| MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR |
 Stan Gerson, MD
Director, Case Comprehensive Cancer Center
slg5@case.edu |
AACR Annual Meeting 2016
Many of you will be attending the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting in New Orleans, which starts this weekend.
Once again, we are excited to have many members and trainees participating, presenting, and leading sessions [View list of presentations]. If we accidentally missed anyone, please email cancer@case.edu and we will correct the version that will be posted online.
Please support your colleagues if you are attending the meeting. Congratulations to everyone, and enjoy the meeting!
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| MEMBER & INSTITUTION HIGHLIGHTS |
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine Opens the Way to New Treatments for Chronic Pain and Cancer
The two studies are unlike previous results because Moiseenkova-Bell's lab is the first to accurately model the structure of TRPV2 in its entirety. Additionally, the group used neuronal cells to reveal the previously uncharacterized molecular mechanism of TRPV2 function in the process of neurite growth.
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Vera Moiseenkova-Bell
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"By combining our findings regarding both this protein's structure and molecular mechanism, we can investigate it with a more holistic understanding," says Principal Investigator Vera Moiseenkova-Bell, PhD, an assistant professor in the department of pharmacology at the School of Medicine. "This positions us to develop pharmaceutical compounds that target TRPV2 as treatment for chronic pain."
In addition to Moiseenkova-Bell, other Case Western Reserve University co-authors are Matthew R. Cohen, PhD, and Kevin W. Huynh. more> |
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CCIPD Images on European Urology April Issue Front Cover
 Images generated within the Center for Computational Imaging and Personalized Diagnostics (CCIPD) made the front cover of the European Urology, the highest ranked urology journal in terms of impact factor. The images shown are a result of work in our group on quantitative histomorphometric feature modeling of prostate pathology images. The graphics (see attached) show the use of computational imaging tools to quantify nuclear architecture and nuclear shape in order to predict prostate cancer outcome and aggressiveness. George Lee, research assistant professor, CCIPD, Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, generated the images. The CCIPD is led by Anant Madabhushi, PhD, Case Comprehensive Cancer Center.
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NCCN 2016 Congress Series™: Lung Cancer
The NCCN 2016 Congress Series: Lung Cancer is taking place on Tuesday, May 17 in Cleveland, and will be hosted by Case Comprehensive Cancer Center/University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center and Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute.
This congress is designed to educate healthcare professionals on current and emerging scientific data to make evidence-based decisions about screening and treatment and to communicate management options to patients effectively in order to make shared treatment decisions and to provide optimal care for patients with NSCLC.
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Cancer Center Annual Scientific Retreat
Save the Date! The Cancer Center Annual Scientific Retreat will be held July 7-8.
Keynote Speaker: Elizabeth Jaffee, MD
Deputy Director, The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins
Professor of Oncology
More information to follow.
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VeloSano Bike to Cure
The Case Comprehensive Cancer Center will have a team for the VeloSano bike ride, July 29-31. We are looking for riders (both actual and virtual), volunteers for our cheer station, and people to join our planning efforts.
Join us for team meet and greets the second and fourth Thursday of the month at The Tavern of Little Italy (TOLI). The next one will be April 21 at 4:30p.
Want to know more? Please contact team captain Caroline El Sanadi at cee17@case.edu for details.
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Cancer Stem Cell Conference
The National Center for Regenerative Medicine will host the biannual Cancer Stem Cell Conference Sep. 20-23 at the Hilton Hotel Downtown-Lakeside.
The conference seeks to foster new collaborations across national and international boundaries. It will address the translation of bench-top science to patient care. More than 20 keynote addresses are planned for the conference, with representation from many different institutions around the world.
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Order Flowers and Raise Money for the
Case Comprehensive Cancer Center
The Case Comprehensive Cancer Center is once again partnering with Paradise Flower Market to raise money for the Cancer Center.
Ten percent of every eligible order placed now through Mother's Day, Sunday, May 8, will be donated back to the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center. Mention code CC16 when ordering.
Offer applies to pick up orders and Cleveland area deliveries only. Paradise Flower Market is located at 27329 Chagrin Blvd, Beachwood, OH 44122 (near Eton Shopping Center); phone: 216.749.7474; web: www.paradiseflowermarket.net/
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Limited Submission Opportunities for Pilot Projects in Brain Tumors
Deadline: TODAY - Apr 15
With generous support from Thomas and Sondra Cristal, the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center is providing seed funding for the development of projects focused on primary brain tumors. Each year in the United States, approximately 35,000 brain tumors are diagnosed. Improvements in survival for this population remain little changed over the past 30 years. This is due, in part, to the natural brain environment as well as the heterogeneity and adaptability of these tumors. The goal of this RFA is to catalyze groups of investigators with interests in identifying mechanisms of brain tumorigenesis and progression with the expectation that these insights will lead to new diagnostics, prognostics, and/or therapeutics. To facilitate broadening the scope and effort of research in malignant and non-malignant brain tumors, and to bring new junior investigators into this field, all applications must involve multi- Investigator teams that include a neurosurgery resident as well as faculty (clinical or laboratory based). To ensure disease-based research, all projects must also utilize specimens from the brain tumor bio-repository. Funds from this RFA will be restricted to research proposals that address malignant or non-malignant brain tumors. Projects of particular interest include those that focus on stem cells, imaging, nutrition, metabolism, cancer immunology, proteomics, and/or genomics. Responsive proposals should demonstrate clear relevance to brain tumors. It is expected that the research projects will lead to nationally competitive grant proposals from multi-PI teams.
Funding Criteria:
- Strong collaborative investigative teams primarily located at CWRU and University Hospitals Case Medical Center with expertise in brain tumors.
- Highly innovative and impactful projects that specifically focus on brain tumors.
- Projects are expected to use tissues from brain tumor patients, thus, proposals should interface with the brain tumor tissue bank.
- Projects must have a high likelihood of subsequent national-level funding.
- While investigators can be collaborators on multiple applications, only one application will be accepted per lead PI.
- A letter of support from the bio-repository outlining specimens available to the projects and a letter of support from a biostatistician are both required
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Hartwell Foundation - Individual Biomedical Research Awards
CWRU Internal LOI: Apr 29
CWRU Internal Application: May 27
Sponsor Deadline: Sep 15
The foundation funds 12 Hartwell Investigators annually for their innovative, early-stage, cutting-edge biomedical research that has the potential to benefit children in the USA. These awards provide funding to individual researchers in the U.S. for three years, at $100,000 direct cost per year.
Number of Applicants Allowed: Two faculty members.
Full application instructions for this opportunity are not yet posted. Updated complete application instructions will be posted when the foundation announces the 2016 competition.
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DoD Lung Cancer Research Program (LCRP)
Pre-Application Deadline: Jun 9Application Deadline: Sep 14
Applications to the Fiscal Year 2016 Lung Cancer Research Program (LCRP) are being solicited for the Defense Health Agency, Research, Development, and Acquisition Directorate, by the U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity:
Career Development Award
supports early-career, independent investigators to conduct impactful research under the mentorship of an experienced lung cancer researcher as an DoD FY16 Lung Cancer Research Program Career Development Award 4 opportunity to obtain the funding, mentoring, and experience necessary for productive, independent careers at the forefront of lung cancer research. This award is intended to support impactful research projects with an emphasis on discovery. Submissions from and partnerships with investigators at military treatment facilities, military labs, and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers and research laboratories are strongly encouraged.
Supports rapid execution of early-phase, proof-of-principle clinical trials to examine hypothesis-based, innovative interventions that have DoD FY16 Lung Cancer Research Program Clinical Exploration Award 4 the potential to resolve current clinical barriers and result in a profound impact on the clinical management of lung cancer. While therapeutic approaches proposed for testing through the CEA must represent novel, hypothesis-based, "outside-the-box" approaches for treating lung cancer, they may include therapies already in clinical use, or undergoing clinical testing for other diseases, provided that the proposed use for lung cancer would lead to a major advancement for treating the disease. Outcomes from studies funded by this award are anticipated to provide scientific rationale for subsequent development of larger, efficacy-based clinical trials of interventions that will transform lung cancer clinical care.
Promotes new ideas that are still in the early stages of development and have the potential to yield impactful data and new avenues of investigation. This award supports conceptually innovative, high-risk/high-reward research that could lead to DoD FY16 Lung Cancer Research Program Idea Development Award 4 critical discoveries or major advancements that will accelerate progress toward eradicating deaths from lung cancer. Applications should include a well-formulated, testable hypothesis based on strong scientific rationale.
Investigator-Initiated Translational Research Award (IITRA)Supports translational research that will develop promising ideas in lung cancer into clinical applications. Translational research may be defined as an integration of basic science and clinical observations. Observations that drive a research idea may originate from a laboratory discovery, population-based studies, or a clinician's firsthand knowledge of patient care. The ultimate goal of translational research is to move a concept or observation forward into clinical application. However, Principal Investigators (PIs) should not view translational research as a one-way continuum from bench to bedside. The research plan must involve a reciprocal flow of ideas and information between basic and clinical science. |
NIH Director's Pioneer Award Program (DP1)
Deadline: Sep 2
The NIH Director's Pioneer Award initiative complements NIH's traditional, investigator-initiated grant programs by supporting individual scientists of exceptional creativity who propose pioneering and possibly transforming approaches to addressing major biomedical or behavioral challenges that have the potential to produce an unusually high impact on enhancing health, lengthening life, and reducing illness and disability. To be considered pioneering, the proposed research must reflect substantially different scientific directions from those already being pursued in the investigator's research program or elsewhere.
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| Request for Proposals for Case CCC Funding for Pilot/Phase I Clinical Trials
Rolling Deadline
The Case CCC is encouraging investigators to submit Letters of Intent (LOI) for Early Phase Clinical Research Support (EPCRS) funding. These in-house funds are available for the conduct of early phase clinical trials of relatively short duration. Priority will be given to trials which are developed jointly between UH and CCF with planned accrual at both institutions.
The proposals are being accepted on a rolling basis subject to availability of funds.
Please direct any questions and/or submit LOIs to Katarzyna Karelus, Case CCC Clinical Research Office, katarzyna.karelus@case.edu, 216.844.4176. |
USA Today - April 13, 2016
Cancer immunotherapy will get a hefty dose of its own moonshot Wednesday when a tech billionaire announces he's giving $250 million to six cancer centers nationwide, including Manhattan's Memorial Sloan Kettering and Stanford. Sean Parker, founder of the music file-sharing service Napster and the founding president of Facebook, says he is putting his money behind cancer immune therapy because it is at a turning point and would benefit from research that is done without regard for the costs... Cleveland oncologist Stan Gerson says immunotherapy can lead to "dramatic responses in lethal cancers," but he notes that just 30%-40% of patients benefit, most relapse in one to three years, and little is known about how and why some patients respond and others don't. "Is it a replacement for everything else we're doing?" Gerson says of immunotherapy. "Right now we can't say so ... but this is the time to make investments and pronouncements." Gerson, who is director of the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, estimates that another $10 billion would be needed to get the treatments approved and to patients.
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Why Ex-Facebook President Sean Parker Is Betting $250M on This Cancer Treatment
ABC News - Apr 13, 2016
The battle to cure cancer just got a serious boost thanks to former Facebook President Sean Parker, who has pledged to donate $250 million to research a breakthrough area of cancer treatment called immunothearpy. Immunotherapy treatments, which work by harnessing the body's immune system to battle cancer, have been considered in recent years to be a possible game-changer in the fight to stop cancer...Dr. Andrew Sloan, director of the Brain Tumor and Neuro-Oncology Center at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland, said scientists have only recently understood how "tumors recruit the immune system" and how that system can be alerted to fight the cancer. "Tumors have figured out how to turn off the immune system," Sloan said in an interview with ABC News when Carter first announced his diagnosis. "They recruit cells that surround them. ... These are not cells that kill the tumor. They protect cells from part of the immune system." |
Myeloma Beacon - Apr 13, 2016
Today, we have some feedback from the lead author of the CCF642 study, Dr. Frederic Reu, Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, Cleveland Clinic. He responds to questions we sent him about the study and also to some of Dr. Bergsagel's comments. Dr. Reu told us: "CCF642 inhibits the enzyme (called PDI) that folds certain proteins so that they can be secreted. Myeloma cells secrete substantially more such proteins than other cells, which probably explains why doses of CCF642 that were well tolerated by normal bone marrow cells and mice resulted in rapid accumulation of misfolded proteins and programmed cell death in myeloma cells...
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Inside Sean Parker's $250 Million Bet To Cure Cancer
Fast Company - Apr 13, 2016
Sean Parker is deathly allergic to peanuts. If he accidentally eats a rogue nut and doesn't receive an epinephrine injection, he will stop breathing. Parker's struggle with life-threatening allergies hasn't stopped him from achieving fortune (as the first investor in Facebook), fame (Justin Timberlake played him as a charismatic hustler in the film The Social Network), and a track record for changing entire industries (remember Napster?). It did, however, inspire him to spend countless hours in an Internet rabbit hole researching the mysteries of the human immune response. "I'm totally fascinated by the immune system," he told me by phone this week, while trying to escape the New York rain. "Like my interest in other scientific fields, I took a deeper dive and got more and more invested."..."The way I describe it to my patients is to think about the last time they had a bacterial infection and got really sick," says Dr. Dale Shepard, Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, a medical oncologist at the Cleveland Clinic. "That's an example of a robust immune response." By contrast, some of Shepard's patients have advanced cancers that present with few symptoms. "I see patients all the time that have five-inch tumors that are totally ignored by the immune system." |
Bioworld - Apr 12, 2016
Clovis Oncology Inc. has more work to do before its lung cancer drug, rociletinib, is ready for approval, the FDA's Oncology Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) said Tuesday. The committee voted 12-1 against accelerated approval for the breakthrough drug being developed as second-line therapy for a subset of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. Although committee members said the drug appears to have effect and a few were hesitant to push approval down the road a few years when the results roll in from an ongoing phase III trial, they agreed that the data just aren't there to meet the standards for accelerated approval...One concern is that it isn't powered to compare the two doses. Instead of wasting resources, Clovis should pick one dose or power the study for a true comparison, advised Brian Rini, Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute.
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Fri, April 15
Hem/Onc Fellows
8a Breen Conference Room
TCI Grand Rounds
W. Robert Lee, MD
Duke University
"Hypofractionation for Prostate Cancer: 2016 Update"
8a R3/002-003 Cleveland Clinic
Research ShowCASE 9a-3p Veale Convocation, Recreation and Athletic Center
WHIG Seminar 9a BRB 105
Cancer Center Seminar Series David E. Fisher, MD, PhD
Edward Wigglesworth Professor, Dermatology
Harvard Medical School
Chief, Dermatology Massachusetts General Hospital "The Melanoma Revolution: New Concepts in Pathogenesis, Diagnosis and Treatment" 12p BRB 105
CDDRCC Seminar
Alexander Zaika, PhD
Vanderbilt University
"Microbial Regulation of p53 Tumor Suppressor"
12p BRB 5th Fl Radiation Oncology Grand Rounds David Ly, MD, MPA Attending Radiation Oncologist 21st Century Oncology "Improved Local Control in Melanoma Brain Metastases with SRS and BRAF inhibitor Treatment"
1p Lerner B-151
Cancer Center Research in Progress Seminar 4p WRB 3-136
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Mon, April 18
THOR Seminar
Marcin Wlodarski, MD
Head, Molecular Diagnostics, Pediatric Hem Onc
University of Freiburg
1p R3-027 Cleveland Clinic
DPB Seminar
John Dani, PhD
University of Pennsylvania
"Nicotinic and Dopaminergic Mechanisms of Plasticity and Addiction"
4p SOM E-501
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Tues, April 19
Cancer Biology Seminar
Jianjun Zhao, MD, PhD
Assistant Staff, Cancer Biology
"Unravel the Role of Noncoding RNA in Multiple Myeloma (MM) Initiation and Interaction with Environments"
2p NC1-202 Cleveland Clinic
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Wed, Apr 20
Radiation Oncology Grand Rounds
Peter Hyung-Kyuan Ahn, MD
Assistant Professor, Radiation Oncology
University of Pennsylvania
"Quality of Life and Other Considerations in Proton Radiation for Head and Neck Cancer"
7a Wearn 137
Hem/Onc Div Res Conf
8a Lerner B-151
Special BME Seminar
Rebecca Crowley Jacobson, MD, MS
Professor of Biomedical Informatics
University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine
"Federated Data Sharing, Natural Language Processing,
and Deep Phenotyping" 1p Nord 356
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Thur, Apr 21
Spring Update from the President and Provost
9a WRB 1-413
Cellular and Molecular Medicine Guest Speaker Seminar Series
Michael Karin, PhD
Distinguished Professor of Pharmacology,
American Cancer Society Research Professor
University of California
"Inflammation and Regeneration in Colorectal Tumorigenesis: The APC-gpl30 Conspiracy"
10a NE1-205 Cleveland Clinic
Cancer Trainee Seminar
Kevin Choong, MD
General Surgery PGY2, Kim/Ammori Lab, Surgical Oncology,
CWRU/UH
"The Clinical Manifestations and Management of Pancreatic Cancer"
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Neetha Parameswaran, PhD
Research Associate, Jackson lab, Pathology
CWRU
"A KRAS-ERK-FAM83A Regulatory Loop as a Novel Therapeutic Target for
Pancreatic Cancer"
12p Wolstein 3-136
Molecular Biology and Microbiology and the Center for AIDS Research
CFAR WG1/Pathology
Warner Greene
1p W203
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Fri, April 22
Hem/Onc Fellows
8a Breen Conference Room
TCI Grand Rounds 8a R3/002-003 Cleveland Clinic
WHIG Seminar 9a BRB 433
Cancer Center Seminar Series Michael Karin, PhD
Distinguished Professor of Pharmacology
Ben and Wanda Hildyard Chair for Mitochondrial and Metabolic Diseases
American Cancer Society Research Professor
UC San Diego
"Inflammation and Regeneration in Colorectal Tumorigenesis: The APC-gpl30 Conspiracy" 12p BRB 105 Cancer Center Research in Progress Seminar Stephen Fink, PhD
Assistant Professor, Medicine
"Potential Therapeutic and Prognostic Applications of CEMIP in Colorectal Cancer" 4p WRB 3-136
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Mon, April 25
Genomic Medicine Institute
Angela Ting, PhD
Assistant Professor, Genomic Medicine Institute
CWRU/Cleveland Clinic
"Context-dependent roles of DNA methylation"
12:30p NE1-205 Cleveland Clinic
Cancer Center Research Chalk Talk
Barbara Begogni, PhD
Assistant Professor, Biochemistry
CWRU
1p WRB 3-136
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Wed, April 27
Hem/Onc Div Res Conf
8a Lerner B-151
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Thur, April 28
Core Billing Software Demo
Stratocore Core Billing Software Demo
9a SOM-E432
Dermatology Grand Rounds and Lecture Series
David Underhill, PhD
Cedars Sinai Health System & Research Institute
9:30a BRB 105
Molecular Biology and Microbiology and the Center for AIDS Research Greg E Lemke, PhD Salk Institute "TAM Receptors and Phagocytosis" 12:20p W203 Rottman Seminar Room
Happy Hour to Benefit Case CCC Team VeloSano Join us at the Tavern of Little Italy for Happy Hour, starting at 4:30 pm to benefit Team CCC for VeloSano Bike to Cure
4:30p TOLI - 12117 Mayfield Rd, Cleveland, OH 44106
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Fri, April 29
Hem/Onc Fellows
8a Breen Conference Room
TCI Grand Rounds Supriya Mohile, MD University of Rochester "Geriatric Oncology Research to Improve Clinical Care" 8a R3/002-003 Cleveland Clinic
WHIG Seminar 9a BRB 105
Core Billing Software Update iLab Core Software Demo 9a SOM E401
Cancer Center Seminar Series Samuel Achilefu, PhD
Director, Optical Radiology Laboratory Professor, Radiology, Biomedical Engineering, and Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics Michel M. Ter-Pogossian Endowed Chair in Radiology Vice Chair, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology
Washington University "Image-Guided Cancer Resection and Targeted Therapy Using Invisible Light"
12p BRB 105 Cancer Center Research in Progress Seminar 4p WRB 3-136
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VELOSANO 2016
Jul 29-31
Support Team Case CCC: Join us for monthly happy hours at the Tavern of Little Italy on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of every month [Apr 28; May 12; May 26; Jun 9; Jun 23].
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ADDITIONAL UPCOMING SYMPOSIUMS & EVENTS
American Cancer Society Relay for Life
Apr 16-17
Bill Sudeck Track at the North Residential Village, CWRU Campus
Details and Registration
GvHD National Symposium 2016
May 13
LUNGevity Foundation's Breathe Deep Cleveland
Jun 18
VeloSano 2016
Jul 29-31
Palliative Medicine and Supportive Oncology 2016
Aug 4-6
Marriott Key Center
Great Lakes Breast Cancer Symposium 2016
Sep 8-9
Pittsburgh, PA
Cancer Stem Cell Conference
Sep 20-23
Hilton Cleveland Downtown
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PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED OPPORTUNITIES
Deadline: Apr 15
Pre-AppDeadline: Apr 21
Invited App Deadline: May 5
Pre-App Deadline: Apr 21
Invited App Deadline: May 5
Pre-App Deadline: Apr 21
Invited App Deadline: May 5
Pre-App Deadline: Apr 27
Invited App Deadline: Aug 11
Pre-App Deadline: Apr 27
Invited App Deadline: Aug 11
Pre-App Deadline: Apr 27 Invited App Deadline: Aug 11
Pre-Application Deadline: Apr 28
Invited Application Deadline: Aug 10
Pre-Application Deadline: Apr 28
Invited Application Deadline: Aug 10
Pre-Application Deadline: Apr 28 Invited Application Deadline: Aug 10
Deadline: May 13
Deadline: Jun 1 Deadline: Jul 1 Deadline: Open Deadline: Open Deadline: Open
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