The Apollo 11 mission, sending the first humans to the moon, was an achievement to be celebrated. The great women and men at NASA worked tirelessly, as a team, to achieve a common mission that seemed untouchable. Without that teamwork, Neil Armstrong may not have taken that “one giant leap for mankind”.

Similarly, those of us in the Cancer Biology Program are working toward  common goals that sometimes seem far out of reach: to alleviate cancer death and suffering through pioneering research; innovative, patient care; and evidence-based prevention, education, and community activities. Over the past 20 years we have made tremendous advances in cancer research that have been paradigm shifting for cancer patients. This progress could not have been realized without teams of scientists and physicians working together toward these shared objectives. “It’s not about the pieces, but how they work together.”

Getting to Know You…

Faculty Spotlight

Sergey V. Novitskiy, MD, PhD
Research Associate Professor of Medicine (Allergy, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine)

Dr. Novitskiy is an expert in tumor immunology, particularly in breast cancer and pancreatic cancer. His research interest focuses on understanding of mechanisms linking TGFβ and adenosine signaling in cancer. Dr. Novitskiy obtained his MD (1999), with an emphasis on pathology, biochemistry and molecular biology, and his PhD (2002), in pathophysiology. In 2004 he came to Nashville as an international postdoctoral fellow to the Division of Hematology-Oncology, where he became interested in adenosine pathway and its impact on immune cells functions. Dr. Novitskiy received further postdoctoral training at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, FL under the mentorship of Dr. Gabrilovich who pioneered MDSC research. He returned to the Department of Cancer Biology at VU and worked in Dr. Moses’ laboratory, where he started to uncover the role of TGFβ in tumor immunology. In 2011, Dr. Novitskiy was appointed to Research Assistant Professor of Cancer Biology and in 2016 received R01 funding.

Dr Novitskiy’s laboratory currently focuses on two main projects: 1) dissecting a role of adenosine in TGFβ effects in breast cancer. Recently, adenosine, a significant regulator of inflammation, angiogenesis and immune cell function, was given a “second life” by trials as an immune check point inhibitor; data, generated to understand adenosine actions in cancer can provide critical insights of outcomes of these clinical trials; 2) investigating a role of polymorphonuclear cells and G-CSF growth factor in regulation of mechanical properties of ECM during pancreatic cancer development; these studies will address  mechanisms of treatment resistance of pancreatic cancer and will identify additional targets that can significantly improve current therapy.

Trainee Spotlight

Laura C Kim
Graduate Student
Division of Rheumatology & Immunology
(Jin Chen Laboratory)

Laura is originally from Cary, North Carolina and earned her BS in Biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. At Vanderbilt Laura was awarded an NRSA pre-doctoral fellowship to study the role of the mTORC2 signaling node in cancer. Her recent publication showed that mLST8, although a shared component of both mTORC1 and mTORC2, is only necessary for mTORC2 activity. This work identifies a potential target for specific inhibition of mTORC2, an elusive target for which no inhibitor is currently available. Ongoing work is focused on understanding how amplification of a single mTORC2 component can drive cancer. Laura has also contributed to the Cancer Biology Student Association by acting as the Retreat Planning Chair for two years. In her free time, Laura enjoys reading, trying new restaurants around Nashville, and cheering on the Tar Heels.   

Staff Spotlight

Marisol Ramirez-Solano, MS,
Statistical Genetic Analyst II
(Yu Shyr Lab)

Marisol Ramirez-Solano is an analyst for Vanderbilt Technologies for Advanced Genomics Analysis and Research Design (VANGARD). She also works in collaborations analyzing small RNA sequencing and single cell sequencing data.  At Vanderbilt “I quickly learned that most projects involve multiple groups and everyone brings their expertise to the discussion. Working here has given me the opportunity to collaborate with investigators of different backgrounds and research focuses, and I have learned a lot in the process”.
Her advice to aspiring statisticians is to never stop learning and to always find time to catch up with new methods. A good thing to mention is that experimental design is extremely important, statistics can’t rescue a poorly designed experiment.  In her free time she enjoys taking her dog, Sally Ann, to the park and on hikes to the Warner parks. She likes watching movies at home, and cooking . Recently, she started making our own sourdough bread from scratch and she started knitting about 10 years ago, which is still her favorite hobby.

RECENT GRANTS AWARDED:

Ingrid A. Mayer, MD, MSCI and Jennifer Pietenpol, PhD have received the competitive NCI’s Breast Cancer Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE)! This is the 3^rd competing renewal of this important grant, which Vanderbilt has held since 2002, and is one of the only 5 Breast SPOREs in the country. The Breast SPORE supports state-of-the-art investigator-initiated translational research that will contribute to improved prevention, early detection, diagnosis, and treatment of breast cancer, and at Vanderbilt, focuses on endocrine and CDK4/6 inhibitor therapy resistance, targeted treatments for triple-negative breast cancers, immunotherapy strategies for HER2-negative breast cancers, and novel treatments for patients with BRCA-mutated breast cancers. The SPORE benefits from a strong multidisciplinary team, and continues to catalyze new ideas and new investigators in translational breast cancer research.

RECENT AWARDS:

Andrea Page-McCaw, PhD, Associate professor of cell and developmental biology in the School of Medicine, received honors for her distinguished contributions to the field of extracellular biology, particularly the functions of matrix metalloproteinases in Drosophila. Dr. Page-McCaw has been elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) this year. She is among 416 fellows from around the country selected by their peers for membership in the world’s largest general scientific society “because of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications.” Vanderbilt now has 130 AAAS fellows among its current and emeritus faculty. Nearly half were elected during the past six years.

Deans Award for Exceptional Achievement!
Mentors throughout the School of Medicine nominated their outstanding students for this award. A committee consisting of the Directors of Graduate Studies in the School of Medicine affiliated PhD programs evaluated each nominee  based on the originality and significance of their dissertation research, excellence in research discovery, and mastery of their discipline. The student with the highest score is chosen. Margaret L. Axelrod  (Balko Lab) will receive a salary supplement of $5000 for each of the next two years or until she receives her PhD.  We are proud of your accomplishments and wish you continued success at Vanderbilt!

Welcome 2019 New Graduate
Students in the Program in Cancer Biology

L-R: Carlos Detres Roman (Mentor: Mary Philip, MD, PhD)
Wendy Bindeman (Mentor: Barbara Fingleton, PhD)
Alexandar Silver (Mentor: Michael Savona, MD)
Brad Davidson (Mentor: Ben Ho Park, MD, PhD)
Logan Northcutt (Mentor: Marjan Rafat, PhD)
Natalie Bennett (Mentor: Julie Sterling, PhD)
Missing from photo: Adam Miranda (Mentor: Ben Ho Park, MD, PhD)
and Melissa Wolf (Mentor: Kim Rathmell, MD, PhD)

This year’s 2019/2020 Cancer Biology Student Association Officers

Executive Co-Chairs – Ariana von Lersner (Zijlstra Lab)
and Vera Todd (Johnson Lab)

Academic Co-Chairs – Courtney Edwards (Johnson Lab)

and Erik Beadle (Rhoades Lab)

Graduate Student Representative – Verra Ngwa (Chen Lab)

Financial Chair – Tolu Omokehinde (Johnson Lab)

Philanthropy Chair – Samantha Beik (Lopez Lab)

Communication Chair – Jessica Roetman (Philip Lab)

Social Chair – Demond Williams (Fingleton Lab)

​Jamye O’Neal wins the poster prize at the 2019 Southeastern Association of Shared Resources (SEASR) Meeting

Jamye O’Neal is the Laboratory Manager of the Innovative Translational Research Shared Resource (ITR) and was the recipient of the 1st place poster prize at the 2019 SEASR meeting for her work in biospecimen deviations tracking at the VICC. Jamye enjoys participating in SEASR because of the educational and career development opportunities, as well as being able to network with other scientists from core facilities in the region. Jamye received her BS Biology degree from Lipscomb University and graduated from the Vanderbilt School of Medicine in 2018 with a Masters of Laboratory Investigation degree. She received a VUMC Credo Award in February 2017.

BABIES, BABIES, BABIES!!!!
Welcome the newest members to our Vanderbilt family!

Shanna Alexandria Arnold Egloff, PhD and Julius “Tristan” Egloff welcomed Alexandra Emerson Egloff into their world.(DOB 6/15/19 6lbs 18.5 inches at 35 weeks)

Rachelle Whitney Johnson, PhD and Joshua Johnson were blessed with another son, Eli. Samuel is thrilled to be a big brother!!

Clinical study tests drug that may prevent cancer metastasis

Ingrid Mayer, MD, center, principal investigator of a clinical study testing a drug that may prevent cancer metastasis, with Vanderbilt drug re-purposing program team members Robert Lavieri, PhD, and Meghan Joly, PhD. (photo credit to Joe Howell)

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”.
Jamye O’Neal article credit to seasr.abrf.org.
Cancer Biology new student photo credit to Tolu Omokehinde
Andrea Page-McCaw article credit to Vanderbilt news and the AAAS
Clip art credit to Bing