Can you feel the heat? Hello June in Nashville! It’s that time of the year for splash parks, camps, vacations, concerts and festivals (anyone make it to Bonaroo?). I hope that your summer if off to a great start!

It is also time for the Cancer Biology Student Welcome Picnic at the home of Linda and Hal Moses on June 23rd at 4 PM. Bring your family (and a side dish/dessert) for an evening of fun, food, and camaraderie. Thank you Hal for hosting this fantastic event (again). I look forward to seeing you there!

Kim

Getting to know you…

Faculty (& Grad Student!)

Spotlight

Scott  M Haake, MD

Research Instructor of Medicine (Division of Hematology/Oncology) & Cancer Biology Graduate Student

Dr. Haake lectures fellows and residents, is a board-certified oncologist, and attends both in-patient and out-patient at the VA and Vanderbilt Hospitals as a medical oncologist. In addition to teaching and seeing patients as a faculty member, Dr. Haake is also pursuing a PhD in Cancer Biology. Dr. Haake’s research has historically leveraged mass spectrometry (MS) to understand protein function. His group previously used MS to contrast tyrosine kinase signaling in the two most common types of adult kidney cancer. This study demonstrated distinct extracellular matrix (ECM) receptors and signaling networks in these tumor types. Along with Dr. Roy Zent, he is using mouse models of cancer with inducible, tissue-specific knock-out of key ECM receptors to explore how the ECM influences tumor development and progression. In a separate line of investigation Dr. Haake is working with Dr. Kim Rathmell to explore novel non-histone targets of SETD2 and describe the functional relevance of methylation as a post-translational modification. Finally, Dr. Haake is participating in a multi-institutional initiative to explore how common kidney cancer mutations influence tumor immunogenicity including tumor-infiltrating immune cells and response to checkpoint inhibitors.

 Postdoctoral Fellow/
Graduate Student Spotlight

Deon B Doxie, PhD
Graduate Student
(Irish Lab)

Deon’s work focuses on dissecting solid tumor heterogeneity to identify cells that evade therapy. He is specifically studying cells that evade BRAF and MEK targeted therapy in patients with melanoma. Deon developed a single cell systems biology workflow that identified loss of nestin expression and persisting cell phenotypes that lacked immune interaction protein MHC I.  This study reveals new in vivo biology of melanoma cells that can be used as a reference point for patient-derived xenograft and cell line research models.Taken together the discovery of a cellular phenotype that evaded targeted therapy led to new mechanistic hypotheses of targeted therapy resistance in melanoma. With the range of therapeutics options for melanoma rapidly growing, these results could have negative consequences for other targeted therapies and immune therapy. Deon is also a graduate of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute/Vanderbilt University Medical Center Certificate Program in Molecular Medicine.

 Staff Spotlight

C. Andrew Johnson, BS
Lab Manager
(Richmond Lab)

Andrew came to Vanderbilt 4 years ago from the University of Virginia where he earned a BS in Biology. His research currently focuses on finding ways to efficiently extract and analyze changes in immune cell infiltration and activity as a result of therapy. Over the past 4 years in the lab, he has made significant contributions to a wide range of projects and co-authored a number of publications. Andrew also ensures the lab runs smoothly and efficiently. He is a coordinator of research equipment for the Cancer Research groups on the 4th and 7th floors of PRB. He has been responsible for training other labs to use the new pieces of equipment and hopes to leverage these increasingly accessible technologies to drive new discoveries. Outside of the lab, Andrew has taken courses at Vanderbilt in Immunology and DNA structure/function to strengthen his scientific background. He has proven to be a key leader and exceptional role model for the lab, offering significant scientific input into ongoing research design and interpretation.

VICC Retreat Highlights

Two Vanderbilt trainees were honored for their stellar scientific research during the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC) Annual Scientific Retreat held May 3 at the Vanderbilt University Student Life Center.

Lang Wu, PhD, was named Postdoc of the Year for his research that used transcriptome and high-density genotyping data to develop prediction models to identify breast and prostate cancer susceptibility genes. Wu works in the laboratory of Wei Zheng, MD, PhD, MPH, Anne Potter Wilson Professor of Medicine and director of the Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center.

The VICC Graduate Student of the Year award was granted to Chloe Snider who presented work on the regulation of the anchoring of the actinomyosin contractile ring of the plasma membrane in fission yeast during mitosis. Snider works in the laboratory of Kathleen Gould, PhD, Louise B. McGavock Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology and associate dean for Biomedical Sciences.

Four internationally recognized cancer investigators were invited to share highlights from their microbiome research during the VICC Retreat.

On hand at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center Annual Scientific Retreat were, from left, Ann Richmond, PhD, Giorgio Trinchieri, MD, Christian Jobin, PhD, Gary Wu, MD, Cynthia Sears, MD, and Jennifer Pietenpol, PhD. (photo credit to: Vanderbilt University / Steve Green)

• Giorgio Trinchieri, MD, National Institutes of Health (NIH) Distinguished Investigator and director of the Cancer and Inflammation Program at the National Cancer Institute,
• Gary Wu, MD, co-director of the PennCHOP Microbiome Program at the University of Pennsylvania
• Cynthia Sears, MD, professor of Medicine, Oncology and Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
• Christian Jobin, PhD, program leader of Cancer Microbiota and Host Response at the University of Florida

This year’s retreat was organized by Ann Richmond, PhD, Ingram Professor of Cancer Research and associate director for Research Education.

2018 VICC Retreat Poster Winners

David Elion (Cook Lab)
Maria Fernando Sensosain (Massion Lab)
Shinya Sato, PhD (Weaver Lab)
Paula Marincola Smith, MD (Beauchamp Lab)
Chi Yan, PhD (Richmond Lab)
Deanna Edwards, PhD (Chen Lab)
Sarah Short, PhD (Williams Lab)
Clayton Marshall (Pietenpol Lab)

Honorable mention for their posters presentations:

Anna Vilgelm, PhD, MD (Richmond Lab)
Jamye O”Neal (Dahlman Lab)
Miranda Sower (Johnson Lab)
Laura Kim (Chen Lab)

Send Us Your News

Have a suggestion for a Cancer Biology newsletter item? Do you have an announcement or an upcoming event you want to share with the Cancer Biology community? E-mail: kerry.w.vazquez@vanderbilt.edu

Newsletter header photo credit to Dr. Anna Vilgelm, “DNA Comets”. Clipart credited to ClipartXtras. Staff and student photo credit to Vanderbilt University.  AACR content credit to the AACR.org.