LICR NewsLink June 2003

Internal Communications and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research
The global structure of the LICR has created a situation in which much of the LICR staff is not aware of all that their Institute has achieved, what it is now doing, and what it plans for the future. Thus the Office of Communications will be producing the "LICR NewsLink", a quarterly email bulletin that will give you, the staff of the LICR, information about our global activities. The LICR NewsLink is also a forum for feedback - reading the LICR NewsLink and sending your comments to the Office of Communications is your chance to learn, understand, and be involved. Read more here.

Introducing the Communications Team
Sarah White, a former Postdoctoral Fellow at the London (UCL) Branch, has now joined the Office of Communications. Sarah will focus on internal communications between and among the Scientific Directorate, LICR Branches, and Affiliates. Read more here.

Angiogenesis Program
It started with just one telephone call to the London Office, and has since become the Angiogenesis Program – an incredibly successful research effort that combines knowledge and expertise from the staff of five LICR Branches, two LICR Affiliates, and a bunch of collaborators. Read more here.

James R. Kerr Program Director
Dr. Andrew Simpson, who played a key role in establishing the LICR (São Paulo Branch) as a world leader in cancer genomics, recently joined the New York Office to head the James R. Kerr Program. As part of the Institute’s global mission, the James R. Kerr Program seeks to expand LICR activities into under-served, but scientifically talented countries such as China, India, Africa, Russia, and Ukraine. Dr. Simpson will facilitate the establishment of collaborations within the framework of the Institute’s main research programs. More here.

LICR Bioinformatics on the Intranet
Partly in response to requests from users, but also to showcase its own research efforts in the field of bioinformatics, the Office of Information Technology (OIT) has maintained within the Intranet a series of bioinformatics tools for analyses of public, and LICR proprietary data. Read more here.

LICR News

  • » Staff appointments (to June 30th, 2003)
    Assistant Member: Dr. John F. Timms, London University College Branch
    Senior Investigator: Dr. Marketa Zvelebil, London University College Branch
  • » Congratulations to: Dr. Thomas Perlmann, an Associate Member at the Stockholm Branch, for being elected as a Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO); Dr. Olivier Michielin, a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Lausanne Branch, for winning the Young Scientist Prize of Excellence from the University of Lausanne; Dr. Mikaël Pittet, now a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Lausanne Branch, for winning the Prize of the Société Académique Vaudoise, from the University of Lausanne; and Drs. Kristian Pietras and Tobias Sjöblom from the Uppsala Branch who have been awarded Benzeliuys Awards from the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala for their Ph.D. theses.
  • » The Melbourne Branch has received national and international media attention recently (including making it onto the front-page of Australia’s biggest-selling daily newspaper) when it announced: the Epithelial Cell Biology Group (and their collaborators) had solved the crystal structure of a truncated EGFR bound to TGF-alpha; the Joint Proteomics Laboratory (and their collaborators) also recently solved the crystal structure of the interleukin-6 receptor; and the Branch’s involvement in the formation of a new cancer cooperative in Melbourne.
  • » Anova and other Web sites in the UK covered a study by Dr. Xin Lu of the London-St Mary’s Branch, which found that the iASSP protein naturally inhibits apoptosis by the p53 gene.
  • » Reuters covered a study, by Dr. Arne Östman, an Associate Member at the Uppsala Branch, that reported a novel way of blocking PDGF signaling. Dr Östman was part of a press conference at the recent EORTC/NCI/AACR meeting which described the findings that PDGF antagonists lower tumor interstitial fluid pressure, thereby increasing drug uptake and treatment efficiency in animal models.
  • » The sequencing of the genome of the grapevine pathogen Xylella fastidiosa by the Brazilian Branch and collaborators received a lot of attention, including a story by a major USA media group (CNN).
  • » Don’t forget to take a look at Dr Richard Simpson’s book “Proteins and Proteomics: A Laboratory Manual” (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press: 2003)! The book review in Nature (Vol 422, p 473) describes this “weighty tome” as a “superb volume” that is “comprehensive” and “as up-to-date as possible”, and finishes with the recommendation “more than just an excellent laboratory manual; it is also a book to dip into and enjoy.” Dr Simpson is an LICR Member from the Melbourne Branch.

Have any items that deserve attention? Please email the Office of Communications with any ideas or feedback.

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