LAM Treatment Alliance Fast Tracking Treatment Research

November 6, 2008
Poster Session Booklet
Agenda

Great thanks to all who participated in our inaugural in-person and virtual global LAM/TSC Poster Session! The 15 posters presented by members of labs and departments from throughout the Northeastern United States, Europe and Australia were highly competitive. We are encouraged by the quality and spectrum of science presented along with the fervor of the interactions between over 60 senior and junior researchers and clinicians who gathered at this session.

We cherish the achievements, mentoring and guidance that senior researchers provide for those who are more junior. Research generally, and in LAM/TSC in particular, halts without the fresh contributions of those who are up and coming. Those who are today more junior will soon drive their fields, and in doing so, they build on what came before them and take that in critical new directions.

We are grateful to have had this opportunity to highlight, share and support the work of junior investigators working on LAM and TSC. We are encouraged by what we see and committed to increasing our support for your work and to providing a vital space for dialogue, networking and knowledge exchange between labs and among senior and junior researchers. We thank everyone who joined us in person or virtually. We look forward to keeping you abreast of the latest research developments through this seminar and other global programs.

We offer our hearty congratulations to our three prize winners and to each of the very strong presenters at this meeting. We are especially excited to stay tuned to the progress of those who are new to these fields. We are grateful that you have turned your interests to LAM/TSC! We look forward to seeing everyone again on December 11th and then on January 15th, when our 3 winners will present their work!

Winners:
Congratulations to our 3 winners who received cash prizes and the opportunity to present at our January 15, 2009 seminar!
Shomit Sengupta: Transgenic Mice Overexpressing Rheb2 Develop Tumors with Similarities to Angiomyolipomas Shomit is pursuing his Ph.D. at MIT in the lab of David Sabatini's at the Whitehead Institute. Raised in Houston, Texas, he completed his B.A. at Northwestern University in neurobiology, and before entering graduate school completed research on uropathogenic bacteria and the DNA-damage response in tumors.  His current research focuses on dissecting the molecular etiology of angiomyolipoma and LAM through the use of mouse models, as well as studying how nutrient status is coordinated with the diet and fasting response of the liver.
Jian Ma, PhD: TSC 1 Loss Synergizes with KRAS Activation in Lung Cancer Development and Confers Rapamycin Sensitivity Jian Ma, Ph.D. is a postdoctoral research fellow working in David Kwiatkowski’s laboratory at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School. He obtained his Ph.D from Central South University, China in 2004 and then came to USA has his postdoctoral training in cancer research area. His work is focused on TSC-mTOR signaling and TSC mouse model. Hopefully by using the growing knowledge of mTOR signaling and beyond, we can find a cure for LAM/TSC and more common diseases like lung cancer.
Jane Yu, PhD: Estrogen Promotes the Survival and Pulmonary Metastasis of Tuberin-null Cells Jane Yu is a Staff Scientist in the laboratory of Dr. Elizabeth Petri Henske in Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia PA, and soon will be joining Dr. Henske’s lab in Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School. She received her BS in Biology from the Peking University of China. In 1999 she received her PhD in Biochemistry from the Graduate School of the City University of New York. She joined Dr. Henske’s lab for her postdoctoral training in Fox Chase Cancer Center. She worked on the characterization of the primary cell cultures derived from angiomyolipoma and LAM, demonstrated that estrogen and tamoxifen stimulate LAM-associated angiomyolipoma cell growth and activate both genomic and nongenomic signaling pathways, and uncovered that estrogen-induced activation of mTOR is mediated via tuberin and Rheb. She currently develops animal models of LAM, studies mechanisms through which tuberin and hamartin regulate estrogen-mediated metastatic signals, and develops estrogen-focused targeted therapeutic strategies for LAM.

Timeline:
5:00-5:45pm Introduction/ Judges began reviewing posters 15 posters x 3 minutes each = 45 minutes/ interviews with presenters
5:45-6:00pm Judges convened, choose top 5 favorites
6:00-6:30pm Presenters gave 5 minute presentations of top 5 posters
6:30-6:45pm Judges convened again, choose winners/ interviews / food served / networking
6:45-7:00pm Winners announced, prizes awarded

Posters were ranked in order according to the following criteria:
1) Originality
2) Scientific importance to the fields overall
3) Translational impact
4) Quality of presentation

Judges
Joe Avruch, MD, PhD- Massachesetts General Hospital/ Harvard Medical School
Myles Brown, MD- Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/ Harvard Medical School
Lew Cantley, PhD- Beth Israel Deaconess Medical School/ Harvard Medical School
Augustine Choi, MD- Brigham and Women's Hospital/ Harvard Medical School
Elizabeth (Lisa) Henske, MD- Brigham and Women's Hospital/ Harvard Medical School
David Kwiatkowski, MD, PhD- Brigham and Women's Hospital/ Harvard Medical School