April 14, 2018:

As stated in the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Facts & Figures, in 2018, there will be an estimated 1,735,350 new cancer cases diagnosed and 609,640 cancer deaths in the United States. While cancer treatments and early detection have become more and more promising over the years – thus increasing life expectancy and lowering the mortality rate of cancer patients – prevention remains one of the most important challenges. Read More

March 25, 2018:

Across the Consortium is your instant replay of Big Ten CRC member news. This month we highlight colon cancer screen options and advice; advancements in technology to provide better understanding of cancer spread; new strategy for treating pancreatic cancer; cutting edge cell therapies; and more!

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March 5, 2018:

What do plant molecular biologists, chemical engineers, veterinarians, biomedical engineers, and analytical chemists from around the world have in common?

Everything – at Purdue University – including correlative cancer research.

“We work with people across campus and across the state that need our particular technical expertise,” says Jill Hutchcroft, PhD, director of Purdue’s Flow Cytometry and Cell Separation Facility.

“Our samples come from engineers, biologists, and chemists; our technology bridges many disciplines as people are trying to cross boundaries,” says Hutchcroft. “We are really a connection between many different disciplines. We work with everything from human tumors to zebra fish to corn, and we work with many model systems. Our work reaches from very theoretical beginnings, the cutting-edge, to actual direct clinical application.” Read More

March 1, 2018:

Investigator Spotlight

Nancy Chan, MD, medical oncologist, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New JerseyResearch interests: I am interested in discovering and developing new therapies for the treatment of breast and gynecological malignancies. I have witnessed various immunotherapies shrink tumors within weeks and help women live longer with their cancer with minimal side effects. I have also faced the frustration of lack of response and rare but life threatening side effects of immunotherapy. I hope that my research will contribute to how to identify responders, as well as how to improve and potentiate durable response. Our immune system is extremely intricate and sophisticated, we are still learning so much about its potentials. Our collaborations with my colleagues at Rutgers, the Big Ten, and pharmaceutical companies are driving progress in the field. The Big Ten breast cancer research consortium has developed innovative trials to explore the potential benefits of a variety of targeted therapies in triple negative, hormone receptor positive, and HER2 positive breast cancers.

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Feb. 28, 2018:

Transforming the conduct of cancer research is not just a goal of Big Ten CRC members; it is reality. From zebrafish to cell phones, and from nanomedicine to “supportive oncology,”  the Big Ten CRC’s unique team-research culture is driving science rapidly from ideas to new approaches to cancer treatment. See for yourself in a quick trip Across the Consortium!

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Feb. 1, 2018:

Investigator Spotlight:

Attaya Suvannasankha, MD, Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center

School of Medicine: Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand; Residency: Einstein Medical Center Philadelphia; Fellowship: Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY

Research interests: Multiple myeloma is a rare and incurable blood cancer, but not all myeloma is the same. While the current treatments may work well initially, myeloma keeps recurring and eventually patients die from drug resistant myeloma and treatment side effects. Much work is needed to understand why myeloma cancer cells respond differently to common treatments. Currently, there is not a good way to predetermine the response of an individual’s myeloma to chemotherapy. Current treatments are therefore rather trial and error.

I believe that an individualized treatment for each patient will be more effective, less toxic, less expensive and can lead to a cure. In the lab, I am establishing a new way to grow and test each patient’s myeloma cells in mouse bones to select the right chemotherapy for them. In the clinic, I lead clinical trials that explore new drugs or drug combinations in myeloma. I am particularly interested in finding how to best use these medications in frail elderly patients in order to balance cancer control and quality of life issues.

Being a part of the Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium myeloma team allows me to work with the best and the brightest among the Big Ten Institutions to conduct high-impact, hypothesis-driven, highly translational, clinical trials in myeloma- a rare and incurable disease in need of novel treatments.

Little-known facts about Dr. Suvannasankha:

• When I first moved to the US for residency training, I was so nervous speaking English that I only ate at fast food restaurants so I could order food by numbers without needing to speak in sentences. Thanks to all the Philadelphians for letting me practice English on them.
• I was not at all athletic as a child. I’ve picked up running as a hobby and have completed a few marathons. Each marathon mile is dedicate to a patient, friend or family who has inspired me.
• I have a poor memory for people’s names but I can remember people’s stories.

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Jan. 29, 2018:

Breast cancer researchers have made great strides in recent years, identifying distinct molecular subtypes of the disease and potential novel treatment approaches. One such approach involves a type of immunotherapy, called an immune checkpoint inhibitor, that can help the immune system recognize and kill cancer cells.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors have shown promising results in a variety of research studies, and have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat a variety of other cancers.

In breast cancer research, much attention has been focused on triple-negative disease, or cancers in which the three most common receptors that fuel breast cancer growth – estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and the HER2/neu gene – are not present. A number of studies are now testing checkpoint inhibitors in triple negative breast cancer.

“But sometimes we get so focused on one subgroup, that we forget about the hormone-positive breast cancers,” said Deborah L. Toppmeyer, MD, of the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey. Read More

Jan. 26, 2018:

Abstracts from two Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium studies were accepted as trials in progress at recent meetings of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. BTCRC-ESO14-012 was accepted to the Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium and BTCRC-LUN16-081 was accepted to the ASCO-SITC Clinical Immuno-Oncology Symposium. Both meetings were held this month in San Francisco. Read More

Jan. 21, 2017:

This month’s handpicked stories from across the consortium highlight major breakthroughs in diagnostics and treatment; spotlight emerging leaders; and celebrate milestones in funding and expansion. The Big Ten CRC members will continue asking tough questions in 2018; resolve to catch the play-by-play Across the Consortium!

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Jan. 8, 2018:

The Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium (Big Ten CRC) recently welcomed Salma Jabbour, MD, as a member of its Steering Committee, representing Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey. The committee, composed of one representative from each member institution, meets on a regular basis to review activities of the consortium and decide matters of policy.

A radiation oncologist with a subspecialty in lung and gastrointestinal (GI) cancers, and a co-chair of the Big Ten CRC’s GI Clinical Trial Working Group (CTWG) and member of the Thoracic CTWG, Jabbour embodies the Big Ten CRC spirit. Read More