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The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Honors Five Scientists for Outstanding Work in Blood Cancer Research

Posted on: Monday, 4 August 2008, 09:01 CDT

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., Aug. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) has named five researchers as Stohlman Scholars, recognizing their outstanding contributions to the advancement of blood cancer research. The honors will be officially announced at the LLS Stohlman Scholar Scientific Symposium, Nov. 6-7, in Kansas City, MO.

The Stohlman Scholars are LLS grant recipients who are highly qualified investigators who have demonstrated their ability to conduct high quality original research bearing on leukemia, lymphoma or myeloma and are in the final year of their five-year research grant periods. These Scholars hold faculty-level or equivalent positions at major research institutions. This year's Stohlman Scholars are:

-- Martin Carroll, M.D., associate professor, Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. Proliferation in normal blood cells is controlled by signals from their surroundings, but this control system is generally defective in leukemia cells. Rather than dividing at a measured pace to replace old blood cells, leukemia cells divide continuously, out of proportion with the need for new blood cells. Dr. Carroll's laboratory has previously identified signaling pathways that are inappropriately turned-on in leukemia cells. He is testing known drugs to turn off these pathways in the clinic while his laboratory continues to identify altered signaling systems in acute myelogenous leukemia that may be targeted with newer compounds. Through these approaches, Dr. Carroll is working to develop better ways to kill leukemia cells, leading to more effective therapies.

-- Craig T. Jordan, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Medicine, James P. Wilmot Cancer Center, University of Rochester School of Medicine. Dr. Jordan's research is focused on myeloid leukemia stem cells, from which cancers derive and relapses evolve. Leukemia stem cells produce large numbers of blood tumor cells known as blast cells. Standard chemotherapy is not effective against leukemia stem cells, so his team is studying agents to effectively destroy the leukemia stem cells while sparing normal stem cells.

-- Michelle A. Kelliher, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Cancer Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School. Dr. Kelliher's research is focused on T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL), a form of blood cancer that still has a very poor prognosis. She has studied how the oncogenes TAL1 and NOTCH1 cooperate to cause T-ALL. Kelliher and colleagues recently discovered that NOTCH1 contributes to leukemia by directly inducing expression of C-MYC. Her laboratory also recently demonstrated that NOTCH inhibitors extend the survival of leukemic mice, suggesting that these drugs may prove effective in patients.

-- Danesh Moazed, Ph.D., professor, Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School. Maintenance of proper gene activity patterns is crucial for the creation and maintenance of different cell types. Dr. Moazed's research is focused on how cells maintain their identities over long periods of time and during numerous divisions. Failure to maintain cell identity during the life of an organism has catastrophic consequences and results in cancer and other diseases. The cell identity maintenance process involves a cellular memory mechanism that packages genes into specialized DNA-protein structures, called chromatin. Dr. Moazed's lab uses yeast cells to study the molecular machinery involved in cellular memory. The research is focused on two distinct mechanisms that maintain specialized chromatin structures. In one mechanism, a group of proteins, called the SIR proteins, chemically modify the histone building blocks of chromatin and form chromatin-bound polymers. In the second mechanism, tiny RNA molecules bind to specific regions on chromosomes and silence genes by recruiting chromatin-modifying complexes. The interactions of the protein and RNA molecules with chromatin are fundamental to the memory mechanism. Their understanding will lead to a better understanding of how the memory process fails in yeast as well as in human leukemias and lymphomas.

-- Michael Teitell, M.D., Ph.D., professor, Departments of Pathology and Pediatrics, University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Teitell's team discovered that an irregularity in a gene called TCLI is frequently involved in non-Hodgkin lymphoma, but only when the TCLI abnormalities are accompanied by other genetic defects. The researchers identified several of these defects, including abnormal expression of the Myc oncogene, already known to play a role in causing lymphomas. His team is working to identify other molecular defects that occur in human lymphomas, which will help in the development of new targeted drugs for patients with these genetic defects and improved tests to lead to more individualized treatment for each patient based on the recognition of particular defects. Dr. Teitell and his colleagues also used TCL1 to make one of the very first mouse models for germinal center B cell lymphoma, upon which much of their work is based.

"The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society believes that the work of these exceptional scholars and the more than 400 gifted scientists we are supporting around the world will result in substantial improvement in the lives of patients afflicted with leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma," said Louis DeGennaro, Ph.D., LLS chief scientific officer. "The work being done by these gifted researchers shows great promise in advancing new and improved treatments for blood cancer patients."

The Stohlman Scholars are named in memory of Frederick Stohlman Jr., M.D., a major figure in stem cell physiology and blood cell cancer research.

About The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, headquartered in White Plains, NY, with 68 chapters in the United States and Canada, is the world's largest voluntary health organization dedicated to funding blood cancer research and providing education and patient services. The LLS mission: Cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families. Since its founding in 1949, LLS has invested more than $600 million in research specifically targeting leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma. Last year alone, LLS made 5.1 million contacts with patients, caregivers and healthcare professionals. For more information about blood cancer, visit http://www.lls.org/ or call the LLS Information Resource Center (IRC), a call center staffed by master's level social workers, nurses and health educators who provide information, support and resources to patients and their families and caregivers. IRC information specialists are available at (800) 955-4572, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET.

Contact: Andrea Greif 914.821.8958 andrea.greif@lls.org

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

CONTACT: Andrea Greif of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society,+1-914-821-8958, andrea.greif@lls.org

Web site: http://www.lls.org/

Source: PRNewswire

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