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Cancer Research News
UF brain tumor researcher embarks on first-in-human clinical trial of novel immunotherapy vaccine
UF Health pediatric oncologist Elias Sayour, M.D., Ph.D., has received a $2.5 million grant from the pediatric cancer foundation CureSearch for Children’s Cancer to undertake a first-in-human clinical trial to test a novel form of immunotherapy to treat the most aggressive forms of malignant brain tumors. READ MORE
Lele Receives National Cancer Institute Grant to Study Physical Aspects of the Cancer Cell
Tanmay Lele, Ph.D., the Charles A. Stokes professor of chemical engineering at the University of Florida, has been awarded a National Cancer Institute (NCI) U01 grant to examine the physical and molecular mechanisms of the cancer nucleus.
Research in the Lele Lab is focused on how the cell nucleus is shaped and positioned, and how these functions become abnormal in disease conditions. A recent discovery from the Lele Lab is that nuclei are shaped by mechanical stresses generated internally in cytoskeletal structures. These stresses are transmitted to the nucleus through cytoskeletal connections with proteins embedded in the nuclear membranes. These proteins are collectively referred to as the LINC complex, and many of them are mutated or abnormally expressed in cancer. READ MORE
Study Explores Comprehension and the Acceptability of a Website for Cancer Patients and Caregivers
Janice Krieger, Ph.D., co-leader of the UF Health Cancer Center’s Cancer Population Sciences Research Program, is an author on this study.
Web-based decision-aids are helpful, accessible sources of information about cancer and are preferred among cancer patients and cancer survivors. Researchers from the STEM Translational Communication Center at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications created a web-based decision aid designed to communicate information about CCTs to patients and caregivers and conducted a study to determine if the website would increase CCT comprehension and, ultimately, participation in CCTs. The study also measured whether evaluations of the website differed between cancer patients and caregivers. READ MORE
Leading brain tumor experts meet to advance UF Health-led ReMission Alliance
The weekend of Feb. 21-23, Duane Mitchell, M.D., Ph.D., and the UF brain tumor team he co-leads brought together expert investigators, physician-scientists and passionate supporters from across the U.S. and beyond to form new partnerships and collaborate in pursuit of discovering new immunotherapy regimens to improve quality of life and turn deadly brain cancers into livable diseases within 10 years. Representing 12 top academic medical centers, the experts belonging to the new UF Health-led ReMission Alliance Against Brain Tumors each accepted an hourglass like Mitchell’s, presented by Jamie Chapin’s parents. READ MORE
UFHCC Members Leading the Way in COVID-19 Research
Certain compounds may block coronavirus from cells, UF Health researcher finds
Computer simulations run by a University of Florida Health researcher have shown that three compounds appear to have the potential to block cells from being infected by the novel coronavirus COVID-19.
The next step involves validation of the findings by David A. Ostrov, Ph.D., an associate professor in the UF College of Medicine’s department of pathology, immunology & laboratory medicine and the Targeted Therapeutics Program leader at the UF Health Cancer Center. READ MORE
UF researchers lead the way in rapidly designing, building low-cost, open-source ventilator
As a University of Florida mechanical engineering student decades ago, Samsun Lampotang, Ph.D., helped respiratory therapist colleagues build a minimal-transport ventilator that became a commercial success. So, when the coronavirus pandemic hit and he heard the desperate international plea for thousands more ventilators, the longtime UF professor of anesthesiology set out to build a prototype using plentiful, cheap components that could be copied from an online diagram and a software repository.
Volunteers who jumped to help included Patrick Tighe, M.D., who prodded Lampotang to act on his idea. READ MORE
Developing a next-generation coronavirus test for home use
Piyush Jain was headed home from another late night in his University of Florida lab when he got the word from his grad student — the rapid test they had been trying to develop for the novel coronavirus worked.
While not yet approved for commercial use, the test uses a strip comparable to a pregnancy test to give a quick visual indicator of the presence of the coronavirus in the body. READ MORE
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UF Health MedEdCast
The official podcast of UF Health provides engaging insight on today’s trending health care topics. Earn CME credits while learning about clinical issues and research advances from experts at UF Health Shands Hospital, one of the nation’s top academic health centers.
Listen to the most recent cancer-related podcasts:
- “Third Space Endoscopy and Advanced Endoscopic Resection Techniques in the Gastrointestinal Tract” with Dennis Yang, M.D.
- “PARP Inhibitors in Ovarian Cancer” with Martina Murphy, M.D.
- “Robotic Urologic Surgery Program” with Li-Ming Su, M.D.