People

By Robin Meckley, Contributing Writer                                          

By Carolynne Keenan, Contributing Writer

Joseph Barchi, Jr, Ph.D., calls teaching “the noblest and most important profession.” So it makes sense that Barchi, senior scientist and head of the Glycoconjugate and NMR Section, Chemical Biology Laboratory, Center for Cancer Research, NCI at Frederick, would encourage his lab to offer a fun, educational program at Take Your Child to Work Day (TYCTWD).

Editor’s note: This article was originally published on the Center for Cancer Research website.

When the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infects a cell, the virus inserts a copy of its genetic material into the host cell’s DNA. The inserted genetic material, which is also called a provirus, is used to produce new viruses. Because the viral DNA can be inserted at many sites in the host cell DNA, the site of integration marks each infected cell. Patients infected with HIV are currently treated with combined antiretroviral therapy (cART), which prevents viral replication in the majority of treated patients. When cART is initiated, most HIV-infected cells die in one or two days, and more of the infected cells die over a period of weeks to months. However there are some long-lived infected cells that do not die, which prevents patients from being cured.

By Carolynne Keenan, Contributing Writer

When Amy Stull, a 2000 graduate of Walkersville High School, began working in a laboratory at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) at Frederick, she likely did not know the role NCI would play in her career.

Stull started at NCI as a Werner H. Kirsten (WHK) student intern after her junior year of high school, working in a lab as she prepared for a career in chemical engineering. The student intern program pairs rising high school seniors with laboratory scientists to encourage the students to pursue careers in both science and health care fields.

CCR research is recognized in novel competition to encourage the commercialization of breast cancer inventions.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in CCR Connections (Volume 8, No. 1). The Breast Cancer Startup Challenge was named one of six finalists in the HHS Innovates Award Competition, and was one of three finalists recognized by HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell and Deputy Secretary Bill Corr. For more information on the Challenge, see previous article on the Poster website. 

Start-up companies are instrumental in bringing the fruits of scientific research to market. Recognizing an opportunity to bring entrepreneurial minds to bear on the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer, the Avon Foundation for Women partnered with NCI and the Center for Advancing Innovation to launch the Breast Cancer Startup Challenge.

By Nancy Parrish, Staff Writer

Earlier this year, Alan Rein, Ph.D., and Zhi-Ming (Thomas) Zheng, M.D., Ph.D., were elected to fellowship in the American Academy of Microbiology, the honorific leadership group within the American Society for Microbiology (ASM). They were among 88 microbiologists who were elected to the academy “through a highly selective, peer-review process, based on their records of scientific achievement and original contributions that have advanced microbiology,” according to the society’s website.

Fifty-six people joined the facility in January, February, and March 2014.

The National Cancer Institute welcomes…

Shailesh Ambre • Lucia Babini • Hideaki Bando • Sandip Basu • Konstantinos Dimas • Amber Elia • Lan Jin • Yifei Li • Hanhan Liu • Hugo Martinez • Manasi Mayekar • Michele Newton • Sheikh Rahman • Luis Rodriguez • Eric Sterner • Emmanuel Tavares • Yanping Wang • Sarah Watters

By Carolynne Keenan, Contributing Writer

Kevin Zecher, a maintenance mechanic in Facilities Maintenance and Engineering, Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc., hasn’t missed a double-red cell donation at a blood drive at NCI at Frederick in four years.

He marks the time by his first granddaughter’s birth—that’s when he first decided to donate more than whole blood.

By Nancy Parrish, Staff Writer

In 1973, Susan Koogle commuted from Washington County to a small data processing company in Arlington, Va. When gas prices spiked from 25 to 54 cents a gallon, she began to look for a job closer to home. That’s when she came to work at NCI at Frederick, and in December 2013, she marked her 40th year with the facility.

By Nancy Parrish, Staff Writer

On May 6, the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG) will sponsor a symposium to honor 50 years of leadership from its founding director, Joseph F. Fraumeni, Jr., M.D., who stepped down from the position in July 2012.

The conference, entitled “Cancer Epidemiology: From Pedigrees to Populations,” will highlight critical findings in cancer epidemiology from the last 50 years, as well as opportunities for future research directions.

Long History of Leadership and Discovery