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McArdle News
McArdle Welcomes New Students
Nine graduate students joined the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research beginning
with the Spring 2002 semester. They are: Cellular and Molecular Biology majors
Luis Acevedo (Farnham laboratory), Scott Balsitis (Lambert laboratory), Adam
Feire (Compton laboratory), Sigrid Holmgren (Lambert laboratory), Larry Kwong
(Dove laboratory), Heather Scobie (Young laboratory), and Sara Speros (Alexander
laboratory), and Genetics majors Jennifer Dingwall (Burgess laboratory) and
Stephanie Nelson (Gould laboratory). They join Oncology students Young-chul
Kim (Alexander laboratory), Sang Kyun Lim (Hoffmann laboratory), Scott Lindner
(Sugden laboratory), and Linh Nguyen (Bradfield laboratory) to make up the 1st
-year McArdle graduate student class. Steve Knight and Bryan Zhao, both in the
Hoffmann laboratory, recently transferred to McArdle from other laboratories.
Please welcome these new students.
Chen Awarded CRFA Fellowship
Dr. Xiaodi Chen, a postdoctoral research associate in the laboratory of
Dr. William F. Dove, has been awarded a fellowship from the Cancer Research
Foundation of America (CRFA). The 2-year fellowship will help to support Dr.
Chen's research efforts to identify biomarkers for human colorectal cancer
and to develop effective methods to detect the early tumors. Dr. Chen's research
involves an active collaboration between Dr. Dove's cancer genetics laboratory
and the virology laboratory of Dr. John A.T. Young in the McArdle Laboratory
for Cancer Research.
Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer and causes the second
most cancer deaths in the United States. This cancer can be completely cured
by surgery if it is discovered in its early stages. Therefore, early detection
is critical for the reduction of colorectal cancer death. Currently in advanced
parts of the world, people with a high risk of colorectal cancer are recommended
to have regular tests to detect early colorectal cancers. However, the current
tests for early detection are inaccurate, expensive or unacceptable by the
general public. With several new approaches using mutant mice that develop
intestinal tumors, Dr. Chen aims to find genes that produce tumor-associated
products. These genes and their products will be explored as "biomarkers"
for the detection of early tumors. Sensitive methods to detect these tumor
biomarkers in serum and stool samples will first be explored in mice. The
biomarkers that can be sensitively detected in the mouse will be used to investigate
the corresponding human biomarkers. This project, if successful, aims to develop
prompt and economical methods broadly acceptable by the public, to accurately
screen for early colorectal tumors in the high-risk population and, eventually,
the general population.
Dr. Chen, who began his work at the McArdle Laboratory last year, received
his Ph.D. degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia. The CRFA is a non-profit
health foundation, located in Alexandria, VA, whose mission is "the prevention
of cancer through scientific research and education".
Nobel Laureate Günter Blobel Visits UW-Madison
by Jennifer Michalowski
Dr. Günter Blobel, 1999 Nobel Laureate for Physiology or Medicine, visited
the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus recently to speak about his research
on protein targeting.
Dr. Blobel, professor at Rockefeller University, was awarded the Nobel Prize
for his discovery that "proteins have intrinsic signals that govern their
transport and localization in the cell." In addition to identifying
these signals, he has characterized the mechanisms whereby they direct a cell's
proteins to the correct compartments and enable their transport across membranes.
Building on his studies on the localization of proteins to the endoplasmic
reticulum, Blobel found in 1980 that basic principles governed the trafficking
of proteins to other organelles as well. Newly synthesized proteins
are equipped with short sequences of amino acids that act as "address tags".
These signal sequences direct proteins to the correct compartment, where they
are recognized by binding proteins that facilitate passage through a channel
in the organelle's membrane.
Dr. Blobel earned a Ph.D. in Oncology at the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer
Research, where he worked with Professor Van R. Potter on the distribution
of ribosomes within cells. Professor Potter remembers Blobel as an independent
student who required little guidance. He described Dr. Blobel's approach
to scientific questions as beginning with "a speculative metaphor in advance
of any experimental evidence." Indeed, Dr. Blobel described the 1971
model in which he first postulated that signal sequences directed proteins
to their appropriate destinations as "a wild scheme for which there was absolutely
no evidence."
"The genius of the man," Potter commented, "is to say 'how can I test this?'
He is just about without equal on that end."
Despite the tremendous strides Dr. Blobel has made in uncovering the mysteries
of protein targeting, he remains humbled by how little we know. "I think
most of the questions are left," he said. "What is left to be done is
humongous."
While visiting the Madison campus, Dr. Blobel also presented a talk on reconstruction
efforts in Dresden, Germany, a once-prominent cultural center destroyed during
World War II. Fifty years after witnessing its bombing, Dr. Blobel founded
the Friends of Dresden organization to support Dresden's restoration.
He has donated most of his Nobel Prize money to that cause.
Ahlquist and Gould awarded WARF Named Professorships
Drs. Paul Ahlquist and Michael N. Gould have been selected to receive WARF
Named Professorships in honor of their significant research contributions,
as well as their contributions to teaching and service. Effective July 1,
2000, Dr. Ahlquist will be the Paul J. Kaesberg Professor of Plant Pathology,
Molecular Virology, and Oncology, and Dr. Gould will be the Kelly H. Clifton
Professor. Both Drs. Kaesberg and Clifton are professor emeritus at the University
of Wisconsin-Madison and were leaders in their fields.
Bradfield receives the SOT Achievement Award
Dr. Christopher A. Bradfield recently received the 2000 Achievement Award
from the Society of Toxicology. The Achievement Award is given to an investigator
who is within 15 years of receiving the doctorate degree and who has made
ground-breaking research contributions in the area of toxicology.
Dove elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Dr. William F. Dove has been elected as a Fellow of the American Academy of
Arts and Sciences. The Academy "honors leading intellectuals from both
this country and abroad in every field and profession." Dr. Dove's election
to the Academy recognizes his distinguished contributions to his profession.
Newly elected members will be formally inducted into the Academy at a ceremony
to be held at the House of the Academy in Cambridge, MA, in October 2000.
Four receive Hilldale Undergraduate/Faculty Research Awards
Heather Barnes (Lambert laboratory), Angela Speer (Hoffmann laboratory), Jesse
Waggoner (Dove laboratory), and Kathleen Worringer (Sugden laboratory) have
been selected to receive 2000-2001 Wisconsin/Hilldale Undergraduate/Faculty
Research Awards to carry out research projects at the McArdle Laboratory for
Cancer Research. The students were judged on the basis of the originality
and intellectual significance of their research proposals. The Awards provide
a grant to the student and funds to the faculty supervisor to help defray
the costs of research.
Alumni News
AARC Alumni Gathering
The annual McArdle alumni gathering at the 2003 Meeting of the American Association
for Cancer Research will be held on Saturday, July 12, 2003, from 6:30 p.m.
to 8:30 p.m., in Congressional Hall A at the Renaissance Hotel, 999 9th Street
NW, Washington, D.C. Alumni and their guests are welcome.
Bernstein Joins PLOS
McArdle alumnus Philip Bernstein has joined the Public Library of Science
(PLOS) as a Senior Editor. PLOS is a "nonprofit organization of scientists
committed to making the world's scientific and medical literature a public
resource." Previously Philip was the executive editor of the Journal
of Experimental Medicine. Philip received his Ph.D. in oncology under
the direction of Dr. Jeff Ross. For additional information about PLOS, go
to http://www.plos.org
AARC Alumni Gathering
The annual McArdle alumni gathering at the 2002 Meeting of the American Association
for Cancer Research will be held on Sunday, April 7, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30
p.m., in the Club Room of the San Francisco Marriott. Alumni and their guests
are welcome.
Conney to Give AACR-DeWitt Goodman Memorial Lecture
Dr. Allan Conney, Rutgers-State University of New Jersey, will present the
7th AACR-DeWitt S. Goodman Memorial Lecture on April 10 at the annual AACR
Meeting in San Francisco. Dr. Conney is being honored for his outstanding
contributions in the field of drug metabolism. Dr. Conney received his Ph.D.
degree at the McArdle Laboratory under the direction of Drs. James and Elizabeth
Miller.
Chet Elected President of Weizmann Institute of Science
The Board of Governors of the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel,
has elected Professor Ilan Chet as President of the Institute. Dr. Chet assumed
his responsibilities in December 2001, succeeding Professor Haim Harari. Dr.
Chet completed his doctoral research in microbiology at the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem in Rehovot and carried out postdoctoral studies at the McArdle
Laboratory with Dr. Harold P. Rusch from 1968-1970. Dr. Chet has been the
recipient of numerous prizes and awards in recognition of his research accomplishments.
The Weizmann Institute of Science has ~2,500 scientists, students, and support
staff working on research projects that cover a broad spectrum of contemporary
science.
McArdle alumnus Blobel wins 1999 Nobel Prize
Dr. Günter Blobel was awarded the 1999 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
"for the discovery that proteins have intrinsic signals that govern their
transport and localization in the cell". Dr. Blobel is the John D. Rockefeller
Jr. Professor at Rockefeller University and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Investigator. Dr. Blobel received a medical degree from the University of
Tübingen, Germany. He received a Ph.D. in Oncology from the University
of Wisconsin-Madison where he worked with Dr. Van R. Potter in the McArdle
Laboratory for Cancer Research. Dr. Blobel is donating his Nobel Prize money
to the Friends of Dresden to help rebuild Frauenkirche (the Church of Our
Lady), which was bombed during WWII.
Rohrschneider receives Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship
Dr. Larry Rohrschneider, Basic Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research
Center and affiliate Professor of Pathology at the University of Washington,
has been selected to receive a John Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship
Award. The Fellowships are awarded individuals who have already demonstrated
"exceptional capacity for productive scholarship". The purpose
of the Guggenheim Fellowship program is to provide unrestricted funds to encourage
as much creative freedom as possible. The Fellowship will allow Dr. Rohrschneider
"to collaborate with researchers at the Claude Bernard University in
France on molecular mechanisms for regulating the growth of blood cells."
Dr. Rohrschneider received a Ph.D. in Oncology, under the direction of Dr.
Roswell K. Boutwell, at the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research. The focus
of Dr. Rohrschneider's Ph.D. research was phospholipid metabolism and the
involvement of membranes in tumor promotion in mouse skin.
