March 2006
LICR’s Thomas Perlmann Elected to Nobel Assembly
It is with great pleasure that we congratulate Dr. Thomas Perlmann, LICR Member at the Stockholm Branch, on his election as a Member of the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute. The Assembly consists of 50 full professors at the Karolinska Institute and is responsible for electing the Nobel Prize laureates in Physiology or Medicine. This is a coveted position and competition for the limited places is fierce. Of course, our very own Dr. Ralf Pettersson, Director of the Stockholm Branch, was elected a Member of the Nobel Prize Committee in 1990 and was, in fact, Chairman of that group from 1998-2000.
Ricardo R. Brentani M.D. Ph.D. Retires as São Paulo Branch Director
Dr. Brentani, the founding Director of the São Paulo Branch, retired at the end of 2005 after 22 years of distinguished service with LICR. His LICR friends thank him for his many contributions to the Institute and wish him the very best in his future endeavors. Read a summary of Dr. Brentani’s career and a tribute from LICR’s former Associate-Director, Professor A. Munro Neville.
Antibody 103 - A New Diagnostic Standard from LICR?
The story of mAb A103 demonstrates beautifully LICR’s strengths and the success of the Institute’s model. LICR researchers in Brussels identified the Melan-A gene, the A103 antibody was generated and characterized by LICR scientists and Affiliates in New York, the antibody was licensed by the LICR Office of Intellectual Property and it is now being used increasingly by the wider oncology community as a diagnostic tool for melanoma and related lesions. Read the story of mAb A103.
LICR News
LICR News
Congratulations to:
LICR Affiliate Dr. Kari Alitalo (Helsinki, Finland) who was awarded The Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine for his discovery of the first lymphangiogenic growth factor, VEGF-C, and its receptor, VEGFR-3. These findings were part of Dr. Alitalo’s work with the LICR’s Angiogenesis Program.
Blood:
From the laboratory of Dr. H. Rob MacDonald (Lausanne Branch)
Bianchi T, Gasser S, Trumpp A, MacDonald HR. c-Myc acts downstream of IL-15 in the regulation of memory CD8 T cell homeostasis. Blood First Edition Paper, prepublished online January 31, 2006
From the laboratory of Dr. Bart Vanhaesebroeck (UCL Branch) (with an accompanying ‘Comment’)
Bilancio A, Okkenhaug K, Camps M, Emery J.L. Ruckle T., Rommel C., Vanhaesebroeck B. Key role of the p110δ isoform of PI3K in B-cel antigen and IL-4 receptor signaling: comparative analysis of genetic and pharmacologic interference with p110δ function in B cells. Blood 107(2):642-50, 2006
From the laboratory of Dr. Stefan Constantinescu (Brussels Branch)
Staerk J, Lacout C, Sato T, Smith SO, Vainchenker W, Constantinescu SN. An amphipathic motif at the transmembrane-cytoplasmic junction prevents autonomous activation of the thrombopoietin receptor. Blood. 2006 Mar 1;107(5):1864-71. Epub 2005 Oct 25.
Nature Journals all from UCL Branch this quarter:
Nature Cell Biology from the laboratory of Dr. Anne Ridley
Millan J, Hewlett L, Glyn M, Toomre D, Clark P, Ridley AJ. Lymphocyte transcellular migration occurs through recruitment of endothelial ICAM-1 to caveola- and F-actin-rich domains. Nat Cell Biol. 2006 Feb;8(2):113-23. Epub 2006 Jan 22.
Nature Reviews Cancer from the laboratory of Dr. Xin Lu
Trigiante G, Lu X. ASPPs and cancer. Nat Rev Cancer. 2006 Mar;6(3):217-26.
Cell
From the laboratory of Dr. Thomas Perlmann (Stockholm Branch)
Andersson E, Tryggvason U, Deng Q, Friling S, Alekseenko Z, Robert B, Perlmann T, Ericson J. Identification of intrinsic determinants of midbrain dopamine neurons. Cell. 2006 Jan 27;124(2):393-405.
Cancer Research
From the laboratory of Dr. Benoît Van den Eynde (Brussels Branch)
Huijbers IJ, Krimpenfort P, Chomez P, van der Valk MA, Song JY, Inderberg-Suso EM, Schmitt-Verhulst AM, Berns A, Van den Eynde BJ. An inducible mouse model of melanoma expressing a defined tumor antigen. Cancer Res. 2006 Mar 15;66(6):3278-86.
From the laboratory of Dr. Daniel Speiser (Lausanne Branch)
Baumgaertner P, Rufer N, Devevre E, Derre L, Rimoldi D, Geldhof C, Voelter V, Lienard D, Romero P, Speiser DE. Ex vivo detectable human CD8 T-cell responses to cancer-testis antigens. Cancer Res. 2006 Feb 15;66(4):1912-6.
From the laboratory of Dr. Frédéric Levy (Lausanne Branch)
Chapatte L, Colombetti S, Cerottini JC, Levy F. Efficient induction of tumor antigen-specific CD8+ memory T cells by recombinant lentivectors. Cancer Res. 2006 Jan 15;66(2):1155-60.
Staff Promotions and Appointments
To Associate Member: Dr. Serhiy Souchelnytskyi (Uppsala Branch)
LICR in the News
The Cell study (above) from Dr. Thomas Perlmann and his team (Stockholm Branch) was covered by television and radio in Sweden, and several health and medical research websites.
The Cancer Research study (above) from Dr. Benoît Van den Eynde and his team (Brussels Branch) was covered by several health and medical research websites in addition to a three-column article in the principal national newspaper.
Drs. Sasha Gnjatic (New York Branch) and Andrew Scott (Melbourne Centre for Clinical Sciences) were both quoted in a WebMD (www.webmd.com) feature on new therapies for lung cancer (“Lung Cancer: Cutting-Edge Treatments”), with Drs. Gnjatic and Scott speaking of cancer vaccines and targeted antibodies, respectively.
In Brief
LICR Top Academic Gene ‘Patenter’ According to Science Study from MIT
A study published in the journal Science from the MIT Sloan School of Management has put LICR at number four on the list of the top 10 holders of gene patents.
Jensen K, Murray F. Intellectual property. Enhanced: intellectual property landscape of the human genome. Science. 2005 Oct 14;310(5746):239-40.
| Top 10 Holders of Gene Patents | |
|---|---|
| Incyte | ~2000 |
| Millenium Pharmaceuticals | 142 |
| Human Genome Sciences | 140 |
| LICR | 90 |
| University of California | 89 |
| SmithKline Beecham (GSK) | 79 |
| Applera | 59 |
| Isis Pharmaceuticals | 58 |
| Genetics Institute | 53 |
| Lexicon Genetics | 48 |
LICR Annual Research Highlights Report 2005
The ‘LICR Annual Research Highlights Report 2005’, a new initiative from the Office of Communications, is now available! The Highlights Report is a glossy, colorful and photo-rich 28 page brochure that summarizes select research highlights. This Report replaces the previous annual report format of a very large, very text-heavy electronic production detailing LICR research group-by-group. We think you’ll notice the difference!
Download the Highlights Report (PDF, 3.1MB), or contact the Office of Communications for a printed version.
ImmunomeDB
LICR’s ‘ImmunomeDB’ was featured on ‘NetWatch’ in the journal, Science. The database, was created by Dr. Victor Jongeneel and his team (Lausanne) and is the repository for all the antigen identification and characterization conducted as part of the Cancer Vaccine Collaborative partnership between LICR and the Cancer Research Institute.