Cancer Mechanisms Program Announces 2005 Best Paper Awards

The Cancer Mechanisms Research Program of Norris Cotton Cancer Center is pleased to announce the winners of the 2005 Cancer Mechanisms Program Best Paper Awards. Annually, the program awards $250 prizes to first authors of papers published by Dartmouth post-doctoral fellows and graduate students that are judged to be most illuminating of cancer mechanisms.

In the post-doctoral division, Dr. Aime A. Levesque has been honored for the publication, "Distinct roles for p53 transactivation and repression in preventing UCN-01-mediated abrogation of DNA damage-induced arrest at S and G2 cell cycle checkpoints," which appeared in the May 26, 2005 issue of Oncogene. Working with Ethan A. Kohn, the late Edward Bresnick, and Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology Alan Eastman, Levesque dissected functions of the p53 protein-frequently altered in cancer-in mediating cellular responses to chemotherapy. This work was supported by grants from the National Cancer Institute and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

Dr. Tong Zhang received honorable mention in the post-doctoral division for the publication, "Chimeric NK receptor-bearing T cells mediate anti-tumor immunotherapy," which appeared in the September 1, 2005 issue of Blood. Zhang worked with Bethany A. Lemoi and Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Immunology Charles L. Sentman, supported by a grant from the National Cancer Institute.

In the graduate student division, Neil J. Ganem has been honored for his publication, "Efficient mitosis in human cells lacking poleward microtubule flux," which appeared in the October 25, 2005 issue of Current Biology. Working with Kristi Upton and Professor of Biochemistry Duane A. Compton, and supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, Ganem discovered that poleward microtubule flux is not required for mitotic progression but does contribute to the proper segregation of chromosomes. Ganem is a repeat winner of the Cancer Mechanism Program Best Paper Award, and both of his award-winning papers were lauded as "must reads" by Facultyof1000.com.

Joanna S. Kerley-Hamilton and Na Li received honorable mention in the student division. Kerley-Hamilton's publication, "A p53-dominant transcriptional response to cisplatin in testicular germ cell tumor-derived human embryonal carcinoma," appeared in the September 8, 2005 issue of Oncogene. Her work was supported by National Cancer Institute and American Cancer Society grants to senior author Michael J. Spinella, Assistant Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Li's publication, "TA-p63-gamma regulates expression of DeltaN-p63 in a manner that is sensitive to p53," appeared in Oncogene (online) on December 5, 2005, supported by grants from the National Cancer Institute and the V Foundation to senior author, Assistant Professor James DiRenzo.

Please join me in congratulating these outstanding Dartmouth cancer researchers.

Charles Brenner, Director, Cancer Mechanisms Program, Norris Cotton Cancer Center, and Associate Professor of Genetics and Biochemistry, Dartmouth Medical School.