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Multiple Researchers Awarded
NIH Grants to Decipher the
Language of Gene Regulation
The National Institutes of Health has awarded
multiple grants totaling more than $28 million
aimed at deciphering the language of how and
when genes are turned on and off. These awards
originate from the recently launched Genomics of Gene Regulation (GGR) program of the
National Human Genome Research Institute
(NHGRI), part of NIH.
With these new grants, researchers will
study gene networks and pathways in different systems in the body, such as skin, immune
cells, and lung. The resulting insights into the
mechanisms controlling gene expression may
ultimately lead to new avenues for developing
treatments for diseases affected by faulty gene
regulation, such as cancer, diabetes, and Parkinson’s disease.
“We do not have a good way to predict
whether particular regulatory elements are
turning genes off or activating them, or whether
these elements make genes responsive to a
condition, such as infection,” said Mike Pazin,
PhD, a program director in the Functional
Analysis Program in NHGRI’s Division of Genome
Sciences. “We expect these new projects will
develop better methods to answer these types
of questions using genomic data.”
Recipients of the new GGR three-year grants include:
Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovation
Awards Given to Six Early-Career
Scientists
The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation announced that six scientists with novel approaches to
fighting cancer have been named 2015 recipients of the
Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovation Award. The grant
of $300,000 over two years is awarded each year to
early-career scientists whose projects have the potential to significantly impact the prevention, diagnosis,
and treatment of cancer. Each awardee will have the
opportunity for up to two additional years of funding
(up to four years total for $600,000). Continued support for years three and four will be granted to those
awardees who demonstrate significant progress on
their proposed research during the first two years of the
award. The Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovation Award
funds cancer research by exceptionally creative thinkers
with “high-risk/high-reward” ideas who lack sufficient
preliminary data to obtain traditional funding. This
year’s 2015 Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovators are:
• Nicholas T. Ingolia, PhD, University of California,
Berkeley
• Christopher M. Jewell, PhD, University of Maryland,
College Park
$3.2 million
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York City, NY
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS: Christina Leslie, PhD, and Alexander Rudensky, PhD
• Ning Jenny Jiang, PhD, University of Texas, Austin
$5.9 million
• Brian H. Shirts, MD, PhD, University of Washington,
Seattle
Duke University, Durham, NC
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Timothy Reddy, PhD
• Elçin Ünal, PhD, University of California, Berkeley
Source: Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation press release
$6 million
University of California, Los Angeles, CA
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS: Alexander Hoffmann, PhD, and Douglas Black, PhD
$6.1 million
University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS: Jeremy Luban, MD, and Manuel Garber, PhD
Source: National Institutes of Health press release
Photos from top: illapiano.com, Bill Magoros, nikkul, mar.space.4goo.net
University of Wisconsin Names Ruth O’Regan to Lead
Hematology/Oncology Division
Ruth O’Regan, MD, has been
appointed division head
of hematology and oncology in the department of
medicine at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison (UW). Dr.
O’Regan is an internationally recognized breast cancer
physician and researcher with
particular expertise on breast
cancers that are resistant to
current therapies. A native of
Dublin, Ireland, Dr. O’Regan
previously was a professor
ASHClinicalNews.org
• Guillem Pratx, PhD, Stanford University, Stanford
of hematology and medical
oncology at Emory University,
where she held the Louisa
and Rand Glenn Family Chair
in Breast Cancer Research.
Additionally. Dr. O’Regan was
the medical director at Glenn
Family Breast Center of Emory
University, director of the
Breast Cancer Translational
Research Program at the
Winship Cancer Institute, and
chief of hematology and medical oncology at the Georgia
Cancer Center for Excellence
at Grady Memorial Hospital. In
her dedication to training the
next generation of physicians,
Dr. O’Regan served as vice
chair for educational affairs in
the department of hematology and medical oncology and
as director of the hematology/
oncology fellowship program
at Emory University. Her term
at UW began on February 2.
Source: University of Wisconsin press release
Victor Marder, Pioneer of
Hematology (1935–2015)
Victor Marder, MD, a scientist at the University of California,
Los Angeles, and a recognized leader in the field of hematology research, died January 29, 2015, at the age of 80.
Born and raised near Baltimore, Maryland, he went
on to serve as chief of the Division of Hematology at
the University of Rochester School of Medicine and
Strong Memorial Hospital. During his tenure, he built an
outstanding group with international recognition in the
area of hemostasis and thrombosis.
Dr. Marder joined UCLA’s faculty in 1999 as director of
the Vascular Medicine Program at Los Angeles Orthopaedic Hospital, a post he held until 2014. In 2013, he was
diagnosed with mye