LICR is exploring the possibility of expanding its global reach into Asia. Last month, a non-binding memorandum of understanding was signed by LICR and three Singaporean institutions—the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine of the National University of Singapore (YLLSoM-NUS), and the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School (Duke-NUS GMS)—the ultimate objective of which is to make Singapore the eleventh of the Institute’s international sites, with the creation of a facility dedicated to translational and clinical cancer research.Read more here.
At its meeting in New York in September, the LICR Board of Directors appointed Hugh Robson (Rob) MacDonald, Ph.D., as Director of the LICR Lausanne Branch in accordance with a recommendation by the Scientific Advisory Committee. Read more here.
The LICR is proud to be one of four founding members of the recently launched Swiss Institute for Vaccine Research (SIVR). The new institute — a partnership between LICR and three Swiss institutions: Le Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV), L’Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), and the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB) — will seek to develop vaccines to fight infectious diseases and cancers. Read about the SIVR here
Dr. Webster Cavenee, Director of the LICR San Diego Branch, was elected as a Member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) on October 8, 2007. The IOM membership selection process recognizes only those who have made major contributions towards the improvement of human health, and election is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of medicine and health. Read more here
Mr. Pierre Languetin, Member of the Board of Directors, was awarded the D.K. Ludwig Award, the highest recognition that the Institute bestows, at the December 10th Board of Directors meeting in Zurich, Switzerland. The award was presented to Mr. Languetin by LICR President, Mr. Ed McDermott. Read more about Mr. Languetin's distinguished career here.
During the past year, a number of changes have occurred in the organization of information technology (IT) and bioinformatic research in Lausanne. The Office of Information Technology (OIT) has now been re-incorporated into the Lausanne Branch as the ‘Computational Genomics Group,’ headed by Dr. Victor Jongeneel.Read more
In recent years, the Lausanne Branch’s Computational Genomics Group (formerly the Office of Information Technology) has done considerable work in producing detailed maps of gene transcripts, so-called transcriptomes, on the human and mouse genomes to enable high-quality annotation of gene expression data. Recently, these data were introduced into the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC) Genome Browser and will contribute to a widely used public platform for genome analysis.Read more
To Assistant Member: Dr. Olivier Michielin (Lausanne Branch)
To Associate Investigator: Dr. Meredith Layton (Melbourne Branch)
To Associate Investigator: Dr. Christopher Putnam (San Diego Branch)
From LICR Affiliates Drs. Kari Alitalo (Helsinki, Finland) and Seppo Yla-Herttuala (Kuopio, Finland):
Tammela T, Saaristo A, Holopainen T, Lyytikkä J, Kotronen A, Pitkonen M, Abo-Ramadan U, Ylä-Herttuala S, Petrova TV, Alitalo K.Therapeutic differentiation and maturation of lymphatic vessels after lymph node dissection and transplantation. Nat Med. 2007 Dec;13(12):1458-66. PMID: 18059280
From the laboratory of Dr. Karen Oegema (San Diego Branch):
Audhya A, McLeod IX, Yates JR, Oegema K. MVB-12, a Fourth Subunit of Metazoan ESCRT-I, Functions in Receptor Downregulation.PLoS ONE. 2007 Sep 26;2(9):e956 PMID: 17895996
From the laboratories of Drs. Bing Ren and Webster Cavenee (San Diego Branch):
Barrera LO, Li Z, Smith AD, Arden KC, Cavenee WK, Zhang MQ, Green RD, Ren B.Genome-wide mapping and analysis of active promoters in mouse embryonic stem cells and adult organs.Genome Res. 2007 Nov 27 PMID: 18042645
From the laboratory of Dr. Webster Cavenee (San Diego Branch):
Roeb W, Boyer A, Cavenee WK, Arden KC. PAX3-FOXO1 controls expression of the p57Kip2 cell-cycle regulator through degradation of EGR1. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 Nov 13;104(46):18085-90. PMID: 17986608
From the laboratory of Dr. Arshad Desai (San Diego Branch):
Cheeseman IM, Hori T, Fukagawa T, Desai A. KNL1 and the CENP-H/I/K Complex Coordinately Direct Kinetochore Assembly in Vertebrates. Mol Biol Cell. 2007 Nov 28. PMID: 18045986
From the laboratory of Dr. Werner Held (Lausanne Branch):
Jeannet G, Scheller M, Scarpellino L, Duboux S, Gardiol N, Back J, Kuttler F, Malanchi I, Birchmeier W, Leutz A, Huelsken J, Held W. Long-term, multilineage hematopoiesis occurs in the combined absence of {beta}-catenin and {gamma}-catenin. Blood. 2007 Sep 28. PMID: 17906078
From the laboratory of Drs. Sacha Gnjatic and Lloyd Old (New York Branch):
Nishikawa H, Tsuji T, Jager E, Briones G, Ritter G, Old LJ, Galan JE, Shiku H, Gnjatic S. Induction of regulatory T cell-resistant helper CD4+ T cells by bacterial vector. Blood. 2007 Nov 6. PMID: 17986662
A multi-group collaboration (Lausanne Branch):
Derré L, Ferber M, Touvrey C, Devevre E, Zoete V, Leimgruber A, Romero P, Michielin O, Lévy F, Speiser DE. A Novel Population of Human Melanoma-Specific CD8 T Cells Recognizes Melan-AMART-1 Immunodominant Nonapeptide but Not the Corresponding Decapeptide. J Immunol. 2007 Dec 1;179(11):7635-45. PMID: 18025209
A multi-group collaboration (New York Branch):
Silva WA Jr, Gnjatic S, Ritter E, Chua R, Cohen T, Hsu M, Jungbluth AA, Altorki NK, Chen YT, Old LJ, Simpson AJ, Caballero OL. PLAC1, a trophoblast-specific cell surface protein, is expressed in a range of human tumors and elicits spontaneous antibody responses. Cancer Immun. 2007 Nov 6;7:18. PMID: 17983203
An inter-Branch collaboration (Melbourne Center and New York Branch):
Perera RM, Zoncu R, Johns TG, Pypaert M, Lee FT, Mellman I, Old LJ, Toomre DK, Scott AM. Internalization, intracellular trafficking, and biodistribution of monoclonal antibody 806: a novel anti-epidermal growth factor receptor antibody. Neoplasia. 2007 Dec;9(12):1099-110. PMID: 18084617
From the laboratory of Drs. Etienne De Plaen and Charles De Smet (Brussels Branch):
Kholmanskikh O, Loriot A, Brasseur F, De Plaen E, De Smet C. Expression of BORIS in melanoma: Lack of association with MAGE-A1 activation. Int J Cancer. 2007 Oct 23. PMID: 17957795
From the laboratory of Dr. Rob MacDonald (Lausanne Branch):
Ferrero I, Grosjean F, Fiorini E, Macdonald HR. A critical lineage-nonspecific role for pTalpha in mediating allelic and isotypic exclusion in TCRbeta-transgenic mice. Eur J Immunol. 2007 Nov;37(11):3220-8. PMID: 17918204
On December 3rd, the LICR Sao Paulo Branch celebrated the opening of its new facilities at the Hospital Alemao Oswaldo Cruz (HAOC). A full report — and photographs of the new facilities — will follow in the next issue of NewsLink.
Since its establishment in 1958, the GlaxoSmithKline prize is awarded every three years to two Belgian researchers, one French-speaking and one Dutch-speaking, who have made important contributions in the fields of human medicine or pharmaceutical sciences. The prize, which is awarded under the auspices of the two Royal Academies of Belgium, is one of the most important ones granted by a private corporation. Dr. Van den Eynde (Brussels Branch) receives the Francophone prize for the period 2004-2006 for his group’s discovery of a brand new mechanism for processing of antigenic peptides that are recognized by cytolytic T cells, as well as for the discovery of a frequent mechanism by which tumor cells resist immune rejection.
The São Paulo LICR Branch hosted a reception for Dr. Brentani on December 4th, 2007, to present the Founding Sao Paulo Branch Director with the D.K. Ludwig Medal, the highest recognition that LICR bestows. LICR President, Mr. Edward A. McDermott, Jr., made the presentation in acknowledgement of Dr. Brentani’s numerous scientific contributions and his dedication to both LICR and the medical research community in Brazil. Dr. Brentani retired in 2005 (see March 2006 issue of LICR NewsLink).
A paper from LICR Affiliate Dr. Robert Schreiber (Washington University), and co-authored by LICR New York Branch Director Dr. Lloyd J. Old, was featured in the December 4th NCI Cancer Bulletin’s ‘Spotlight.’ The study was conducted as part of the LICR’s clinical discovery partnership with The Atlantic Philanthropies.
From 2008, LICR’s electronic newsletter will be published every second month instead of every quarter. This is in response to the many requests to include more group profiles and provide more research highlights. The Office of Communications thanks all of those who have emailed with suggestions (and particularly compliments!), and we wish everyone the best of the holiday season.