“Lombardi receives $7.5 million grant for Breast Cancer ... - Genetic Engineering News” plus 3 more |
- Lombardi receives $7.5 million grant for Breast Cancer ... - Genetic Engineering News
- Did Culture, Not Biology, Develop Humanity’s Sense of ... - DISCOVER
- 2010 DART/NYU Biotechnology Achievement Awards for Role ... - Newswise
- GUMC scientists awarded five-year $7.5M grant to ... - News-Medical.Net
Lombardi receives $7.5 million grant for Breast Cancer ... - Genetic Engineering News Posted: 22 Mar 2010 07:36 AM PDT Mar 22 2010, 10:20 AM EST Lombardi receives $7.5 million grant for Breast Cancer Center for Cancer Systems BiologyEUREKALERT Contact: Karen Malletkm463@georgetown.edu 215-514-9751 Georgetown University Medical Center Center aims to perfect treatment of breast cancer by understanding the power of the estrogen receptorWashington, DC Scientists at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) were awarded a five-year $7.5 million grant to tease apart in the most comprehensive way ever devised the role of a single protein receptor in breast cells in cancer development and treatment. This protein determines which women will develop the most common kind of breast cancer and how she will fare during her treatment. The researchers' ultimate goal is to develop more advanced and better targeted therapies. "We're combining the strengths of top scientists in this large-scale team science approach to achieve a new level of understanding of the estrogen receptor. That will allow us to make more meaningful predictions about clinical treatment of breast cancer and to be able to correctly identify new targets for therapy," says Robert Clarke, PhD, DSc, a professor of oncology and physiology & biophysics at Lombardi, and interim director of GUMC's Biomedical Graduate Research Organization. Clarke is the principal investigator of the new Center. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) awarded the grant to Clarke and his team, which includes Leena Hilakivi-Clarke, PhD, professor of oncology at Lombardi; and Louis M. Weiner, MD, Lombardi's director. Georgetown joins ten other institutions across the United States to house a prestigious Center for Cancer Systems Biology. "These centers represent a unique multidisciplinary union of outstanding scientists and clinicians who will work to unravel the complexities of cancer through the novel application of technology and mathematical modeling. Their discoveries and models will be critical to our continued success in understanding and treating this disease," said Dan Gallahan, PhD, program director for the NCI's Integrative Cancer Biology Program. "This program is part of the next generation of cancer research, in that it will approach the disease from a holistic or comprehensive viewpoint in order to understand how all of the components of the disease fit together," said John E. Niederhuber, MD, NCI director. Under the leadership of Howard Federoff, MD, PhD, executive vice president for health sciences at Georgetown, GUMC has rapidly moved into systems medicine, which is the application of systems biology to translation medicine with an ultimate goal of preventing or delaying illness, or managing it at the earliest stage possible. Both systems biology and systems medicine involve understanding a combination of factors, including genetics, lifestyle, environmental, that conspire to produce biological disorder. In this grant, researchers at Lombardi will work with scientists at Virginia Tech and Fox Chase Cancer Center to understand how molecular signals from the estrogen receptor a protein in breast cancer cells that recognizes and binds the estrogen hormone and directs the cell's response to estrogen contribute to development and progression of breast cancer. "We are so excited about this opportunity," Clarke says. "This is truly a systems approach to understanding a process that is fundamental to most breast cancer cases, and at the end of the day, we want to make things better for women with breast cancer." The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2009, 192,000 women were newly diagnosed with invasive breast cancer, and approximately 70 percent of these cases are considered to be estrogen receptor-positive (ER+), implying that estrogen and its receptor drives the disease. Also in 2009, the Society estimated that more than 40,000 women are expected to die from breast cancer which is one breast cancer death on average every 13 minutes. Most of the gene and proteins regulated by the estrogen receptor are unknown, and the molecular effects of therapies such as anti-hormonal drugs, like tamoxifen, are also largely unidentified, says Clarke. "This gene network ultimately regulates the choice of a cell to live or die in the face of stresses induced by endocrine therapies," he says. To help understand the flow of signals from the estrogen receptor, Lombardi, Virginia Tech and Fox Chase Cancer Center will work as a collaborative team. Lombardi will focus on biology, examining cell cultures, mammary tumors in animals and patient breast tumors to decide ER+ molecular signaling systems, Virginia Tech scientists will build mathematical models to predict the behavior of those genes and proteins, and Fox Chase researchers will test what happens when specific genes and proteins are knocked out. "Ultimately we will have a mathematical model to predict how the estrogen receptor system functions," Clarke says. "In the model, you can take out a gene and see how the system adjusts. That will allow us to identify good targets for therapy. "Our part is to understand how breast cancer cells use the signaling from the estrogen receptor to survive and proliferate and make more copies of themselves and why in some tumors, you can block these signals with drugs, and they will die back, but then become resistant and grow back," says Clarke. About Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center The Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of Georgetown University Medical Center and Georgetown University Hospital, seeks to improve the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of cancer through innovative basic and clinical research, patient care, community education and outreach, and the training of cancer specialists of the future. Lombardi is one of only 41 comprehensive cancer centers in the nation, as designated by the National Cancer Institute, and the only one in the Washington, DC, area. For more information, go to http://lombardi.georgetown.edu. About Georgetown University Medical Center Georgetown University Medical Center is an internationally recognized academic medical center with a three-part mission of research, teaching and patient care (through Georgetown's affiliation with MedStar Health). GUMC's mission is carried out with a strong emphasis on public service and a dedication to the Catholic, Jesuit principle of cura personalis -- or "care of the whole person." The Medical Center includes the School of Medicine and the School of Nursing and Health Studies, both nationally ranked, the world-renowned Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Biomedical Graduate Research Organization (BGRO), home to 60 percent of the university's sponsored research funding. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
Did Culture, Not Biology, Develop Humanity’s Sense of ... - DISCOVER Posted: 22 Mar 2010 06:38 AM PDT For years, scientists have debated where humanity's sense of fairness came from. Some proposed it was a glitch in the brain's wiring that causes people to be kind and fair to strangers, while others said it was a remnant of Stone Age thinking--that deep in our brains we see everyone we meet as part of our tiny family, and can't imagine encountering someone who won't ever be seen again [Wired]. But now, in a new study published in Science, scientists studying groups of people from different societies have suggested that our sense of fairness may depend on the type of society we live in. The researchers found evidence that the more complex the society, the more developed those people's sense of fairness. You can't get the effects we're seeing from genes," said Joe Henrich, a University of British Columbia evolutionary psychologist and co-author of the study." These are things you learn as a consequence of growing up in a particular place" [Wired]. For this study, scientists observed 2,100 people from different societies–from African herders, Colombian fishermen, and Missouri wage workers. The groups varied in size, and researchers also evaluated the people's involvement in organized social activities like markets and religion–a common marker, scientists say, of the presence of a moral code that extends beyond kin. They then administered a series of games to study how group members viewed selfish behavior and how willing they were to punish it. In the first game, the "dictator game," volunteers were asked to split an amount of money with an anonymous member of his own community. They could share as much or as little as they want. So, in the pursuit of self-interest, there is really no motivation to share. In the second, the "ultimatum game," the person was asked to split cash with an anonymous person—who could then reject the offer as unfair, in which case neither party got any money. So there is a motivation for the second player to accept any offer that was made. In the last game, the "third-party punishment game," the subject could make an offer to an anonymous person, which a third party judged as fair or unfair. If she deemed it unfair, then both she and the subject both lost money. In both the second and third games, punishers pay a price because they get more money if they abide by an unfair decision [ScienceNOW]. The study found that members of a large, complex society had a keener sense of fairness, with the money offered by subjects from larger societies ranging from 25 percent to 51 percent higher than the smaller groups. Scientists said the trend indicated that when people lived in larger communities, and participated more in markets and religion, they were more willing to share, and more willing to punish selfishness [Wired]; adding that actions taken by university students were vastly different than those who lived in smaller pastoral or hunter groups. Lead researcher Joseph Henrich observed that members of smaller groups were unwilling to punish selfish behavior and were willing to keep much of the money for themselves. This may be because smaller communities lack the social norms or informal institutions like markets and religion, causing them to have narrower concepts of fairness. Henrich suggests that culture evolved toward fairness for hundreds of thousands of years before the advent of agriculture, which in turn fostered stable, ever-larger community structures that further accelerated the cultural evolution of fairness. This could have biological effects, favoring the development of linguistic and cognitive abilities, but the fundamental driver was culture [Wired]. However critics argue that in the absence of cultural context, the tests seem weak. Terming the games an "artificial situation," evolutionary game theorists Martin Nowak and David Rand pointed out that college students are "used to [such] concepts and hunter-gatherers aren't. Who knows how they're understanding the game?" [ScienceNOW] Related Content: Image: iStockphoto Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
2010 DART/NYU Biotechnology Achievement Awards for Role ... - Newswise Posted: 22 Mar 2010 09:16 AM PDT Newswise — The Biotechnology Study Center of NYU School of Medicine will hold its annual awards symposium on April 5, 2010, to honor three outstanding leaders in biomedical research. The Dart/NYU Biotechnology Achievement Awards recognize the role of pure science in the development of pharmaceuticals and honors those scientists whose work has led to major advances to improving care provided at the patient's bedside. Recipients of this year's award include: Martin Raff, MD, Emeritus Professor of Biology and Scientist in the MRC Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology, University College London, for discovering how cell surface molecules govern life, death and memory in the nervous and immune systems. Paul Greengard, PhD, Vincent Astor Professor, Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience, The Rockefeller University, for translating Nobel-prize winning discoveries of signal transduction in the nervous system from bench to bedside. Leslie B. Vosshall, PhD, Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Chemers Family Associate Professor; Head of the Laboratory of Neurogenetics and Behavior, The Rockefeller University, for discovering odor sensing pathways in insects that may lead to the design of 21st century insect repellants. "We applaud the honorees of this year's distinguished awards for their innovative research in biotechnology and molecular biology," said Gerald Weissmann, MD, research professor of medicine in the division of rheumatology and director of the Biotechnology Study Center. "The discoveries of these extraordinary scientists have already had an impact on human health and promise even more for the future." Dr. Weissmann will chair the awards symposium, co-sponsored by the NYU School of Medicine's Honors Program and featuring presentations by each of the awardees. This year marks the tenth anniversary of this awards symposium. Previous winners from both institutions include: * Barry Coller, MD, David Rockefeller Professor, Vice President for Medical Affairs and Physician-in-Chief, The Rockefeller University, recipient of the Dart/New York University School of Medicine 2003 Biotechnology Alumnus Award * Emil C. Gotschlich, MD, R. Gwin Follis-Chevron Professor, The Rockefeller University, recipient of the Dart/New York University School of Medicine 2008 Biotechnology Alumnus Award * Salvador Moncada, MD, PhD, Director, Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research, University College London, recipient of the Dart/New York University School of Medicine 2007 Achievement Award in Applied Biotechnology The Biotechnology Study Center is an academic center for the study of biotechnology with the end-goal of significantly impacting public health. The Dart/NYU Biotechnology Achievement Awards are supported by a generous grant from Dart Neuroscience LLC since 2004 and are awarded on behalf of the Fellows of the Center at The Biotechnology Center. BACKGROUND on 2010 AWARD RECIPIENTS: In Applied Biotechnology: Paul Greengard, PhD, Vincent Astor Professor, Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience, The Rockefeller University, was awarded the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his contributions to elucidating how neurotransmitters work in signal transduction in the nervous system. His recent work has elucidated the molecular defects responsible for various neurological and psychiatric disorders and determined the exact targets at which neuro- and psychoactive drugs exert their pharmacological actions. His lab has shown that errors in the biochemical steps that underlie this communication play a role in disorders as varied as Alzheimer's disease and depression. Recent research has also showed that a gene called p11 is closely related to serotonin transmission in the brain and may play a key role in determining susceptibility to depression. His newest work is also bringing products from the bench to the bedside. Intra-Cellular Therapies, Inc. (ITI) is located in New York City and is developing novel drugs for the treatment of neuropsychiatric and neurologic diseases and other disorders of the central nervous system. The company began by commercializing technologies developed in Dr. Greengard's lab at The Rockefeller University. The company's most advanced drug, called ITI-007, is currently in Phase II clinical trials for the treatment of schizophrenia and sleep disorders associated with neuropsychiatric and neurological diseases. ITI recently completed a Phase II clinical study demonstrating that ITI-007 improves sleep in patients with sleep maintenance insomnia. Other programs are focused on the development of therapeutics for the treatment of cognitive deficits in schizophrenia and other disorders, bipolar disorder, Parkinson's disease, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, depression and Alzheimer's disease. Dr. Greengard has received numerous awards including the Metropolitan Life Foundation Award for Medical Research, the Charles A. Dana Award for Pioneering Achievements in Health, the Ralph W. Gerard Prize in Neuroscience from the Society for Neuroscience, The National Academy of Sciences Award in the Neurosciences, and the 3M Life Sciences Award of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. He is an Honorary Member of the National Academies of Science in Sweden, Norway and Serbia and has been the recipient of many honorary degrees. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. NYU Biotechnology Alumnae Award: Leslie B. Vosshall, PhD, Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Chemers Family Associate Professor; Head of the Laboratory of Neurogenetics and Behavior, The Rockefeller University, used the fly, Drosophila melanogaster, to elucidate the basic mechanisms of olfaction in insects. She discovered a specialized odorant receptor pair that permits insects to detect carbon dioxide, thereby enabling disease-bearing mosquitoes to seek their host. Sure enough, DEET - the universal insect repellent - works by blocking signaling via similar such co-receptors. Dr. Vosshall has recently expanded the focus of the group into mosquito biology in an effort to study which sensory cues guide human host-seeking behavior and what internal signals modulate blood-feeding. Her target-based approach is developing new candidate insect repellents that may provide solutions to public health problems caused by mosquitoes. After documenting that olfaction is crucial for the Darwinian survival of insects, she asked if there were genetic differences in human sensory perception. Unlike flies, humans can tell scientists what they smell. Using psychophysical experiments in an out-patient setting in The Rockefeller University Hospital, she was able to show that genetic variation in one human odorant receptor is a major determinant of how humans perceive androstenone, an odorous derivative of testosterone: Blanche DuBois meets Stanley Kowalski. One might also call this a device of nature to sniff out nurture. Dr. Vosshall is an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and a recipient of awards from the John Merck, Beckman, and McKnight Foundations. She received the 2002 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, a 2005 New York City Mayor's Young Investigator Award for Excellence in Science and Technology, a 2007 Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists, and the 2009 Lawrence C. Katz Prize from Duke University. About NYU Langone Medical Center About the NYU School of Medicine Biotechnology Study Center Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. 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GUMC scientists awarded five-year $7.5M grant to ... - News-Medical.Net Posted: 22 Mar 2010 09:23 AM PDT Center aims to perfect treatment of breast cancer by understanding the power of the estrogen receptorScientists at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) were awarded a five-year $7.5 million grant to tease apart - in the most comprehensive way ever devised -the role of a single protein receptor in breast cells in cancer development and treatment. This protein determines which women will develop the most common kind of breast cancer and how she will fare during her treatment. The researchers' ultimate goal is to develop more advanced and better targeted therapies. "We're combining the strengths of top scientists in this large-scale team science approach to achieve a new level of understanding of the estrogen receptor. That will allow us to make more meaningful predictions about clinical treatment of breast cancer and to be able to correctly identify new targets for therapy," says Robert Clarke, PhD, DSc, a professor of oncology and physiology & biophysics at Lombardi, and interim director of GUMC's Biomedical Graduate Research Organization. Clarke is the principal investigator of the new Center. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) awarded the grant to Clarke and his team, which includes Leena Hilakivi-Clarke, PhD, professor of oncology at Lombardi; and Louis M. Weiner, MD, Lombardi's director. Georgetown joins ten other institutions across the United States to house a prestigious Center for Cancer Systems Biology. "These centers represent a unique multidisciplinary union of outstanding scientists and clinicians who will work to unravel the complexities of cancer through the novel application of technology and mathematical modeling. Their discoveries and models will be critical to our continued success in understanding and treating this disease," said Dan Gallahan, PhD, program director for the NCI's Integrative Cancer Biology Program. "This program is part of the next generation of cancer research, in that it will approach the disease from a holistic or comprehensive viewpoint in order to understand how all of the components of the disease fit together," said John E. Niederhuber, MD, NCI director. Under the leadership of Howard Federoff, MD, PhD, executive vice president for health sciences at Georgetown, GUMC has rapidly moved into systems medicine, which is the application of systems biology to translation medicine with an ultimate goal of preventing or delaying illness, or managing it at the earliest stage possible. Both systems biology and systems medicine involve understanding a combination of factors, including genetics, lifestyle, environmental, that conspire to produce biological disorder. In this grant, researchers at Lombardi will work with scientists at Virginia Tech and Fox Chase Cancer Center to understand how molecular signals from the estrogen receptor - a protein in breast cancer cells that recognizes and binds the estrogen hormone and directs the cell's response to estrogen - contribute to development and progression of breast cancer. "We are so excited about this opportunity," Clarke says. "This is truly a systems approach to understanding a process that is fundamental to most breast cancer cases, and at the end of the day, we want to make things better for women with breast cancer." The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2009, 192,000 women were newly diagnosed with invasive breast cancer, and approximately 70 percent of these cases are considered to be estrogen receptor-positive (ER+), implying that estrogen and its receptor drives the disease. Also in 2009, the Society estimated that more than 40,000 women are expected to die from breast cancer - which is one breast cancer death on average every 13 minutes. Most of the gene and proteins regulated by the estrogen receptor are unknown, and the molecular effects of therapies such as anti-hormonal drugs, like tamoxifen, are also largely unidentified, says Clarke. "This gene network ultimately regulates the choice of a cell to live or die in the face of stresses induced by endocrine therapies," he says. To help understand the flow of signals from the estrogen receptor, Lombardi, Virginia Tech and Fox Chase Cancer Center will work as a collaborative team. Lombardi will focus on biology, examining cell cultures, mammary tumors in animals and patient breast tumors to decide ER+ molecular signaling systems, Virginia Tech scientists will build mathematical models to predict the behavior of those genes and proteins, and Fox Chase researchers will test what happens when specific genes and proteins are knocked out. "Ultimately we will have a mathematical model to predict how the estrogen receptor system functions," Clarke says. "In the model, you can take out a gene and see how the system adjusts. That will allow us to identify good targets for therapy. "Our part is to understand how breast cancer cells use the signaling from the estrogen receptor to survive and proliferate and make more copies of themselves and why in some tumors, you can block these signals with drugs, and they will die back, but then become resistant and grow back," says Clarke. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
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