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Issue 11 | March, 2025
Community
World Cancer Day Luminaria Display
On Feb. 4, the Legorreta Cancer Center marked World Cancer Day with a display of luminaria at The Warren Alpert Medical School. Members of the community created these luminaria in honor of cancer survivors, those currently battling cancer, and those lost to the disease.
Research
Data Science Workshop
The Data Science Working Group held a workshop event on March 4, led by Jeremy Warner, MD, MS, Alper Uzun, PhD, and Rebecca Hubbard, PhD. Keynote presentation was provided by Franziska Michor, PhD, Charles A. Dana Chair in Human Cancer Genetics at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Additional presenters included Neil Sarkar, PhD, co-leader of Cancer Prevention and Control Program; Kyle Denison Martin, DO, MA, MPH, DTM&H, of the Planetary Health Initiative and associate director of the Global Emergency Medicine Fellowship at The Warren Alpert Medical School (pictured above); Ryan Strik of the American Cancer Society; and Corwin Zigler, PhD, of the Brown School of Public Health. This event brought together leaders in data science to discuss their roles in current and future cancer prevention efforts.
Cancer Biology & CPC Dinner
On Wednesday, Feb. 26, leaders of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program and the Cancer Biology Program met at Flatbread Pizza Company in Providence to discuss collaborative efforts for the coming year, centered around the specific cancer burden in Rhode Island. This dinner brought together physicians, cancer biologists, behavioral scientists, and LCC leadership to discuss the intersections of behavior and biology in cancer, as well as the potential for future P01 and SPORE grant applications.
Immunology Retreat
The Cancer Biology Program partnered with the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology to present a mini-symposium titled “Exploring the Interface of Immunology & Cancer Biology” on Feb. 25. The introduction was given by Richard Bennett, PhD, chair of the department and Charles A. and Helen B. Stuart Professor of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology. Speakers included Nicole James, PhD, Sean Lawler PhD, John Sedivy PhD, Craig Lefort PhD, Ian Wong PhD, Karthi Chellappa PhD, Amanda Jamieson PhD, Jack Elias MD, Theresa Raimondo PhD, Yang Zhou PhD, Sean Monaghan MD, Dean Tejal Desai PhD, and Laurent Brossay PhD. Presentations were given on three topics: Innate Immunity, Adaptive Immunity, and Microbiology in Cancer.
The event was well attended by LCC members, students, and faculty. The goal of this retreat is to support the development of a T32 grant submission and further collaborations between Cancer Biology members and the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology.
New Funding Database
Have you heard? Researchers at Brown now have access to Pivot-RP! Pivot offers a database of open funding opportunities across the globe for researchers of all experience levels. Search by specific research interest to find open RFAs best suited to your portfolio. Find the link to Pivot-RP on our Funding Opportunities page, along with additional selected cancer-relevant funding announcements.
ACS Institutional Research Grant Awards
The 2025 American Cancer Society Institutional Research Grant has been awarded to three outstanding applicants. Congratulations to our awardees!
Nicole James, PhD, "Clinically relevant implications of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 expression and associated antibody-drug conjugate targeting in high grade serous ovarian cancer"
Suchitra Kamle, PhD, “Simultaneous targeting of CHI3L1 and PD-1/PD-L1 axis to overcome drug-resistance and immune tolerance of EGFR lung cancer"
Megan Kizer, PhD, "Glycan-targeted delivery systems for improved pancreatic cancer"
Clinical Trials
Pancreatic cancer vaccine showing promise
Legorreta Cancer Center member Alexander Raufi, MD, a gastrointestinal oncologist at Brown University Health, appeared on WPRI 12 News to discuss a pancreatic cancer vaccine trial that is already yielding positive results. He’s currently working on Phase 2 of the vaccine clinical trial, which aims to prove the vaccine actually works.
Member Achievements
Pathology Keynote
Liang Cheng, PhD, Associate Director of Shared Resources, has been selected to give a keynote lecture at the 2025 Annual Meeting of the German Society of Pathology, the oldest pathology society in the world, with a history spanning 100 years. This year’s meeting will be held in Leipzieg on June 12-14.
American Cancer Society
Don Dizon, MD, FACP, FASCO, Associate Director for Community Outreach and Engagement, has been awarded the Excellence in Equity Award by the American Cancer Society.
Advances in Brain Radiation Therapy
Clark Chen, MD, PhD, director of the Brain Tumor Program at Brown University Health, was recently featured in Providence Business News for his innovative use of GammaTile implants to direct targeted radiation therapy into brain tumors. Read more
Student Accomplishments
Finán Gammel, a high school student, joined the lab of Alper Uzun, PhD, as part of the Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Summer Internship Program in 2023, where he played a key role in developing a genomics tool for transcriptomic data analysis, improving how researchers study gene activity across diseases. His work gained recognition, leading to presentations at the Legorreta Cancer Center retreat (October 2023) and the International Meeting, AMIA Informatics Summit 2024, where it was well received by biomedical informatics experts.
In early 2024, Finán was named one of the top 300 scholars in the Regeneron Science Talent Search, earning $2,000, with an equal amount awarded to his school to support math and science education. Now, Finán’s research has earned him a top 40 finalist spot in the Regeneron Science Talent Search, one of the nation’s most prestigious science competitions for high school seniors, which took place in Washington, DC, in March. He has been accepted to Harvard for the Fall 2025 semester.
Journal of Clinical Investigation Paper
Biomedical engineering PhD graduate student Jillian Strandberg published a high impact paper in the Journal of Clinical Investigation titled “TRAIL agonists rescue mice from radiation-induced lung, skin, or esophageal injury” highlighting this important discovery that will improve patient well-being during radiation treatment. Contributors included LCC Director Dr. Wafik El-Deiry, as well as Drs. Stephanie Graff, Attila Seyhan, Leiqing Zheng, Christopher Azzoli, David Wazer, Abbas Abbas, Sharon Rounds, Evgeny Yakirevich, and LanLan Zhou. Jillian has received training support through the Brown Respiratory Training Program led by Dr. Beth Harrington.
Recent Speakers
Kelly Hunt, MD, and Khandan Keyomarsi, PhD, of MD Anderson Cancer Center visited on Feb. 18 to present “Targeting the Cell Cycle Machinery in Cancer - From Bench to the Clinic and Back”
Marina Konopleva, MD, PhD, of Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Cancer Center visited on Jan. 16 to present “BCL-2 inhibition: Resistance and Combinations."
Support the Cancer Center
Consider making a donation to the Legorreta Cancer Center to support our efforts toward a cancer-free Rhode Island and beyond.
