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cancer research news
National effort to hasten treatments for those with pancreatic cancer enrolling patients at UF
A novel clinical trial platform that aims to accelerate treatment discoveries for people battling pancreatic cancer is now enrolling patients at 15 sites nationwide, including the University of Florida Health Cancer Center.
An initiative of the national nonprofit organization Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, or PanCAN, Precision PromiseSM began development in 2016. The UF Health Cancer Center is the only site in Florida participating in the novel clinical trial platform that hopes to ramp up treatments for patients with the aggressive form of cancer. READ MORE
Don’t let COVID-19 delay cancer screenings
Guest column by Merry Jennifer Markham, M.D., FACP, FASCO
At this point in the pandemic, we’re all painfully aware that COVID-19 is an immediate health concern for millions of Americans. But cancer doctors like me are afraid the disease will prove deadly in another, unexpected way, even for those who manage to avoid infection. READ MORE
Announcements
Development Update
Rick Croton Memorial Golf Tournament
The Rick Croton Memorial Golf Tournament was held on Oct. 11 and raised over $20,000! The tournament has raised over $60,000 since 2018, and provides valuable funding for Prostate Cancer Research, and supports the work of Chenglong Li, Ph.D., in the UF College of Pharmacy.
Stop Children’s Cancer Charity Golf Classic
The Stop Children’s Cancer Charity Golf Classic was held on Oct. 16 and netted over $78,000. Proceeds from the event support pediatric cancer research in the UF College of Medicine’s Divisions of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology and Pediatric Neuro-Oncology. Since 1985, more than $8 million has been raised by Stop Children’s Cancer, generating more than $20 million in NIH/NCI grants, plus millions more in non-peer reviewed awards.
Climb for Cancer
In 2020, Climb for Cancer has awarded more than $100,000 to UF Health researchers and programs. Included in the Climb for Cancer 2020 funding was support for Project CONTINUITY (CONnecTing hIgh risk aNd Underserved Individuals To care in the community), led by Dr. Betsy Shenkman.
Health Care Community Study Participants Needed
Jordan Alpert, Ph.D., UF College of Journalism and Communications assistant professor, is searching for members in the health care community — specifically oncologists, oncology nurses, nurse practitioners and physician assistants — to participate in a 45-minute Zoom interview about communicating with patients related to online cancer searches, messaging and the COVID-19 pandemic. Click this link to participate.
Jason Brant, Ph.D., joins UFHCC Biostatistics & Quantitative Sciences Shared Resource
Jason Brant, Ph.D., joined the UF Health Cancer Center’s Biostatistics & Quantitative Sciences Shared Resource on Nov. 20 as the Cancer Center’s first full-time bioinformatics faculty.
Dr. Brant is a research assistant professor in the department of biostatistics. His primary responsibility is to support the Cancer Center members with rigor and state-of-the-art bioinformatics approaches.
The research interests of Dr. Brant are focused on the role of DNA methylation and chromatin structure in regulating gene expression and how perturbations in the epigenome can result in disease onset and progression. He received his doctorate degree from the University of Florida in the department of biochemistry and molecular biology under the mentorship of Dr. Thomas P. Yang.
In his previous position at the UF Diabetes Institute, Dr. Brant utilized single-cell RNA-seq data in order to better understand the role of the immune system in the onset and progression of type 1 diabetes. In addition to utilizing and developing new bioinformatic tools, Dr. Brant is also interested in developing interactive web applications for the visualization of complex data sets.
Please join us in welcoming Dr. Brant to the UF Health Cancer Center.