2015 May

Platinum Publications, March 27 – April 30, 2015

Platinum Publications are selected from articles by NCI at Frederick scientists published in 42 prestigious science journals. This list represents articles published during the time period shown above, as generated from PubMed.

Articles designated as Platinum Highlights are noteworthy articles selected by Dr. Craig Reynolds, associate director, National Cancer Institute, from among the most recently published Platinum Publications.

(Update) Wellness Challenge: How Are You Doing with Your New Year’s Resolutions?

Editor’s note: This article has been updated since its original post on May 29 to include information on the quick link from the Poster home page.

Remember those fitness resolutions you made at the beginning of the year? Were you going to lose weight, quit smoking, reduce alcohol intake, or establish a regular workout routine?

If you have neglected some of these resolutions over the last few months, think about why—was it lack of time, lack of motivation, lack of direction, or some combination of these?

Nanotechnology Laboratory Continues Partnership with FDA and National Institute of Standards and Technology

The NCI-funded Nanotechnology Characterization Laboratory (NCL)—a leader in evaluating promising nanomedicines to fight cancer—recently renewed its collaboration with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to continue its groundbreaking work on characterizing nanomedicines and moving them toward the clinic.

In partnership with NIST and the FDA, NCL has laid a solid, scientific foundation for using the power of nanotechnology to increase the potency and target the delivery

Bertolette Selected as EHS Champion of Safety

Dan Bertolette has been selected as the most recent NCI at Frederick Champion of Safety, as part of the Champions of Safety Program sponsored by the Environment, Health, and Safety Program (EHS).

The goal of the program, which began last year, is to raise awareness and promote a culture of safety by showing NCI at Frederick staff at work in their respective workplaces, according to Terri Bray, director, EHS. “Since we have so many varied work environments here, safety often takes on a different look, according to workplace. We want to take the opportunity to show real people in real situations, to encourage safety everywhere,” Bray said.

New Breed of Mice May Improve Accuracy for Preclinical Testing of Cancer Drugs

A new breed of lab animals, dubbed “glowing head mice,” may do a better job than conventional mice in predicting the success of experimental cancer drugs—while also helping to meet an urgent need for more realistic preclinical animal models.

The mice were developed to tolerate often-used light-emitting molecules, such as luciferase from fireflies and green fluorescent protein (GFP) from jellyfish. These “optical reporters” are useful for monitoring the effect of experimental therapies in live animals over time because they emit an immediate and easily detected light signal showing whether a tumor inside the animal’s body is shrinking as desired.

METAvivor Reps Visit NCI at Frederick

Three representatives of METAvivor visited NCI at Frederick on April 13 to meet and tour with Balamurugan Kuppusamy, Ph.D., staff scientist in the laboratory of Esta Sterneck, Ph.D., senior investigator, Laboratory of Cell and Developmental Signaling, Center for Cancer Research.  The purpose of the visit was to learn more about Kuppusamy’s research.

Kuppusamy is a recipient of a $50,000, two-year grant awarded by METAvivor to study the role of the CEBPD-FBXW7 signaling pathway in inflammatory breast cancer.