March 2015

By Frank Blanchard, Staff Writer

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved dinutuximab (ch14.18) as an immunotherapy for neuroblastoma, a rare type of childhood cancer that offers poor prognosis for about half of the children who are affected. The National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Biopharmaceutical Development Program (BDP) at the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research produced ch14.18 for the NCI-sponsored clinical trials that proved the drug’s effectiveness against the disease.

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.

By Nancy Parrish, Staff Writer

The Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research (FNLCR) recently formed a partnership with the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN) to award a one-year fellowship to two scientists whose research will help lead to new therapies for pancreatic cancer. The scientists will focus on KRAS, a gene in the RAS family that is mutated in 95 percent of pancreatic cancers, according to the National Cancer Institute (NCI). 

By Nancy Parrish, Staff Writer; photo by Richard Frederickson, Staff Photographer

Normal cells have mechanisms to prevent the development of cancer. Among these is a type of tumor suppressor mechanism known as oncogene-induced senescence, or OIS, which halts the uncontrolled growth of cells caused by mutations in oncogenes. The oncogene Ras plays a crucial role in inducing OIS through a specific cascade of proteins, as reported in a recent article in Molecular and Cellular Biology by Jacqueline Salotti, Ph.D., and colleagues in the Eukaryotic Transcriptional Regulation Section of the Mouse Cancer Genetics Program, Center for Cancer Research (CCR).

By Nancy Parrish, Staff Writer; photos by Richard Frederickson, Staff Photographer

Approximately 50 college students, professors, and high school teachers from Frederick County Public Schools gathered at Hood College for the second annual National Interagency Confederation for Biological Research (NICBR) Exploring Careers in a Scientific Environment Symposium (NECSES). The Feb. 13 event highlighted the wide range of scientific research as well as the educational and career opportunities available through NICBR partner organizations.

Your challenge is to correctly identify the item and its location from the picture below. Clue: It’s somewhere at the NCI campus at Frederick or Fort Detrick.

Win a framed photograph of the Poster Puzzler and have your photo featured on the Poster website by e-mailing your guess, along with your name, e-mail address, and daytime phone number, to poster@mail.nih.gov.

All entries must be received by Friday, May 15, 2015, and the winner will be drawn from all correct answers received by that date.

By Carolynne Keenan, Contributing Writer

The R&W Club Frederick hosted a sewing party on Feb. 18 to give employees a chance to help sew pillowcases for children hospitalized for illnesses and cancer treatments. The nonprofit organization ConKerr Cancer provides the pillowcases to children across the country.

Melissa Porter, administrative manager, Office of Scientific Operations, NCI at Frederick, and vice chair of the R&W Club Frederick, said the event went well. While the turnout was lower than expected, 27 pillowcases were completed, she said.

By Frank Blanchard, Staff Writer; photos by Frank Blanchard and Richard Frederickson, Staff Photographer

Each day at 6 a.m. the lights pop on inside 18 buildings on the NCI at Frederick campus, illuminating the residential quarters for thousands of research mice. For the mice, it’s the end of their nocturnal day.  For their caretakers, however, the day has just begun.