| Tara Sanft, MD Joins Yale Cancer Center
I am pleased to announce that Tara will join Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital on August 1st as Assistant Professor of Medical Oncology and Medical Director of Adult Survivorship. Tara's clinical and research focus on palliative care and cancer survivorship will bring new expertise to Yale Cancer Center and help to strengthen our outreach and care to cancer survivors through the Connecticut Challenge Survivorship Clinic.
Michelle Wilson Hired to Manage Clinical Operations
Please welcome Michelle Wilson to Yale Cancer Center. She recently joined the staff as Associate Director for Clinical Operations and will oversee the day-to-day functions of the outpatient cancer programs in Smilow Cancer Hospital. Her primary responsibilities include ensuring that the clinics run smoothly and creating a patient-centered infrastructure for outpatient cancer treatment.
Michelle has an extensive background in healthcare administration. Most recently, she served as practice administrator for the Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers in Colorado and prior to that she was a regional manager for Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Michelle can be reached by email or phone at 200-4714.
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"Cheater" Cells May Spur Cancer Growth
A new study from the Yale School of Medicine reveals a biological struggle within tissue that allows some damaged cells to survive and proliferate, eventually leading to cancer. The study, led by Yale Cancer Center member Ruslan Medzhitov, is published in the online edition of
Cell Stem Cell
It is known that cells damaged by radiation exposure and other cancer-causing factors activate the tumor suppressor protein called p53, which orchestrates DNA damage repair. Less is known, however, about long-term consequences of DNA damage in individual cells. The Yale team discovered that stem and progenitor cells in the blood can "remember" for many months whether they had DNA damage, and engage in a kind of competition with each other for survival.
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Smilow Update
Floors 14 and 15 of Smilow are nearing completion as the final touches are being worked on. On Thursday of this week, floors 11 and 12 were ready for occupancy. Floor 14 will follow on April 6th, and floor 15 on April 27th. Following these transitions only a few areas remain, including the boutique, the Family Resource Center, and the Tumor Board Conference Room where some small items and installations remain.
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Grant Opportunities
The Prostate Cancer Research Program has released new funding opportunities for 2010. Grants are available for basic science, population sciences, training, health disparities, and clinical research.
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Signal Transduction Research Program
Cancer is characterized by excessive cell division and reduced cellular suicide. Normally, these processes are regulated by hormones that influence cell behaviors by binding to receptors. The receptors in turn activate a cascade of signaling processes inside cells. In cancers, components of these systems can be locked into an active state by mutations that turn on the receptors or components of the signaling systems. To treat these cancers, therapies can be directed towards activated receptors or signaling components. Such therapies include most of the "Next Generation" cancer drugs. Examples include targeting the EGF receptor with Tarceva in a lung cancer with active EGF receptor, targeting the receptor HER2 in HER2-driven breast cancers with Herceptin, and targeting the signaling proteins ABL and B-RAF with other drugs.
Laboratories in the Signal Transduction Research Program are investigating how cellular signaling systems regulate cancer stem cells, communication of cancer cells with their tissue environment, and how they affect cancer invasion and survival of metastatic cells in foreign tissues. This knowledge can then be used to identify new drug targets, and to better understand how to intervene in the cancer pathways. An important Program goal for the coming year is development of the best methods for matching patients with the appropriate cancer drugs for "personalized medicine." Each cancer develops in its own idiosyncratic manner, so that different signaling pathways are dysregulated in each cancer. The challenge is to match patients to the drugs that will have the greatest impact on the pathways affected in their own disease. This includes understanding how to harness the explosion of information on genetic aberrations in tumor samples to identify the core processes driving each cancer, and elucidation of common mechanisms that promote resistance to the drugs that attack these processes.
Program Director:
David F. Stern, PhD
(203) 785-4832
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Recent Publications
Toward a personalized treatment of Hodgkin's disease.
DeVita VT Jr, Costa J.
N Engl J Med. 2010 Mar 11;362(10):942-3.
Read More >>
More or less: copy number alterations in mycosis fungoides.
Lin WM, Girardi M.
J Invest Dermatol. 2010 Apr;130(4):926-8.
Read More >>
Integrated Prostate Cancer Centers and Over-Utilization of IMRT: A Close Look at Fee-for-Service Medicine in Radiation Oncology.
Falit BP, Gross CP, Roberts KB.
Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2010 Apr;76(5):1285-8.
Read More >>
Recipient B Cells Are Not Required For GVHD Induction.
Matte-Martone C, Wang X, Anderson B, Jain D, Demetris AJ, McNiff J, Shlomchik MJ, Shlomchik WD.
Biol Blood Marrow Transplant. 2010 Mar 22.
Read More >>
Analytic Variability in Immunohistochemistry Biomarker Studies.
Anagnostou VK, Welsh AW, Giltnane JM, Siddiqui S, Liceaga C, Gustavson M, Syrigos KN, Reiter JL, Rimm DL.
Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2010 Mar 23.
Read More >>
Influences on place of death in Botswana.
Lazenby M, Ma T, Moffat HJ, Funk M, Knobf MT, McCorkle R.
Palliat Support Care. 2010 Mar 23:1-9.
Read More >>
Stem cells and reproduction.
Du H, Taylor HS.
Curr Opin Obstet Gynecol. 2010 Mar 18.
Read More >>
Sexuality and intimacy after gynecological cancer.
Ratner ES, Foran KA, Minkin MJ.
Maturitas. 2010 Mar 18.
Read More >>
The Core Circadian Gene Cryptochrome 2 Influences Breast Cancer Risk, Possibly by Mediating Hormone Signaling.
Hoffman AE, Zheng T, Yi CH, Stevens RG, Ba Y, Zhang Y, Leaderer D, Holford T, Hansen J, Zhu Y.
Cancer Prev Res (Phila Pa). 2010 Mar 16.
Read More >>
Palliative care from the beginning of treatment for advanced pancreatic cancer.
Lazenby JM, Saif MW.
JOP. 2010 Mar 5;11(2):154-7.
Read More >>
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| Inside Yale Cancer Center
In the News
Read the latest news clips from Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital
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Advances
Highlighting the latest advances in Genetic Counseling from Yale.
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How New Technological Discoveries are Being Implemented at Smilow
Yale Cancer Center Grand Rounds
Video presentations from Yale Cancer Center members are now available online.
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DirectConnect Archives
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Events
April 4; 6:00 PM
Yale Cancer Center Answers
WNPR 90.5
Cancer Services for Veterans
Michal Rose, MD
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April 6; 12:00 PM
Yale Cancer Center Grand Rounds
55 Park Street
Systemic Therapy for Colon Cancer: Are we making progress?
Robert Mayer, MD
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April 6; 5:00 PM
Breast Cancer Clinical Seminar Series
WWW 208
Sexuality, Intimacy, and Menopause in Women Cancer Patients
Elena Ratner, MD
April 6; 6:30 PM
Breast Reconstruction Options
YNH Shoreline Medical Center
Michael Matthew, MD
April 7; 1:00 PM
Hematology Seminar Series
SHM I-304
Myeloid Dysplasia in ADA-SCID
Robert Soklolic
April 9; 1:00 PM
Molecular Virology Research Program Conference
SHM I 116
Determining the Role of Viral and Cellular Proteins in HIV-1 Replication
Jiae Kim
April 11; 6:00 PM
Yale Cancer Center Answers
WNPR 90.5
Head and Neck Cancers
Benjamin Judson, MD
Learn More >>
April 13; 12:00 PM
Yale Cancer Center Grand Rounds
55 Park Street
Pre-clinical versus Clinical Development of Novel Therapies for Melanoma - What should be the chicken and what should be the egg?
Harriet Kluger, MD
Companion Diagnostics: The Pathologist as the Prescribing Physician
David Rimm, MD, PhD
Learn More >>
April 14; 6:00 PM
Understanding Cancer Lecture
YNHH East Pavilion Cafeteria
New Technological Discoveries: How are they being implemented at Smilow Cancer Hospital?
Thomas Lynch, Jr., MD
April 16; 11:00 AM - 4:30 PM
Free Head and Neck Cancer Screening
YNHH East Pavilion Cafeteria
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Submissions
Please submit your recent publication and grant announcements to:
Renee Gaudette
Director, Public Affairs and Marketing
renee.gaudette@yale.edu
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