Friday, November 27, 2009

“Roughriders head coach Ken Miller reveals he is a prostate cancer ... - Regina Leader-Post” plus 3 more

“Roughriders head coach Ken Miller reveals he is a prostate cancer ... - Regina Leader-Post” plus 3 more

This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Roughriders head coach Ken Miller reveals he is a prostate cancer ... - Regina Leader-Post

Posted: 26 Nov 2009 11:02 AM PST

CALGARY — It was an extremely public moment for an intensely private man.

Ken Miller, the reserved but always forthright head coach of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, revealed Wednesday that he is a prostate cancer survivor. The disclosure took place during the head coaches' media conference for Sunday's Grey Cup game between the Riders and the Montreal Alouettes.

"Oh, shoot,'' Miller said while taking a moment to gather himself before explaining what transpired.

Miller was responding to a question about why he was late in joining the Toronto Argonauts in 2002. Miller explained that his late arrival was due to him completing his commitments as a high school biology teacher.

Miller then added that he was also delayed because he was undergoing treatment for prostate cancer. Miller declined surgery and instead had the disease treated with proton beams.

"It was a kind of treatment that they considered experimental,'' said the 68-year-old Miller. "I was involved in it for eight weeks. That's what really kept me from coming for a few weeks.''

Miller added that the treatments were successful.

"My PSA numbers ... I hardly have any more,'' said Miller. "I haven't had anything related to that for a number of years.''

The small part of the media conference with Alouettes head coach Marc Trestman revealed the true Miller. Through his two years as the Riders' head coach he has rarely ducked a question or said "no comment." Miller's candor wasn't unusual on Wednesday. It was the content of the statement that was so surprising.

"He just doesn't like to talk about himself,'' said Jim Hopson, the Riders' president and CEO. "I know it's something that he didn't want to come out and he didn't feel that it was needed. For Kenny to say 'Shoot . . .' that was pretty strong.''

News of Miller's successful battle with prostate cancer disease surprised some of his players.

"That makes me believe that he's a stronger person than I thought he was,'' said Riders defensive tackle Marcus Adams. "Anybody who has survived cancer is a very strong person because that stuff is no joke. Now it makes me want to go through a brick wall even more for him. A man of that stature, who never talked about it and still be the person that he is today ... it makes me love him even more.''

There were other reasons for Miller's late move into the professional coaching ranks. He spent his early coaching career football and baseball at the high school and university levels in southern California. Then Miller went through what he termed an epiphany.

"I felt it was more important for me to be a good father than chase the dream,'' said Miller.

Miller joined the University of Redlands in southern California as a part-time coach in 1977 and made the move to head football coach in 1984. He also coached baseball and eventually finished his career with Redlands as the offensive co-ordinator and baseball coach in 2001.

"That meant we were able to live in the same house for 20 years,'' said Miller. "After I finished my college career . . . the kids were grown up. Then I was able to become a football gypsy and live my dream.''

That dream meant joining Gary Etcheverry and the Argonauts. Etcheverry, the Riders' current defensive co-ordinator, was Toronto's head coach at the time. The two had coached together at Redlands and had become good friends.

They were so friendly that Miller agreed to come north, essentially for free. He even slept in the trailers that the Argos have at their training facility in Mississauga, Ont.

"I bought a sleeping bag that I kept rolled up behind the desk,'' said Miller. "I would work during the day and when I got tired, I unrolled it and went to sleep.''

That changed when Etcheverry was fired after a 4-8 start and replaced by Michael (Pinball) Clemons. Miller asked for more money so he could leave the trailer life behind him.

"I was willing to sleep on the floor for a friend but not for other people,'' Miller said with a chuckle.

Miller made the move into the professional ranks with the blessings of his wife, Maureen. They have been married 10 years. Maureen said Ken's willingness to sleep in a trailer was an example of how much he wanted to coach at the professional level.

"We're both living the dream together,'' said Maureen.

The Millers met at Redlands. Between them they have five children --%A0Bob and Kail are from Ken's side and Michael, Melania and Colleen are from Maureen's side. All of the children reside in the United States.

Miller remained with the Argonauts through the 2006 season. In 2007, he agreed to join the Riders as the offensive co-ordinator under head coach Kent Austin. Austin and Miller had worked together with the Argos before re-uniting.

That Riders' partnership lasted one season and paid off in the Riders' 23-19 victory over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the 2007 Grey Cup game. Austin left in ensuing off-season to become the offensive co-ordinator at his alma-mater, the University of Mississippi.

Miller was promoted to head coach early in 2008 and in his second season has the Riders in the Grey Cup. He has done that with a cool and collected approach but he hasn't always been that way.

"The man I worked with first at the University of Redlands --%A0Frank Serrao --%A0was really a kind, gentle person who cared tremendously for his players,'' said Miller. "Up to that point, I was a yeller and a screamer. As I've matured, I've become more like him. He has had the greatest impact on my coaching style.''

It's a style that the players appreciate.

"You will never hear anyone say something bad about Coach Miller,'' said Riders middle linebacker Rey Williams. "He's respected and the guys like him. He's a great coach but a better human being. The guys want to win for him.''

How long that will be remains to be seen. Miller dealt with questions about his retirement on Tuesday and Wednesday.

"When you get through the season you have to evaluate what you've gone through,'' said Miller, whose option for the 2010 season kicked in with the Riders' success in 2008 and 2009. "There might be a time when I say it's enough. At this point, I have no intention of retiring.''

mmccormick@leaderpost.canwest.com

This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

West students discover their DNA makeup - Quad-Cities Times

Posted: 27 Nov 2009 07:33 AM PST

One student's DNA — when it showed up in a test tube — resembled an ornate letter "H." As Ryan Sheeder, the owner of the DNA, carefully examined his very personal genetic sample, biology teacher Renne Lietz was surprised by the design. "Oh, my goodness!" she said.

Sheeder and 65 advanced biology students at Davenport West High School took part this week in three DNA classes taught by guest educator Mike Zeller, the outreach coordinator for Iowa State University's biotechnology program.

Zeller visited Davenport on Monday to show students how to extract their own DNA and explained how DNA analysis is handled by federal agencies and other organizations.

It's a lot like what happens on the hit CBS television series "NCIS," he said, noting that his favorite character on this program is Abby Sciuto, an off-the-wall lab assistant played by actress Pauley Perrette.

DNA applications

Working with DNA is commonly done for forensics purposes, but there's an emphasis at Iowa State on DNA in agriculture. Lietz is beginning a DNA unit in her biology classes and believes that knowledge of the genetic material helps West students understand how biology works in today's society.

Zeller told the students that biosciences and genetics are growing job fields and highly paid professions. Some people think of DNA extraction as the domain of the police, FBI and the military, but it has many uses beyond forensics.

Human beings are 99.9 percent similar to each other, and that one-tenth of 1 percent difference is the focus of the DNA test, the scientist said. The most common genetic test today is done on newborn babies for diseases and conditions that include hearing loss, sickle cell anemia and cystic fibrosis.

DNA tests also are being done, to an increasing extent, to determine one's proclivity for certain diseases. "We can't cure genetic disease," Zeller said. "we can only treat it."

One example is a DNA test for coronary heart disease. A person could discover that they are likely to get the disease and then they could make lifestyle choices to lessen its effect. That individual, however, eventually would die of heart disease, Zeller said.

Swish and spit

The students in Lietz's morning class filled their mouths with distilled water. They swished it around for a minute and then expelled the contents into a paper cup.

"I do not want to see this!" junior Ciara Severson said. "It's disgusting," agreed Breanna Aguirre, a senior.

The actual DNA was affected by the composition of a student's mouth, which varies in terms of acid content. It also is impacted by food particles left in the mouth.

The teens next pulled some of the water/mouth mixture into a test tube and mixed it with a salt/soap solution. They gently rotated the combination in their hands, warming it a bit with their body heat. Next, they applied ethanol and held the test tubes steady.

The DNA slowly developed before their eyes. Some, like Sheeder's, came to resemble a tiny statue. Others' DNA grouped in a thick layer.

"Animal DNA is beautiful, and easy to extract," Zeller commented, contrasting it with plant DNA, which is difficult to handle.

The West students used a device called a pipettor in the process of translating the extracted DNA. They took a sterile plunger to the DNA, combined it with a colored agent and placed a tiny bit in a gel box. The box was then set on a device and charged with electrical currents.

Over a few hours, the genetic sequencing pattern that results may be printed out for comparison purposes. That, essentially, is how various tests — to determine a child's paternity or to match suspects to a crime — are done.

"The tests are a little different from each other, but it's the same techniques at work," Zeller said.

Keep it forever

A person's DNA may be kept indefinitely. In a slideshow, Zeller showed how some people translate their DNA to framed art on a bedroom wall. Others keep the actual DNA in alcohol and use the container as jewelry.

West's students put their DNA samples in small vials full of alcohol. They used a device like a toothpick to extract their DNA from the test tube and transfer it to the vial, closing it so it could be taken home.

Many teens enjoyed the DNA demonstration. "I thought it was pretty cool," Sheeder said. "It was very interesting actually. I've never done this before."

"It was pretty interesting and fun, too," agreed Matt McCune, Sheeder's lab partner.

Time in the class went quickly for Alejandra Calzada, a senior. "It made science really feel like science," she said.

Lietz has taught biology for 20 years, six at West High. She first learned about the biotechnology presentation at the Iowa Science Teachers convention and also took a summer workshop on the topic.

The teacher was happy with the way her students responded to their visitor. "They were involved once it got rolling," she said. "The students were very engaged."

 

This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Worcester Prep Gets Grant Money for Biology Program - The Dispatch

Posted: 26 Nov 2009 07:59 PM PST

By The Dispatch Staff
Originally published November 27, 2009

Worcester Preparatory School has received a $750 grant from the ExxonMobil Educational Alliance program to support the school's biology program for sixth and seventh grades. Michael Abercrombie, Jr., president of Cato Gas & Oil Company, worked with Middle School faculty members to secure the grants, which is one of 2.400 available to schools across the country served by Exxon or Mobil stations. The grants were made possible by funding from the ExxonMobil Corporation. Above, Middle School Head Dr. Fred Spurlock, center, along with science teachers Jenn Corron, right, and Yvonne Kline, proudly display some of the materials purchased through the grant.

Human Cell 'Knockouts' Point To Pathogenic Targets - Redorbit.com

Posted: 27 Nov 2009 07:26 AM PST

Posted on: Friday, 27 November 2009, 09:30 CST

Whitehead researchers have developed a new type of genetic screen for human cells to pinpoint specific genes and proteins used by pathogens, according to their paper in Science.

In most human cell cultures genes are present in two copies: one inherited from the father and one from the mother. Gene inactivation by mutation is therefore inefficient because when one copy is inactivated, the second copy usually remains active and takes over.

In yeast, researchers have it easier: they use yeast cells in which all genes are present in only one copy (haploid yeast). Now Carette and co-workers have used a similar approach and used a human cell line, in which nearly all human chromosomes are present in a single copy.

In this rare cell line, Carette and co-workers generated mutations in almost all human genes and used this collection to screen for the host genes used by pathogens. By exposing those cells to influenza or to various bacterial toxins, the authors isolated mutants that were resistant to them. Carette then identified the mutated genes in the surviving cells, which code for a transporter molecule and an enzyme that the influenza virus hijacks to take over cells.

Working with Carla Guimaraes from Whitehead Member Hidde Ploegh's lab, Carette subjected knockout cells to several bacterial toxins to identify resistant cells and therefore the genes responsible.

The experiments identified a previously uncharacterized gene as essential for intoxication by diphtheria toxin and exotoxin A toxicity, and a cell surface protein needed for cytolethal distending toxin toxicity.

"We were surprised by the clarity of the results," says Jan Carette, a postdoctoral researcher in the Brummelkamp lab and first author on the Science article. "They allowed us to identify new genes and proteins involved in infectious processes that have been studied for decades, like diphtheria and the flu. In addition we found the first human genes essential for host-pathogen interactions where few details are known, as is the case for cytolethal distending toxin secreted by certain strains of E. coli. This could be important for rapidly responding to newly emerging pathogens or to study pathogen biology that has been difficult to study experimentally."

Brummelkamp sees the work as only the beginning.

"Having knockout cells for almost all human genes in our freezer opens up a wealth of biological questions that we can look at," he says. "In addition to many aspects of cell biology that can be studied, knockout screens could also be used to unravel molecular networks that are exploited by a battery of different viruses and bacteria."

This research was funded by Fundação para a Ciência ea Tecnologia (FCT) Portugal and the Kimmel Foundation.

Thijn Brummelkamp is a Fellow at Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, where his laboratory is located and all his research is conducted.

Full Citation:

"Haploid genetic screens in human cells identify host factors used by pathogens." Science, November 27, 2009.

Jan E. Carette (1), Carla P. Guimaraes (1), Malini Varadarajan (1), Annie S. Park (1), Irene Wuethrich (1), Alzbeta Godarova (1), Maciej Kotecki (2), Brent H. Cochran (2), Eric Spooner (1), Hidde L. Ploegh (1, 3) and Thijn R. Brummelkamp (1).

1. Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, 9 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA

2. Department of Physiology, Tufts University School of Medicine, 136 Harrison Avenue, Boston, MA

3. Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA

---

Image 1: In the rare human cell line used for this genetic screen, the cells have only one copy of each chromosome, except for chromosome 8, which has two copies. Because this cell line has only one copy of almost all of the chromosomes, it is ideal for efficiently making knockout human cells. Credit: Science/AAAS

Image 2: When exposed to the influenza virus, normal cells (left) were infected with the virus (stained green). The virus was unable to infect cells with mutant versions of an enzyme that it needs to take over the cells (right). Credit: Science/AAAS

---

On the Net:

More News in this Category

This content has passed through fivefilters.org.
Posted by at

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)