News | DirectConnect | 2012 | 2012-08-03

August 3, 2012

August 3, 2012

Announcements

Deadline Approaching for our NCI CCSG Renewal

Yale Cancer Center's Cancer Center Support Grant (CCSG) renewal is due to the National Cancer Institute on Tuesday, September 25. I am pleased to report that our application is in great shape and that we are in the final stages of editing and polishing the grant. I am very grateful for the hard work and dedication of our senior leadership who have been invaluable throughout the writing process over the last several months. I would especially like to thank Chad Ellis and his team, including Adam Roshka, Hilary Prosnitz, Christine Holberg, Michelle Dingus, and Andrea Aldrich for their efforts; their organization and writing have made the process as smooth and seamless as possible.

Over the next couple of weeks we may have last minute requests and questions for many of you. Your quick response and approval is crucial to enabling us to submit the grant to Grants and Contracts in a timely manner for submission to the NCI before September 25th. Thank you in advance for your assistance and cooperation.

Valerie Horsley Receives Presidential Award

I am pleased to announce that Dr. Valerie Horsley has been awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers for her work on the generation of skin cells. The award, funded by the Department of Health and Human Services, is the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers. It recognizes Valerie's work on the generation of skin cells, which has already earned her many honors. Valerie is a member of our Signal Transduction Research Program.

Notables

Dr. Herta Chao has been promoted to Associate Professor of Medicine (Medical Oncology). Dr. Chao is a member of our Developmental Therapeutics Research Program and cares for patients at the West Haven VA Cancer Center.

Dr. Brenda Cartmel has been awarded an R03 grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the effect of exercise on cortisol dysregulation in ovarian cancer survivors. The study will explore whether a 6-month home-based exercise intervention will alter the diurnal cortisol patterns in ovarian cancer and the association between diurnal cortisol patterns and quality of life, depression, and fatigue in ovarian cancer survivors.

Dr. Michael DiGiovanna received a grant from the Connecticut Breast Health Initiative to fund his study on combination targeting of the IGF-1 receptor and HER2 in breast cancer. This is the fourth consecutive year that Dr. DiGiovanna has received funding from the program.

In the News

New Melanoma Driver Genes Found in Largest DNA Sequencing Study to Date

Yale Cancer Center geneticists, biochemists, and structural biologists have painted the most comprehensive picture yet of the molecular landscape of melanoma, a highly aggressive and often deadly skin cancer. The study appears in the July 29 advance online publication of Nature Genetics.

The Yale study used powerful DNA sequencing technologies to examine 147 melanomas originating from both sun-exposed and sun-shielded sites.

The study revealed an excess of UV-induced mutations in sun-exposed melanomas. Most of these are passenger mutations that do not have a functional role in melanoma. "We devised a mathematical model to sort out the relevant DNA alterations from over 25,000 total mutations," says co-author Michael Krauthammer, Associate Professor of Pathology, who directed the bioinformatics effort for the study.

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August 3, 2012

Announcements