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Dr. Kelley Madden Receives Two-Year NIH Grant

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Dr. Kelley Madden, BME Research Assistant Professor, and current member of the Brown Lab, has been awarded a two year, $232,943, grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The title of this R21 grant is 'Stress, Sympathetic Activation and Breast Tumor Growth and Metastasis and focuses on studies that will connect stress exposure and the stress hormones norepinephrine and epinephrine to cancer growth and spread in two mouse models of breast cancer. This work will provide immediate insight into how long-term stress exposure influences breast cancer growth and metastasis, and will lead to additional options for the treatment of breast cancer.

BME Graduate Student Javier Lapeira Soto Receives DoD Predoctoral Traineeship Award

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

BME graduate student, Javier Lapeira Soto, a current member of the Brown Lab, has been awarded a 2010 Predoctoral Traineeship Award from the Department of Defense (DoD) Breast Cancer Research Program (BCRP) based on the high scientific merit of his application, Breast Cancer Endothelial Cell Calcium Dynamics Using Two-Photon Microscopy, and its relevance to the programmatic goals of the BCRP.

Mercedes Szpunar Receives GWIS Travel and Conference Award

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Mercedes Szpunar, a 3rd year graduate student in Dr. Edward Brown's lab received a travel and conference award from GWIS. Mercedes attended and presented a poster at the 2010 Days of Molecular Medicine Meeting in Stockholm, Sweden. View her Travel report followup.

Dr. Kelley Madden Receives Department of Defense IDEA Award

Monday, February 1, 2010

Dr. Kelley Madden has received funding from the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program for a 2-year study that seeks to understand how an important stress pathway, the sympathetic nervous system, influences breast tumor growth and metastasis. Specifically, this study will determine if the sympathetic nervous system encourages growth of blood vessels into a tumor (angiogenesis). A unique aspect of this project is to determine if the sympathetic nervous system alters the effectiveness of therapy targeting and destroying tumor blood vessels (antiangiogenic therapy). Understanding how a stress pathway influences tumor growth will open the door to therapeutic options targeting the sympathetic nervous system. Importantly, therapies targeting sympathetic nervous system signaling pathways are already in use in the clinic for safe, chronic treatment of heart disease, offering the possibility of rapid clinical application of our findings. This project continues work that has been previously funded by the Breast Cancer Coalition of Rochester.

MD/PhD Student Mercedes Szpunar Receives a DoD Breast Cancer Research Program Predoctoral Fellowship

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Mercedes Szpunar, an MD/PhD student in the laboratory of Dr. Edward Brown, has received a Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program predoctoral fellowship. This fellowship, which supports up to three years of graduate stipend and travel funds, funds her thesis project focused on the effects of chronic stressor exposure on breast cancer growth. This study seeks to delineate how stress hormones alter tumor cell signaling, thereby promoting tumor growth and metastasis. Utilizing human breast cancer cell lines, the project includes in vitro and in vivo experiments and the optical technique of Second Harmonic Generation (SHG) - to image the ordering of collagen fibers -- to determine changes in tumor progression in the setting of chronic stress.

Dr. Edward Brown Receives an NIH Director's New Innovator Award

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Dr. Edward Brown has received an NIH Director's New Innovator Award to support a 5 year/$1.5M study that seeks to understand the cells and signals responsible for collagen organization in tumor-draining lymph nodes (TDLNs). This study exploits an optical phenomenon called Second Harmonic Generation (SHG) which allows for the microscopic imaging of ordered collagen fibers within living tissue. Tumor cells can exploit these ordered fibers during metastasis, and Dr. Brown hopes to determine the cells and signals which influence the SHG+ fibers in order to disrupt their production and inhibit metastasis via the TDLN, which is a primary route. He will also explore the ability of SHG imaging of TDLN biopsies to predict metastatic ability, to aid in customization of postoperative therapy. This project continues work that has been previously funded by a D.o.D. Era of Hope Scholar Award and a Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences Award, and complements a recently awarded D.o.D. Era of Hope Scholar Research Award.

Dr. Edward Brown Receives a D.o.D. Breast Cancer Research Program Grant

Friday, August 28, 2009

Dr. Edward Brown has received funding from the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program to support a 5 year/$2M study that seeks to understand the cells and signals responsible for collagen organization in breast tumors. This study exploits an optical phenomenon called Second Harmonic Generation which allows for the microscopic imaging of ordered collagen fibers within breast tumor models. Breast tumor cells exploit these ordered fibers to escape the tumor mass, and Dr. Brown hopes to determine the cells and signals which influence the SHG+ fibers in order to disrupt their production and inhibit metastasis. He will also explore the ability of SHG imaging of breast tumor biopsies to predict metastatic ability, to aid in customization of postoperative therapy. This project continues work that has been previously funded by a D.o.D. Era of Hope Scholar Award and a Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences Award.

Read More: Dr. Edward Brown Receives a D.o.D. Breast Cancer Research Program Grant

Spouses Awarded Prestigious Sloan, Pew Fellowships

Friday, August 3, 2007

This summer the University of Rochester Medical Center boasts winners of two of the most prestigious awards available to young scientists - and the winners are from the same family.

Edward Brown, Ph.D., has been named a Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences, and his spouse Ania Majewska, Ph.D., has received an award from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Brown, one of just 20 scientists in the nation to be recognized by the Pew Charitable Trusts this year, will receive $240,000 toward his research, while Majewska will receive $45,000 to continue her work.