American Association for Cancer Research

Methods Workshops

SATURDAY, APRIL 14
8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.


Approaches to Cancer Genetics in Humans

Chairperson: Arnold J. Levine, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ

  • Evolutionary positive selection of a subset of alleles in the MDM-2 gene, Gurinder Atwal, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ
  • Combinatorial use of single nucleotide polymorphisms to help predict liver fibrosis in patients with hepatitis C infections, John Sninsky, Celera Corporation, Alameda, CA
  • The role of inherited and somatic gene amplifications and deletions in the origins of cancers, James B. Hicks, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY

siRNA Screens: A Tool for Understanding Targets

Chairperson: Stephen H. Friend, Merck and Co., Inc., North Wales, PA

  • RNAi screens to identify targets and drug response modifiers, Peter S. Linsley, Rosetta Inpharmatics LLC, Seattle, WA
  • Systematic siRNA-based HT-RNAi screening in oncology: From discovery and validation of novel targets to drug modifier analyses, Christophe J. Echeverri, Cenix BioScience GmbH, Dresden, Germany
  • RNAi-based genetic screens to identify novel cancer-related genes, René Bernards, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  • Large-scale RNAi for cancer target discovery and validation, William C. Hahn, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA

SATURDAY, APRIL 14
10:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.


Advances in Imaging: From Molecules and Live-Cell Research to Animal Models and Clinical Applications

Chairperson: Jiri Bartek, Danish Cancer Society, Copenhagen, Denmark

  • Imaging gene expression in living cells, David L. Spector, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY
  • Title to be announced, Jiri Bartek, Danish Cancer Society, Copenhagen, Denmark
  • Molecular imaging of spontaneous tumors in genetically engineered mouse models of human cancer, Jos Jonkers, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  • Emerging approaches and applications of molecular imaging in experimental and clinical oncology, Martin G. Pomper, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD

Clinical Trials, Part I: Methodology

Chairperson: Donald A. Berry, UT M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX

  • Speakers and titles to be announced

SATURDAY, APRIL 14
1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.


Clinical Trials, Part II: Why Oncology Drug Development Usually Fails: Bad Drugs, Bad Designs, or Bad Patient Selection?

Chairperson: Mark J. Ratain, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL

  • Is oncology drug development as hard as it looks?, Mark J. Ratain, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
  • Prioritization of clinical candidates: Discriminating between good and bad drugs, David P. Schenkein, Genentech, Inc., South San Francisco, CA
  • Optimal clinical trail designs: Asking the right questions, Rachel W. Humphrey, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Wallingford, CT
  • Patient selection: Using predictive biomarkers appropriately, Michael R. Grever, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
  • Questions and Answers, Panel

Interpreting Chromosomal Copy Number Aberration in the Cancer Genome

Chairperson: Cameron W. Brennan, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY

  • Integrated analysis of array-CGH and expression data, Peter J. Park, Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
  • Allele specific copy number measurement with MIPs, Paul T. Spellman, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA
  • Copy number variation in the human genome, Hiroyuki Aburatani, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
  • CNA data: Approaches and pitfalls, Cameron W. Brennan, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY

Recent Advances in Mouse Models of Cancer

Chairperson: Michael M. Shen, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ

  • Cancer gene discovery using the Sleeping Beauty transposon, Adam J. Dupuy, University of Iowa School of Medicine, Iowa City, IA
  • High-throughput engineering of the mouse genome, Aris N. Economides, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Tarrytown, NY
  • Lineage-marking of prostate epithelial progenitors using an inducible Cre recombinase, Michael M. Shen, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ
  • Human-in-mouse tumors: Creating de novo human breast cancer in mice through ex vivo genetic manipulation of normal breast tissue, Murray O. Robinson, AVEO Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Cambridge, MA

SATURDAY, APRIL 14
3:15 p.m. to 5:15 p.m.


3-D In Vitro Cancer Models

Chairperson: Joan S. Brugge, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

  • Three-dimensional culture of human skin, Meenhard Herlyn, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, PA
  • Three-dimensional co-culture models to study prostate cancer growth progression and metastasis to bone, Leland K.W. Chung, Emory University Winship Cancer Institute, Atlanta, GA
  • Three-dimensional cultures of epithelial cells, Joan S. Brugge, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

Isolation and Transplantation of Stem Cells

Chairperson: John A. Hassell, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

  • Speakers and titles to be announced

Measuring the Epigenome

Chairperson: Christoph Plass, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH

  • Chromatin immuno precipitation from small cell populations by CChIP, Bryan M. Turner, University of Birmingham Medical School, Birmingham, United Kingdom
  • Measurements of gene methylation in cancer, Paul Cairns, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA
  • Tools to uncover altered DNA methylation in cancer genomes, Tim Hui-Ming Huang, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
  • Restriction landmark genomic scanning (RLGS), Christoph Plass, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH