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Feature Story: DF/HCC Cancer Epidemiology Program
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Cancer Epidemiology Goes “Omic”
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Epidemiology—the study of disease conditions and risk factors within defined populations—as with other branches of medicine, is becoming ever more molecularly oriented. “People tend to think that with epidemiology, you just send out questionnaires and make associations,” says Meir J. Stampfer, MD, DrPH (BWH), “but in modern times, while questionnaires are still important, epidemiology is much more integrated with molecular biology, genomics, and other ‘-omic’ technologies used in the tissue and blood, and this makes it a lot more exciting and interesting.” [more]
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Breast Density and Breast Cancer
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Rulla Tamimi, ScD (BWH) is studying breast density as it relates to the risk of breast cancer. According to Tamimi, about half of younger women have what is considered to be high breast density (i.e., 50% of their breast consists of dense tissue), although breast density decreases with age. Breast density appears to be a strong predictor of all breast cancer subtypes and may even predict more aggressive tumor types. [more]
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| Spotlight on Clinical Trials
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Eriotinib with a PDL-1 Inhibitor in Advanced NSCLC
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Rebecca Heist, MD (MGH) and colleagues are conducting a Phase Ib study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the PD-L1 inhibitor MDPL3280A combined with the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor erlotinib in patients with advanced NSCLC (14-354). “In the field of lung cancer in general, the PD-1 and PD-L1 inhibitors have had a lot of success producing responses, some durable,” Heist says. “This study combines immunotherapy and targeted therapy approaches to give more durable long term responses in patients with EGFR mutations." [more]
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Collaborative RNAi Core Facility
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The DF/HCC Collaborative RNAi Core brings together a number of local experts, resources, and centers in the field of functional genomics to help researchers design, perform, and analyze the results of RNAi screens and CRISPR-Cas9 projects relevant to cancer study. Understanding the mechanisms that underlie the development and progression of cancer is fundamental to finding better approaches to prevention and treatment. The Core offers a single portal through which DF/HCC members can learn about RNAi and CRISPR-Cas9 services relevant to mouse, human, Drosophila and other systems. [more]
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Cancer Proteomics Core Facility
The DF/HCC Cancer Proteomics Core provides all DF/HCC members access to comprehensive interdisciplinary, translational, and clinically-oriented facilities for high-sensitivity, high-resolution, and high-throughput proteomics and metabolomics services, with particular emphasis on clinical sample analysis and in-depth scientific consultation for proteomics, metabolomics, lipdomics, and data analysis. [more]
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MembersCongratulations to the eleven individuals from our seven member institutions who have recently joined DF/HCC. Learn more about these scientists and their research interests.
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Center Director Ed Benz to Retire in 2016
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Edward Benz announced that he will retire from his role as President and CEO of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute on June 30, 2016. He will also step down from his role as Director and Principal Investigator of Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center at that time. Benz will remain on the Harvard Medical School faculty as Professor of Medicine, Pediatrics and Genetics, and will return full time to his research, clinical, and teaching activities at Dana-Farber. [more]
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DF/HCC Members Receive Top Honors
Congratulations to the following DF/HCC faculty, who have been recognized for their outstanding research contributions recently:
Kenneth Anderson, Fellow of the American Association for Cancer Research Academy
Bruce Chabner, Fellow of the American Association for Cancer Research Academy
Stephen Elledge, The Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences
Marc Garnick, Gorman Brothers Professorship in Medicine
Rakesh Jain, Honorary Doctorate by KU Leuven
Nancy Krieger, ACS Clinical Research Professor Award
Wayne Lencer, First Incumbent of the Longwood Professorship in Pediatrics
Franziska Michor, 2015 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science
Ralph Weissleder, First Incumbent of the Thrall Family Professorship in Radiology
David A. Williams, Named President of the American Society of Hematology (ASH)
Junying Yuan, Elizabeth D. Hay Professorship in Cell Biology
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| Recently Awarded NIH GrantsThe NIH continues to recognize DF/HCC as a leader in cancer research by awarding funding to a number of our research initiatives. Recently, this funding included the following new highly collaborative grants:
Mechanisms and Immunological Consequences of Host-Virus Interactions ($9.8m)
PI: Ulrich von Andrian, MD (HMS)
An Autoimmune Center for Excellence for the Study of IGG4-Related Disease ($3.5m)
PI: Shiv Pillai, MD, MBBS (MGH)
Informatics Tools for Optimized Imaging Biomarkers for Cancer Research and Discovery ($3.5m)
PI: Bruce Rosen, MD, PhD (MGH); Jayashree Kalpathy-Cramer, PhD
Patient-Centered Information Commons ($11.3m)
PI: Isaac Kohane, MD, PhD (BCH)
Pharmaco Response Signatures and Disease Mechanism ($8.2m)
PI: Peter Sorger, PhD (HMS)
Low-Cost Enabling Technology for Image-Guided Photodynamic Therapy of Oral Cancer ($5m)
PI: Tayyaba Hasan, PhD (MGH); Jonathan Celli, PhD
The Women’s Health Study: Infrastructure Support for Continued Cohort Follow-Up ($2.5m)
PI: Julie Buring, ScD; I-Min Lee, MD, MPH, ScD (BWH)
Long Term Multidisciplinary Study of Cancer in Women: The Nurses Health Study ($14.6m)
PI: Meir Stampfer, MD, DrPH (HSPH)
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| Research Highlights From Our Member Institutions
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Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center
Central Administration
450 Brookline Ave
Boston, MA 02115 |
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