Dec. 1, 2017:

Investigator Spotlight

Elizabeth C. Neil, MD, Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota Educational background: BS, Wayne State University School of Medicine: MD, University of Cincinnati: Residency in adult neurology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center: Fellowship in neuro-oncology

Research interests: I am a neuro-oncologist at the University of Minnesota. A career focus of mine is to make clinical trials available to my patient population, which includes those diagnosed with primary brain tumors or metastatic disease to the central nervous system. I partake in industry-sponsored, national consortium, and Big Ten Network coordinated clinical trials, as well as investigator initiated clinical trials by way of collaborating with pharmaceutical/ bio-engineering companies and especially, University researchers. Opening these trials at the University of Minnesota Medical Center – Fairview is made possible with institutional resources and the support of my neuro-oncology team colleagues.

Little-known facts about Dr. Neil:

• I played four years of college basketball on a Division I athletic scholarship.
• My husband and I forfeited our highly coveted tickets to Hamilton on Broadway; third row with the original cast, because on the morning of the show, we unexpectedly (yet warmly welcomed) the birth of our daughter.
• I am married to an architect and we passionately restored our first home in Cincinnati, a Queen Anne built in 1895 with plans to do the same to our current home, a 1910 American Four Square.

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Nov. 18, 2017:

The only thing as exciting as the teams competing on the field is the team fighting cancer – the Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium. The member institutions are driving science rapidly from new ideas to new treatments, and they do not wait for anyone to catch up.  So keep up, with this month’s Across the Consortium!

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Nov. 2, 2017:

The Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium recently welcomed as a member of its steering committee Anne Schott, MD, clinical professor of medicine and associate director of clinical research at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center. The committee consists of one representative from each member institution and is responsible to decide matters of policy for the consortium.

A Gulf Coast native, Schott attended medical school at the University of South Alabama. She completed a medical internship and residency at University of Virginia and then a fellowship in hematology-oncology at the University of Michigan. Read More

Nov. 1, 2017:

Investigator Spotlight

Dr. Zachary Morris is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Oncology at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and is a member of the UW Carbone Cancer Center.

This story is adapted from an earlier version, originally published by UW Health

Teaching the Immune System to Fight Cancer

Vaccines against an infection work by training the immune system at the site of injection and then spreading those educated immune cells throughout the body.

UW Carbone Cancer Center researcher and Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium (Big Ten CRC) Head and Neck Clinical Trial Working Group member Zachary Morris, MD, PhD, thinks that same immunotherapy concept can be applied to fighting cancer, especially metastatic cancers where cells from the initial tumor have spread to other parts of the body. Morris is also working with Big Ten CRC to launch a Sarcoma Clinical Trial Working Group.

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Oct. 19, 2017:

As the Big Ten CRC leads the rapidly-changing world of cancer research, Across the Consortium is your one-stop source for the latest. From technologies to funding, and from public health to discoveries we hand-pick the breaking stories so you don’t miss a thing!

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Oct. 19, 2017:

Researchers and leaders from 12 Big Ten cancer centers will meet at Big Ten Conference Headquarters in Chicago on Saturday. The Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium Summit is expected to draw about 150 participants, including researchers from across the consortium and representatives from pharmaceutical and biotech companies. The University of Illinois Cancer Center and the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University are co-hosting the meeting. Read More

Oct. 1, 2017:

Investigator Spotlight

Hamid Band, MD, PhD, Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center

Educational background: M.D. Medical College, Srinagar,, Kashmir University, India; Ph.D. Immunology, All-India Insitute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India

Research interests: Our research focuses on two major topics, both geared to understand, and potentially target, the intracellular traffic of cell surface receptors coupled to activation of tyrosine kinase signaling: the CBL-family of ubiquitin ligases, which provides an essential mechanism of negative regulation of receptor and non-receptor tyrosine kinases through ubiquitin-dependent proteasomal and lysosomal degradation; and members of the EHD family of endocytic regulatory proteins, which control subcellular traffic of cell surface receptors involved in a variety of fundamental cellular processes. We use mouse genetic models, cell biology, biochemistry and molecular biology approaches to investigate the roles of these protein families in the context of epithelial (mammary and intestinal) and hematopoietic stem cell homeostasis, immune responses in cancer, and tumor progression and metastasis in breast cancer and myeloid leukemia. A newer interest in the laboratory is on cancer immunology, with a focus on enhancing the efficacy of CAR T-cell immunotherapy of solid tumors.

Little-known facts about Dr. Band: 

• As a child, I walked a mile and a quarter each way to attend middle school, rain or shine. Thank God, they gave us six weeks off in winter.
• In 1980/1981, I applied to Ph.D. programs at five U.S. universities and was rejected by all. About eight years later (three years after receiving my official Ph.D. degree from India), I accepted my first Ph.D. student and taught a course in immunology at one of those universities — Harvard.
• Except for Wheatfield’s Bakery in Omaha, I rarely buy foods without scanning the nutritional information on the package.

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Sept. 25, 2017:

The Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium (Big Ten CRC) announces the opening of a clinical trial for patients with advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer.

The study, known as BTCRC-GYN15-013, involves pembrolizumab, one of a new class of drugs called PD-1 inhibitors, given in combination with routine care using paclitaxel and carboplatin chemotherapy. [Pictured: Study sponsor-investigator Daniela Matei, MD of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.]

The Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University in Chicago is currently enrolling subjects in this study. Additional member sites within the Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium will open the trial in the coming months. Read More

Sept. 20, 2017:

Each month, the Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium highlights advances in research and treatment led by our member institutions. Following are recent developments from Across the Consortium:

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Aug. 26, 2017:

The Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium‘s Across the Consortium is your front row seat to the latest in Big Ten CRC news. This month we highlight new discoveries from our member institutions, celebrate awards, and feature outstanding researchers as well as volunteers from across the consortium. 

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