Dr. Sfanos received a 2014 V Scholar Award from The V Foundation for Cancer Research to study alterations in the urinary tract microbiome as a risk factor for prostate cancer. Stay tuned for exciting research updates from this project! To learn more about the V Foundation for Cancer Research go to http://www.jimmyv.org/. Also, stay tuned for ESPN’s annual V Week coming up in December and please consider making a donation to this awesome organization!
IL-6 mRNA-expressing cells (brown staining) are highly enriched in the stroma in areas of acute inflammation in the prostate.
New from the Sfanos lab! A Paracrine Role for IL6 in Prostate Cancer Patients: Lack of Production by Primary or Metastatic Tumor Cells. Punchline: Prostate cancer cells don’t express IL6, but the microenvironment does!
New from the Sfanos/De Marzo lab! The combined effects of bacterial prostatitis and the dietary carcinogen PhIP on enhancing cancer at multiple sites.
PhIP + E. coli in rat ventral prostate
Shu-Han Yu, (Ph.D.!!) recently defended and submitted her dissertation “Studies on the Role of Interleukin-6 in Prostate Cancer Development and in the Induction of Chronic Prostatic Inflammation by Propionibacterium acnes“. Congratulations Dr. Yu!!
During the month of “Movember”, the prostate cancer research labs have been filled with facial hair (“mo’s”) and even some blue hair in honor of the #Movember Foundation and the Johns Hopkins fundraising team called the Natty Moh’s. The Natty Moh’s are currently ranked in the top 100 teams in the nation, please consider supporting our efforts here: http://us.movember.com/mospace/9789501.
Movember’s vision is to have an everlasting impact on the face of men’s health. They are working tirelessly connecting and funding the best scientific and clinical minds in the world. They are working towards two urgent goals: to fast track a time when no man will die from prostate or testicular cancer, and to rid the world of discrimination against men and boys with mental health problems.
Movember isn’t just about no razors (and blue hair). One important focus of the Movember effort is to raise awareness of men’s health issues. Please visit http://us.movember.com/mens-health for more information!
The Natty Moh’s
Early Movember
Graduate students Heidi Hempel and Corey Porter were recently awarded American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Scholar in Training Awards to attend the Seventh AACR Conference on The Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved held in San Antonio, TX. Congratulations Corey and Heidi!
Heidi Hempel and Corey Porter win AACR Scholar in Training Awards
Each year “Team Prostate” participates in the Prevent Cancer Foundation 5K Walk/Run to have some fun and to support a great organization dedicated to cancer prevention research, education, and outreach. This year the event will be held on September 21 at Nationals Stadium in Washington DC. Please consider supporting Team Prostate and/or joining the team! Visit http://www.preventcancer5k.org/ksfanos.
De Marzo/Sfanos lab
The Department of Pathology Awards Dinner is held annually to honor the great work of the students, fellows, residents and other trainees in the department. Congratulations to Ajay Vaghasia (from the Yegnasubramanian lab) and our own Gretchen Hubbard who were honored with Young Investigator Awards for Excellence in Research!
Gretchen Hubbard and Ajay Vaghasia
Shu-Han Yu presented a poster entitled “Interleukin-6 expression is restricted to the prostate stromal compartment and is not expressed by either primary or metastatic prostatic adenocarcinoma cells” at the recent American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting in San Diego, CA. The news was that the poster got quite a bit of traffic, with both Shu-Han and Angelo De Marzo, M.D., Ph.D. fielding questions! The link to Shu-Han’s abstract can be found here.
Dr. Gretchen Hubbard won the 2nd Place Award for her poster “Genomic Instability Induced by MYC Expression and Concomitant Loss of Pten in a Lethal Metastatic Mouse Model of Prostate Cancer” presented at the Seventh Annual Multi-Institutional Prostate Cancer Program Retreat co-sponsored by Johns Hopkins, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Institution, the University of Michigan, and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Gretchen’s exciting mouse model was developed during her time as a Ph.D. student in the laboratory of Dr. Charles Bieberich at UMBC and in collaboration with Dr. Angelo De Marzo at Johns Hopkins. Congratulations Dr. Hubbard!
Dr. Gretchen Hubbard presents at the 2014 Prostate Cancer Research Program Retreat.
