2017 Summer Program in Cancer Research – MD Anderson Cancer Center

For over twenty-five years, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Science Park has sponsored a Summer Program in Cancer Research (SPCR) for undergraduate students majoring in math or science.  The program is designed to allow students to work on an independent, hypothesis-driven, research project in a biomedical research environment.  For many interns, this experience is very helpful in making subsequent career choices.

Please review the announcement flyer for the 2017 program.   Minority students are encouraged to apply. Interested students can get more information and download the application on our website at http://www.mdanderson.org/scienceparkundergraduateresearch (scroll down to ‘Our Educational Programs’). Please note that the deadline for receipt of the completed application packet is February 1, 2017.

The professional research staff includes junior and senior faculty, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students and research scientists.  All members of the faculty are involved in education programs, which include training at the postgraduate, graduate, undergraduate and high school levels.  Thank you for your assistance in publicizing our program.  If you or an interested student have any questions or need more information, please feel free to contact me or Chris Contreras, Program Coordinator.

 

David Johnson, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Epigenetics and Molecular Carcinogenesis
Director, Summer Program in Cancer Research
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Science Park/Research Division
1808 Park Road 1C
Smithville, TX 78957
spcr2017_mdanderson_page_2

Lucian Symposium 2016 – Global Health and Infectious Disease: CANCER – NOVEL TARGETS AND THERAPIES

Displaying the relationship among target proteins by representing the Euclidean distance among gene signatures.

Displaying the relationship among target proteins by representing the Euclidean distance among gene signatures.

Despite billions of dollars, decades of research, and an unparalleled level of international cooperation between research scientists and clinicians, cancer remains a major cause of death worldwide.

Therapies have improved and many forms of cancer are now treatable, but the disease still kills over eight million people throughout the world each year. For this reason, cancer research funding represents one of the largest expenditures of the United States federal government, and has led to improved medical treatments as well as greater understanding of the molecular intricacies of the disease. However because cancer is now considered not simply one disease but rather a multitude of independent disorders that can all result in malignant cellular growth, the dream of a cure for cancer, the “magic bullet”, to miraculously eliminate the disease, is now considered unrealistic in light of these overwhelming complexities.

Activation of the C-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK2) through conformational change from the DFG-out (yellow) to DFG-in (blue) state.

Activation of the C-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK2) through conformational change from the DFG-out (yellow) to DFG-in (blue) state.

The interdisciplinary approach that has emerged is offering new hope for therapies and treatment. Since not all tumors are the same, molecular targeting, or the attempt to tailor therapy to the specific abnormalities causing disease, has become one of the most promising areas in cancer biology research. By combining molecular biology and biochemistry with combinatorial chemistry and organic chemistry , pharmaceutical research has embraced the field of rational drug design as a specific application of molecular targeting. In the past few years, the rapidly advancing field of cancer immunology has produced several new methods of treating cancer. These immunotherapies increase the strength of immune responses against tumors.

However, cancer cells are sometimes able to avoid detection and destruction by the immune system. Drug development takes time, and it is years, often decades, before a drug that shows promise in the lab will make it into the clinic. And of course resistance to chemotherapy and molecularly targeted therapies remains a major problem. This symposium seeks to highlight some of the innovative and creative approaches being pursued in light of these challenges.

 

EVENT SCHEDULE – Friday , September 23rd , JBWS Carter Auditorium

9.30 am           Welcome

9.40 am           Dr. Eamonn F. Healy (St. Edward’s University): “Modulating Kinase Activity Through Desolvation”

10.10 am         Dr. Michael A. White (University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center):  “Towards Patient-based Cancer Therapeutics”

11.00 am         Break

11.15 am         Dr. Beverly A. Teicher (National Cancer Institute): “Antibody conjugate therapeutics: challenges and potential”

12.05 pm         Dr. Antonio Fojo (Columbia University Medical Center): “Novel Therapies for Cancer:  Why Dirty Might Be Better ”

1.00 pm           Lunch and Student poster session: Foyer, JBWN

A phagocytosis assay utilizing the murine macrophage cell line J774.A1

A phagocytosis assay utilizing the murine macrophage cell line J774.A1