RH. Clin Cancer Res. 2009 Nov 1;15(21):6602-8.

Edus H. Warren, MD (Damon Runyon-Lilly Clinical Investigator ’00-’05), Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle
Donor-recipient mismatch for common gene deletion polymorphisms in graft-versus-host disease. McCarroll SA, Bradner JE, Turpeinen H, Volin L, Martin PJ, Chilewski SD, Antin JH, Lee SJ, Ruutu T, Storer B, Warren EH, Zhang B, Zhao LP, Ginsburg D, Soiffer RJ, Partanen J, Hansen JA, Ritz J, Palotie A, Altshuler D. Nat Genet. 2009 Dec;41(12):1341-4.
Comprehensive assessment of T-cell receptor beta-chain diversity in alphabeta T cells. Robins HS, Campregher PV, Srivastava SK, Wacher A, Turtle CJ, Kahsai O, Riddell SR, Warren EH, Carlson CS. Blood. 2009 Nov 5;114(19):4099-107.

Jedd D. Wolchok, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon-Lilly Clinical Investigator ‘03-‘08), Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York
Guidelines for the evaluation of immune therapy activity in solid tumors: immune-related response criteria. Wolchok JD, Hoos A, O’Day S, Weber JS, Hamid O, Lebbé C, Maio M, Binder M, Bohnsack O, Nichol G, Humphrey R, Hodi FS. Clin Cancer Res. 2009 Dec 1;15(23):7412-20.

Hong Wu, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow ‘92-‘95, Former Sponsor), UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, Los Angeles
PTEN dosage is essential for neurofibroma development and malignant transformation. Gregorian C, Nakashima J, Dry SM, Nghiemphu PL, Smith KB, Ao Y, Dang J, Lawson G, Mellinghoff IK, Mischel PS, Phelps M, Parada LF, Liu X, Sofroniew MV, Eilber FC, Wu H. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Nov 17;106(46):19479-84.

» See more new discoveries on our website

 
  




 
  


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If a Damon Runyon Award Helped You…Help Us!

Thanks again to all of you who supported my run at the inaugural Damon Runyon 5K at Yankee Stadium.   More than 100 alums collectively gave $9,146!   It felt really great to have so many of you behind me and we loved your comments about how much your Damon Runyon award meant to you.

Each year we raise the money we need to support our awards.   Just as others helped support you early in your careers, we hope you will help us do the same for today’s most promising young scientists.   Our goal is 100% participation from all alumni and gifts of any size are greatly appreciated.   100% of your contributions will fund terrific young minds.

Happy Holidays!

Lorraine W. Egan, Executive Director

It’s easy to give – you can donate online or call us toll free at 1.877.7CANCER.




» Click here for lists of all current and former Damon Runyon Awardees.