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Lindy McClelland awarded NIH F31

Friday, October 19, 2012

Lindy McClelland, a Genetics Ph.D. student, has been awarded an NIH F31 grant award. This award will provide three years of support toward stipend, tuition, health fees and lab supplies. Project Title: Tis11 Mediated mRNA degradation regulates intestinal stem cell quiescence

Drs. Ovitt and Benoit Awarded NIH Grant

Friday, September 14, 2012

A dissociated cell prep prepared from whole submandibular gland was seeded into PEG hydrogels and incubated in serum-free media

Salivary gland cells are viable encapsulated within hydrogels: A dissociated cell prep prepared from whole submandibular gland was seeded into PEG hydrogels and incubated in serum-free media.

Biomedical Genetics assistant professor, Catherine Ovitt, Ph.D. and Danielle Benoit, Ph.D., assistant professor of Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering, have been awarded a four year grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), for the project, entitled Hydrogel encapsulation of salivary gland cells promotes cell survival, proliferation, and assembly.

This project deals with potential utility of adult stem or progenitor cells for repair of radiation-damaged salivary glands. While the potential is high, it is currently only a theoretical solution for patients suffering from xerostomia. There remain several critical obstacles that must be resolved before cell-based therapy for dysfunctional salivary glands can be moved into the clinical arena. These include the identification of appropriate donor cells, the technology for promoting implantation, and direct functional assays to assess the outcomes.

The goal is to determine if the use of hydrogels can promote in vivo differentiation of transplanted progenitor cells. The successful completion of this project will establish a foundation for subsequent translational research to progress the technology into clinical applications.

For more information please visit the Ovitt Lab and the Benoit Lab.

URMC Geneticists Verify Cholesterol-Cancer Link

Thursday, September 13, 2012

University of Rochester Medical Center scientists discovered new genetic evidence linking cholesterol and cancer, raising the possibility that cholesterol medications could be useful in the future for cancer prevention or to augment existing cancer treatment.

The data, published in the online journal Cell Reports, support several recent population-based studies that suggest individuals who take cholesterol-lowering drugs may have a reduced risk of cancer, and, conversely that individuals with the highest levels of cholesterol seem to have an elevated risk of cancer.

The cancer-cholesterol question has been debated since the early 20th century, and along with it doctors and scientists have observed various trends and associations. However, until now genetic evidence directly linking cholesterol and malignancy has been lacking, said senior author Hartmut (Hucky) Land, Ph.D., Robert and Dorothy Markin Professor and chair of the Department of Biomedical Genetics and Professor in the department of Biochemistry & Biophysics, and director of research and co-director of the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center at URMC.

Read More: URMC Geneticists Verify Cholesterol-Cancer Link

URMC Researchers Connect New Genetic Signature to Leukemia

Monday, August 27, 2012

University of Rochester Medical Center scientists believe they are the first to identify genes that underlie the growth of primitive leukemia stem cells; and then to use the new genetic signature to identify currently available drugs that selectively target the rogue cells.

Read More: URMC Researchers Connect New Genetic Signature to Leukemia

Nicole Scott awarded NIH F31

Monday, April 23, 2012

Nicole Scott, a Genetics Ph.D. student in Dr. Mark Noble's lab, has been awarded an NIH F31 grant award. This award will provide three years of support toward stipend, tuition, health fees and lab supplies. Project Title: Effect of early psychosine accumulation in Krabbe disease on CNS progenitor cells