Sunday, April 18, 2010
1:00 p.m.-3:30 p.m.
Washington Convention Center, Room 102
This special symposium has been developed in conjunction with the leaders of the AACR to highlight outstanding early-career scientists in cancer research whose work reflects innovation, scientific independence, motivation, and creativity. Nominees were required to be graduate students, medical students or residents, clinical fellows, or postdoctoral fellows, and institutional nomination was required for consideration. Nominees were evaluated through a competitive review process; finalists were interviewed before final decisions were made.
The AACR and the Associate Member Council are very proud to announce the speakers selected to present their work for the Future Leaders in Translational Research Special Symposium. Each speaker will be introduced by a senior scientist who is an expert in the field.
Florian Karreth, M.S.
Graduate Student, Li-Ka Shing Centre, Cambridge Research Institute, CRUK, Cambridge, England
Modulation of oncogenic transformation by Raf proteins
Mr. Karreth’s research shows that C-Raf is a natural antagonist of B-RafV600E but promotes KrasG12D-mediated cell transformation. Thus, understanding C-Raf's roles in distinct oncogenic contexts should warrant a more rational therapeutic approach in cancer.
Jialiang Wang, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department Of Surgery, Duke University, Durham, NC
Notch and radiation resistance in glioma stem cells
Dr. Wang’s work revealed a novel role of the Notch signaling pathway in radiation resistance of glioma cancer stem cells. Not only has this finding provided important insights into the function of Notch pathway and the mechanisms underlying radiation resistance of brain tumors, but also it has created a new clinical paradigm that holds great promise to improve current treatment of gliomas through targeting Notch.
Emma Ito, M.S.
Ph.D. Student, Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
An RNAi screen identifies a heme biosynthetic mediator as a novel radiosensitizing target for head and neck cancer
Ms. Ito's work identified a key regulator of heme biosynthesis as a novel sensitizing target for radiation (RT) and chemotherapy in head and neck cancer (HNC) models. The target was significantly over-expressed in HNC patient biopsies, and lower pre-RT levels correlated with improved survival, suggesting that it could also be a potential predictor for radiation response.
Peter H. O'Donnell, M.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Hematology/Oncology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Discovery and Validation of Genome-Wide Genetic Signatures of Chemotherapy Susceptibility: A Translational Model
Dr. O'Donnell and colleagues have developed a pre-clinical model which permits elucidation of germline genetic determinants of chemotherapy susceptibility via a genome-wide approach, allowing simultaneous discovery of multiple single nucleotide polymorphisms and genes. After identifying novel candidates for two commonly-used chemotherapy drugs, clinical replication of their importance was essential, and Dr. O'Donnell describes his bench-to-bedside translational model for clinical validation of these pharmacogenomic findings in relevant cancer care settings.
Matthias Stephan, M.D., Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
Therapeutic cell engineering using surface-conjugated synthetic nanoparticles
Dr. Stephan and colleagues have devised a facile and generalizable strategy to robustly augment the therapeutic potential of cytoreagents. By conjugating adjuvant drug-loaded nanoparticles onto the plasma membrane of therapeutic cells, Dr. Stephan can release the therapeutic payload directly from the carrier cell’s surface, providing pseudo-autocrine stimulation using doses that have no substantial effect when given systemically.