From the Director
Author: Gary Meadows
With the school year reaching its end, I wish all of
you a great summer and hope that you have additional time to spend with your families
and on your individual research interests and publications. After returning from
a sabbatical in Vancouver, BC, I am encouraged and excited about all the possibilities
for collaborative research and outreach that are being explored by our members.
First of all, I would like to thank Dan Campbell for his leadership as Acting Director
while I was on leave. I am grateful to him for continuing to develop the foundation
necessary for our members to develop new projects, and in identifying additional
service opportunities for the center.
The coming year will be one of communication. Too often, we get swamped with teaching,
research, and service. Our creative energies can sometimes be spent on endeavors
that take us from our destination- a shared goal of translational research. Through
newsletters such as this, our new website, and other collaborative tools, it is
my hope that we can all find ways to continue as productive faculty and enhance
our collective energies for even larger projects. Please remember we are here to
serve you, our members, and with that we greatly appreciate any and all feedback
on how we might accomplish this more effectively.
Earlier this quarter, the Center was happy to facilitate the first award of our
“Seed Monies for Innovative Ideas” program. This initial award was funded by a non-profit
organization whose fundraising goal is to raise money in the state for innovative
research. We will continue to explore outside funding opportunities that allow us
to provide these types of opportunities to all of our members. To help in this,
I encourage all of us to consider making a gift to the Cancer Prevention & Research
Center. We would also appreciate information or potential contacts you might have
that would be interested in investing in cancer research. These funds will be used
to support the leading edge work that is being conducted by you, our members.
One of the goals of the Center is to assist our members in developing and administrating
multi-investigator research. We need your interest and participation for this to
be successful. As I am sure you have noticed, recent federal funding opportunities
are requiring more dynamic and cross-disciplinary proposals, from both research
and clinical projects. The Center hosted one event this quarter where faculty helped
to identify their areas of interest. This information was tabulated and discussions
will continue at the retreat this month. This first group of individuals focused
on cell signaling and we greatly appreciate their participation. If you are interested
in leading a project group, please contact me to discuss how to best turn your research
idea into a funded reality.
I close with a few brief notices. First, we are happy to welcome Debbie Haberman
to the Center as a Research Development Coordinator. Debbie will join our Outreach
and Partnership Coordinator, Sharlynn Rima in the Spokane office. Their contact
information and more about the services they provide is below. We are also re-packaging
the Inland Northwest Cancer Conference into a distinguished lectureship series and
more information on the series will be released in the coming months. .
Gary Meadows, Director
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News
CPRC New Staff - May 2006
Author: Debbie Haberman
Debbie Haberman has been hired as a Research Development
Coordinator with the Cancer Prevention & Research Center. Her primary role will
be to help identify and facilitate new clinical and basic research opportunities
with our members. Based in Spokane, Debbie comes to the CPRC from the College of
Nursing and has an extensive background in project development and management. As
the CPRC research development coordinator, Debbie will be available to work with
all members to help bring project concepts to fruition. Debbie can be reached at
509-358-7811 or at habermad@wsu.edu.
Her office is in the Health Science Building, room 325D.
Office Moves - May 2006
Author: Debbie Haberman
The Center’s Spokane office is now located in the Health Sciences Building, room
325D. For clinical project development or
facilitation, Debbie can be reached at 358-7811. For health outreach, education
programs or links to the National Cancer Institute, please call Sharlynn Rima at
358-7813.
Did you know?
Author: Daniel Campbell
Did you know the Cancer Prevention & Research Center offers a wide variety of
publications, brochures, and information free to the public and in bulk quantities?
Many are available in different languages. Topics range from the “What You Need
to Know about Cancer” booklet series to specialized information on post-cancer surgery
menus, cancer prevention literature and family support materials. To pick up any
materials or to have them mailed to you, please call (509) 358-7813 or (509) 335-2227.
What a great idea for civic groups or any kind of public outreach!
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Grant Awards
Funds awarded for innovative research:
Author: Debbie Haberman
The Washington State Fraternal Order of Eagles selected a member’s research to be
the beneficiary of the monies they raise in statewide fundraising efforts over 2005
- 2006. The Center received a great response to the request for proposals and is
very pleased with the quality of innovative research projects that are being explored
by our members. A panel was convened that included representatives from disciplines
across the WSU system. This panel reviewed all applications and selected the proposal
that best demonstrated innovation, collaboration and potential for the development
of a larger research proposal.
The CPRC is proud to recognize the recipient of these funds, Dr. John Wyrick. Dr.
Wyrick ‘s project is entitled: “Genomic Profiling of Epigenetic Changes in Breast
Cancer”. His project will employ state-of–the-art Gene Chip technology to scan the
genome of breast cancer cells for epigenetic alterations in cancer-causing genes.
The completion of this project should advance knowledge of the epigenetic deficiencies
in breast cancer, and speed the development of new classes of anti-cancer drugs
that inhibit cancer growth by reversing the epigenetic changes found in cancerous
cells. Dr. Wyrick is an Assistant Professor in Molecular Biosciences at Washington
State University.
The full amount of this award will be announced by the Eagles at its statewide convention
in June.
The Fraternal Order of Eagles is an international non-profit organization that unites
fraternally in the spirit of liberty, truth, justice and equality, to make life
more desirable by lessening its ills and by promoting peace, prosperity, gladness
and hope. They fund research in areas that include heart disease, diabetes and cancer.
We are honored to have our members work be recognized and supported by such a fine
organization.
American Cancer Society Institutional Grant Recipients:
Janean Fidel, MS, DVM
Assistant Professor
Veterinary Clinical Sciences
Washington State University
Analysis of canine tumors for the presence of Mig-7; a novel cancer specific gene
$20,000
Feng Gong, PhD
Research Assistant Professor
School of Molecular Biosciences
Washington State University
Elucidating the role of the Swi/Snf chromatin remodeling complex in nucleotide excision
repair
$20,000
Dan Rodgers, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Animal Sciences,
Washington State University
To determine the mechanism(s) of IGFBP-3’s pro-apoptotic actions in LAPC-4 cells,
a human prostate cancer cell line
$6,439.40
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In the Community
Pullman High School Senior Raises money for local cancer research
Amber Tolonie, a senior at Pullman High School has
recently completed her senior project to raise money for the Cancer Prevention &
Research Center at Washington State University. Her project entailed a paper on
today’s youth working to raise money for the cause of her choice. Amber, who has
an interest in fashion merchandising, and is very active in extracurricular activities
at PHS devised a way to combine both her senior project and her future interests.
Throughout the last year she worked to collect over 30 prom dresses from classmates.
She then held a silent auction where she raised over 200 dollars in one evening.
The proceeds of her silent auction will go towards supporting the research work
of the Cancer Prevention & Research Center (CPRC) at Washington State University.
Her mentor for the project and Assistant Director of the CPRC, Daniel Campbell “Amber
is an extremely dedicated young lady who developed the idea for this project, took
on all aspects of it and was extremely successful in not only meeting the goals
she outlined at the start of the year, but in seeing the project through successfully”.
While not all the prom dresses sold the night of the silent auction, Amber has also
decided to sell them online in hopes of raising additional funds for the CPRC. “My
mom and I worked out the details so we can try and raise more for the CPRC” said
Amber the night of the auction. Her mother, Char Tolonie, who manages gift processing
at the WSU Foundation, was instrumental in helping her daughter develop a way to
continue her fundraising beyond the term of her project.
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Center Members
Member Spotlight - May 2006
Author: Debbie Haberman
Raymond Reeves, PhD
E. Meyer Distinguished Professor, Biochemistry and Biophysics
Director, NIH Biotechnology Training Program-WSU
School of Molecular Biosciences
Washington Sate University
Pullman, WA 99164-4660
Phone: 509-335-1948
reevesr@wsu.edu
Ray Reeves has spent a large part of the past 30 years looking at genes and how
they are regulated. In the late 1980’s it became obvious that the genes of cancer
patients were malfunctioning in the way they were regulated. He began to focus his
research on cancer cells on a biochemical and molecular level looking at DNA and
proteins. He began trying to determine how protein-DNA interactions were involved
with the regulation and repair of human genes in normal and cancerous cells. Dr.
Reeves conducts his research with a team in a laboratory at Washington State University.
They currently focus at the molecular mode of action of the HMGA group of proteins.
The HMGA proteins play a vital role in cell metabolism and have been referred to
as the "hubs of nuclear function". They are involved with very diverse processes
such as gene transcription, DNA replication, DNA repair, and the integration of
retroviruses (such as HIV) into the genome. Ray’s lab, and others, have also recently
demonstrated that the HMGA proteins are involved when normal cells become cancerous.
In addition, they have found that a high prevalence of this protein is present when
cancer cells become more malignant. This discovery will help to create drug therapies
that target this protein in the hopes of a better treatment for cancer patients.
“Cancer research requires a synergistic view from many different research disciplines,”
says Ray. He is happy to be a part of Washington State University where he believes
there is a tremendous group of researchers involved with studying cancer from very
diverse perspectives. He is committed to working with the Center in the hope that
we might create a forum for these investigators to come together and increase their
opportunities for discovery in both the treatment and cure of this disease.
From our Members
Author: Debbie Haberman
Mel Haberman, PhD, Professor, Associate Dean
for Research, Intercollegiate of Nursing, has been appointed to a five-year term
as a reviewer for the American Cancer Society’s panel on Nursing Pre and Postdoctoral
Fellowships and Professors of Oncology Nursing. He has also been reappointed as
the Associate Director for Clinical Research for the Center.
Sayed Daoud, PhD,.
Professor, College of Pharmacy, has been named writer and editor of the book “Cancer
Proteomics: From Bench to Bedside,” to be published by Humana Press in March/April
2007. It will be part of a series on cancer drugs that the company says is one of
its most popular. Daoud’s research in cancer treatment combines proteomics and genomics,
which are branches of biotechnology using multidisciplinary approaches and new technology
in the study of disease-related biomarkers among proteins and genes.
Dr. Sally Blank, Director, Program in Health Sciences,
WSU Spokane, 509/358-7633,
seblank@wsu.edu
WSU Spokane Earns Gold-Standard Certification in Health
& Fitness
The Exercise Physiology and Metabolism bachelor’s degree program at Washington State
University Spokane is now one of a select number of programs endorsed by the American
College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), widely considered the gold standard in health
and fitness certifications and professional memberships.
Known as ExMet, the degree program is the only one of its kind in the Pacific Northwest,
offering an interdisciplinary degree integrating concepts and principles of exercise
science and nutrition. The integration of the two concepts is achieved by focusing
on the biological and social/psychological interrelationships and the effect of
this interaction on the health of individuals. The program provides health care
professionals the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to prepare students
for the ACSM Exercise Specialist® certification examination.
ACSM is the largest sports medicine and exercise science organization in the world.
More than 20,000 international, national, and regional members are dedicated to
advancing and integrating scientific research to provide educational and practical
applications of exercise science and sports medicine. ACSM endorsed the ExMet degree
program’s curriculum as meeting the academic standards needed to prepare students
for health, fitness and /or clinical exercise training and positions.
Dr. Sally Blank – The Eastern Washington
Affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Foundation awarded to Dr. Sally Blank – Director,
Program in Health Sciences, Washington State University $10,000 to cover the costs
of yoga classes for women who reside in Eastern Washington and are breast cancer
survivors. Many times, complementary and alternative approaches to care are not
covered by Medicare or Medicaid, and according to Dr. Blank, reimbursement for therapeutic
approaches to cancer care, such as yoga are even more restricted by private insurance
carriers.
The classes, taught by Jackie Kittel, Occupational Therapist and Iyengar Yoga instructor,
provide 30 women with an 8 week session of Iyengar Yoga with the goal of helping
them develop good postural alignment, muscular strength, joint flexibility, body
alignment and controlled breathing.
The program is unique because it is the first of its kind in the area to offer a
clinically based integrative yoga program for women who are breast cancer survivors.
The Iyengar system is a popular and internationally recognized practice for its
teaching under strict guidelines that require anatomical alignment in the asanas,
or poses. The practice of Iyengar can also be done with props, allowing individuals
who are unable to or have difficulty performing the poses to do so in a safe manner.
Roughly half of cancer survivors in the United States use complementary and alternative
approaches in the care at a cost of roughly 25 billion dollars a year.
Dr. Mark McGuire received notice of the
grant renewal of a host-pathogen interaction from the National Institutes of Health
and the National Center for Research Resources Center of Biomedical Research Excellence
(COBRE) grant #P20 RR15587 with Dr. Greg Bohach as the overall PI.His specific project
examines the impact of lipid metabolism on Staphylococcal mastitis. The overall
grant is approximately $10 million for 5 years with his work totaling approximately
$875,000 over that time period.
Current notes of interest are supplied by our members. If you have a topic of interest,
please forward it to Debbie Haberman at
habermad@wsu.edu. We will be happy to include it in the next publication.
Welcome to our New Members
Author: Debbie Haberman
Boel Fransson, DVM, PhD
Assistant Professor, Small Animal Surgery
Veterinary Clinic Sciences
Washington State University
Pullman, WA 99164
509-335-0713
bfransso@vetmed.wsu.edu
Dr. Fransson received her Masters degree from Washington State University, Pullman;
her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in 1992 and Doctor of Philosophy in 2003 from
the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden. Previous
research has focused around systemic inflammatory response in dogs. Recently, there
has been increased interest into using inflammatory proteins as markers for severity
of disease and outcome in different types of cancer in people. She plans to
continue her work in this area with animal models for humans which will increase
understanding of cancer and improvements in monitoring and prognosticating cancer.
G. Patrick Meier, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Chemistry
Washington State University
406 Fulmer Hall
Pullman, WA 99164-4630
509-3355-2637
meiergp@wsu.edu
Dr. Meier received his Bachelor in Chemistry from the University of California,
San Diego; his Doctor of Philosophy in Organic Chemistry from the University of
Wisconsin, Madison. Previous research has focused around the development of
new methodology and approaches to the synthesis of organic compounds of biological
interest. Synthesis and biological studies of analogs of xanthate and perillyl alcohol
(anticancer activity), biologically generated halo aromatics, and small molecule
inhibitors of ice crystal formation.
Jean Soon Park, PhD
Assistant Research Professor
Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition
Washington State University
Pullman, WA 99164-6351
509-335-3843
jspark@wsu.edu
Dr. Park received her Master of Science in Food and Nutrition from IN-HA University,
Incheon, Korea; and her Doctor of Philosophy in Nutrition and Immunology from Washington
State University, Pullman. Her research focuses on the area of Nutritional
Immunology related to biomedical/clinical nutrition. The specific focus is
on the role of dietary antioxidants on genes that control immune function and age-related
diseases. Diseases of interest include cancer and inflammation. Specific molecular
mechanisms studied include apoptosis and cell cycle using flow cytometry, and gene
regulation using PCR or RT-PCR. Other research areas include carotenoid action in
chemotherapy. Specifically, using canine mammary cell lines to study the growth
inhibitory action of dietary carotenoids and the mechanisms (apoptosis, cell cycle,
gene regulation) involved.
J. Suzanne Lindsey, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences
College of Pharmacy
Washington State University
305A Wegner Hall
Pullman, WA 99164
509-335-4689
lindseys@wsu.edu
Dr. Lindsey received her Doctor of Philosophy in Molecular Microbiology and Immunology
from Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, OR.
A primary focus of her laboratory is to determine, characterize and test the feasibility
of cancer cell-specific targets and markers in order to detect and treat this disease.
The spread of cancer to other parts of the body, or migration, has been attributed
to integrins, receptor tyrosine kinase (RTKs) activation and their respective ligands.
However, these proteins are not carcinoma cell specific targets because they are
expressed in many normal tissues such as bone, intestine, bone marrow, spleen and
muscle to maintain or repair physiology. Using a functional genomic approach, we
have isolated several early genes induced by RTK activation of carcinoma cell migration.
Currently, we are focusing on the most promising marker and target we have designed
as Migration inducing gene 7 (Mig-7); expression that is induced by Hepatocyte growth
factor also known as Scatter factor (HGF/SF), epidermal growth factor (EGF) or insulin
like growth factor-1 (ILG-1) in concert with _v_5 intergrin ligation. Mig-7 is expressed
prior to and during cancer cell migration and invasion.
Anthony James, PhD
President and Chief Consultant
ACJ & Associates, Inc
129 Patton St., Richland, WA 99352-1618
509-375-7718
consult@acj-associates.com
Dr. James received his Doctor of Philosophy in Radiation Biology from the University
of London. His principal research and professional interest is in the development
and application of dosimetry of the respiratory tract and other body tissues in
the human and in experimental animals, in order to address the issues involved in
setting practical standards for radiological protection, and in relating human cancer
risks to environmental conditions of exposure. He is currently the President
and Chief Consultant of ACJ and Associates Inc., a corporation in the State of Washington
specializing in consultancy and software development in the areas of internal radiation
dosimetry and intake assessment.
Heidi Hamann, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Psychology
PO Box 644820
Washington State University
Pullman, WA 99164-4820
(509) 335-9127
hamann@wsu.edu
Dr. Hamann received her Master of Human Biology from University of Michigan in 1996
and her Masters and Doctor of Philosophy in Clinical Psychology from the University
of Utah in 2002. Her research has focused on the psychosocial issues in genetic
testing for cancer susceptibility. She is interested is the psychological
and behavioral factors in cancer diagnosis and treatment.
Chayanin Boonpongmanee, PhD
Assistant Director
Tri-Cities Endoscopy Center
245 Riverwood Street
Richland, WA 99352
(509) 628-3270
aoybon@yahoo.com
Dr. Boonpongmanee received her Masters in Nursing from University of Texas at Austin
in 1997 and Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing from Case Western Reserve University
in 2002. In addition to her responsibilities at the Endoscopy Center, she
is also an Assistant Professor of Nursing at the Washington State University Intercollegiate
College of Nursing in the Tri-Cities.
Stephanie Bauman, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Educational Leadership and Counseling
Psychology
Washington State University
2710 University Dr.
Richland, WA 99322
(509) 372-7363
sbauman@tricity.wsu.edu
Dr. Bauman received her Masters of Counseling Psychology and Doctor of Philosophy
in Counseling Psychology from University of California at Santa Barbara. Her
research interest is in looking at psychosocial maladjustments in childhood cancer
survivors and studying how to maximize the well-being of individuals living with
a history of childhood cancer.
Fevzi Akinci, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Health Policy and Administration
Center for International Health Services Research and
Policy
Washington State University
HSB 212G
Spokane, WA 99210
(509) 443-7257
akinci@wsu.edu
Dr. Akinci received his Masters of Health Administration and Doctor of Philosophy
in Health Services Research from Saint Louis University. His research interests
include access to care; utilization and cost-effectiveness of preventative health
services; health related quality of life; disease management and health outcomes;
comparative international studies of health care systems.
David Kahn, PhD
Professor
Intercollegiate Of Nursing
Washington State University
2917 W. Fort George Wright Drive
Spokane, WA 99224
(509) 324-7243
david_kahn@wsu.edu
Dr. Kahn received his Masters of Nursing and Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing Science
from the University of Washington.
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Outreach
CPRC Outreach Efforts
Author: Sharlynn Rima
Eastern Washington
Convenes Comprehensive Cancer Control Partnership
CPRC and the NCI’s Cancer Information Service is working to bring efforts of the
Washington State Comprehensive Cancer Control movement to eastern Washington. We
are facilitating a group of stakeholders working as the Eastern Washington Partnership.
This group identified three goals of the state plan as priorities for local activities;
1) Slow the increase in the incidence of malignant melanoma in Washington; 2) Reduce
mortality from breast cancer in Washington women; and 3) Improve access to cancer
care in Washington.
The eastern Washington CCCP will meet quarterly to create and implement a plan addressing
the top three goals in order to compliment statewide efforts. We will next identify
how we can best support the work of the Partnership to specifically address these
goals and put forth an action plan.
If you or your organization would like to support comprehensive cancer control efforts
in eastern Washington, please contact Sharlynn Rima (509) 358-7813 for further details.
