News from the Director’s Chair Spencer Gibson, Ph.D. A NEW LOOK,

February 2015
Research Centre
NewsfromtheDirector’sChair
SpencerGibson,Ph.D.
Insidethisissue:
Research Funding Success
1
Trainee Success
1
Our scien sts in the news
2
Newest Senior Scien st
2
Visi ng Speakers
2
Publica ons
3
Funding Opportuni es
4
IMPORTANTDATES

March 16—Cell Biology Club
special presenta on by Salah
Mahumd, Canada Research
Chair in Pharmacoepidemiology

April 15—CancerCare Manitoba Research Day for Trainee and
Residents abstract deadline

April 24—Earlybird deadline
for GCCRD Intermediate/
Advanced imaging workshop

May 13—CancerCare Manitoba Research Day for Trainees
and Residents

May 15—Canadian Cancer
Research Conference Abstract
deadline

June 15-26 Intermediate/
Advanced imaging workshop
GCCRD
ANEWLOOK,
ANEWINSTITUTE! RESEARCHFUNDINGSUCCESS
We took a short hiatus during
the thick of grant-wri ng season
but our Ins tute’s newsle er is
back with a new format! Please
let us know what features you
would like and what we need to
improve upon.
Sachin Katyal won the CIHR
Early Career Award in Cancer.
This $25,000 award is given
annually to new inves gator’s in cancer research with
the highest ranking opera ng grant.
There will be a new Research
InsƟtute of Oncology and Hematology (RIOH). This new ins tute
will encompass the Manitoba
Ins tute of Cell Biology and all
other areas of cancer research at
CancerCare Manitoba. The new
ins tute will create new sec ons
(Discovery, Clinical Innova on,
Preven on, Health Care Delivery,
and Pa ent Experience). We will
keep you informed on new developments.
Sabine Mai received 2 opera ng grants—Cancer Research Society to inves gate
gene c profiling in mul ple
myeloma, and a CCSRI Impact
grant led Dr. Tabori to study
telomeres in brain cancers.
Issai Vanan received a Manitoba Medical Services Founda on grant to validate
PRDX1 as a therapeu c target
in group-3 medulloblastoma.
Ryan Zarychanski received
the Liam J Murphy Young
Inves gator award from the
University of Manitoba. This
biennial award to honor Dr
Leigh Murphy’s late husband
is awarded to young faculty
members who shows evidence of developing a strong
research program.
TRAINEESUCCESS
Julius Awe (Mai lab) won the
2014 CancerCare Manitoba—
Astra Zeneca Dieter He g award
for his work analyzing circula ng
tumour cells in prostate cancer.
Brent Guppy (McManus lab) and
Lexi Ciapala (Gibson lab) won
the University of Manitoba Sheu
L Lee Family Scholarship in Oncology Research.
Rebecca Dielschneider (Gibson
lab) won the University of Manitoba’s 3 Minute Thesis compe on and will be represen ng
Manitoba at the Western Regional compe on in May. Diego Rodriguez Herrera (Pistorius
lab) finished second.
Sumanta ChaƩerjee (Raouf lab)
and Yingfeng Zheng (Murphy
lab) both received postdoctoral fellowships from the
Canadian Breast
Cancer Foundaon—Prairies
NWT chapter.
Daniel Huang (Katyal lab) was
awarded a Brain Tumour Founda on of Canada studentship to
work with Dr Katyal for two summers.
Page 2
News from the Director’s Chair
OURSCIENTISTSINTHENEWS
BABY SHOWER FOR
ASHLEY SITARZ
MARCH 16TH
1:00-2:00
THOMPSON ROOM
Ryan Zarychanski was featured in the Washington Post
that anemia may actually be
protec ve against certain
diseases. Wapo.st/1 6FCx
h p://news.sciencemag.org/
biology/2015/01/bad-luckand-cancer-science-reporters-reflec ons-controversialstory
Julius Awe’s research on
prostate cancer was featured
on the Mitacs Newsroom.
Ow.ly/FDgst
Sabine Mai and Ludger
Klewes were featured on CTV
News highligh ng the work
done by the Genomics Centre. h p://
winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/video?
clipId=530710
Shantanu Banerji was interviewed by CJOB in response
to the recent Science publicaon claiming cancer risk is
due to “bad luck”.
CJOB on World Cancer Day
(February 4th) discussing
their research in Manitoba.
Sabine Mai’s collabora on
with Drs Drachenberg and
Saranchuk on circula ng tumours cells was reported in
the Winnipeg Sun. h p://
www.winnipegsun.com/2015
/03/04/manitoba-docs-makeprostate-cancerbreakthrough
Sachin Katyal and Shantanu
Banerji were interviewed by
FEATURING:OURNEWESTSENIORSCIENTIST—WAYNEXU
“My research will develop
new bioinformatics
algorithms and tools for
Massive Diverse Data
Integrative Analysis. “
Dr Xu joined us a er working
as a bioinforma cian at the
Supercompu ng Ins tute of
the University of Minnesota
and the NGS pla orm at the
University of Manitoba. He
collaborated on a variety of
projects ranging from mammalian cancer genomics to
fungal resistance genomes in
plants. His research focuses
on cancer biomarker signa-
tures development, especially the Yin Yang gene expression mean ra o (YMR) signature modeled around pa ent
prognosis. Dr Xu has received
Manitoba Medical Service Founda on to test
YMR in lung cancer and
Canadian Breast Cancer
Founda on research
funding for Breast cancer to test it in breast
cancer. He currently collaborates with Dr Jim Davie, Dr.
Leigh Murphy, and Dr.
Shantanu Banerji.
Dr Stephen Robbins from
CIHR-ICR will be visi ng in
early April. Date to be announced.
standing basic biological concepts to cancer cure” . Dr
Tabori is the 2014 winner of
the Terry Fox Research Ins tute’s Young Inves gator’s
award, and a collaborator
with Dr Mai.
VISITINGSCIENTISTS
“My research will
RETIREMENT PARTY FOR
develop new
CECILE VERRIER
bioinformatics
MARCH 20TH
algorithms and tools for
1:00—3:00
Massive Diverse Data
EXECUTIVE
BOARDROOM
Integrative
Analysis. “
On March 26th at noon,
please join us in the CCMB
Lecture Theatre for “In the
footsteps of Darwin: Biodiversity and evolu on in the
Ecuadorian jungles and Galapagos” by Dr Abraham
Fainsod from Hebrew University.
On February 19, we welcomed Dr Uri Tabori from
SIckKids Hospital who presented “Lessons learned cancer gene cs: from under-
Page 3
News from the Director’s Chair
PUBLICATIONS
Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 causes mitochondrial damage and neuron death mediated by Bnip3. Lu P, Kamboj A, Gibson
SB, Anderson CM. J Neurosci. 2014 Nov 26;34(48):15975-87.
Quan ta ve Super resolu on Microscopy Reveals Differences in Nuclear DNA Organiza on of Mul ple Myeloma and Monoclonal Gammopathy of Undetermined Significance. Sathitruangsak C, Righolt CH, Klewes L, Tammur P, Ilus T, Tamm A, Punab M,
Olujohungbe A, Mai S. J Cell Biochem. 2014 Dec 10.
A tumor DNA complex aberra on index is an independent predictor of survival in breast and ovarian cancer. Vollan HK, Rueda
OM, Chin SF, Cur s C, Turashvili G, Shah S, Lingjærde OC, Yuan Y, Ng CK, Dunning MJ, Dicks E, Provenzano E, Sammut S, McKinney S, Ellis IO, Pinder S, Purushotham A, Murphy LC, Kristensen VN; METABRIC Group, Brenton JD, Pharoah PD, Børresen-Dale
AL, Aparicio S, Caldas C. Mol Oncol. 2015 Jan;9(1):115-27.
Deficiency of prolac n-inducible protein leads to impaired Th1 immune response and suscep bility to Leishmania major in
mice. Li J, Liu D, Mou Z, Ihedioha OC, Blanchard A, Jia P, Myal Y, Uzonna JE. Eur J Immunol. 2015 Jan 16.
Phase II study of PX-866 in recurrent glioblastoma. Pitz MW, Eisenhauer EA, MacNeil MV, Thiessen B, Easaw JC, Macdonald DR,
Eisenstat DD, Kakumanu AS, Salim M, Chalchal H, Squire J, Tsao MS, Kamel-Reid S, Banerji S, Tu D, Powers J, Hausman DF, Mason WP. Neuro Oncol. 2015 Jan 20.
Three-dimensional telomere architecture of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: comparison of tumor and normal epithelial
cells. Sunpaweravong S, Sunpaweravong P, Sathitruangsak C, Mai S. Dis Esophagus. 2015 Jan 27.
Mito c accumula on of dimethylated lysine 79 of histone h3 is important for maintaining genome integrity during mitosis in
human cells. Guppy BJ, McManus KJ. GeneƟcs. 2015 Feb;199(2):423-33.
Angiogenic factors in chronic lymphocy c leukaemia (CLL): Where do we stand? Aguirre Palma LM, Gehrke I, Kreuzer KA. Crit
Rev Oncol Hematol. 2015 Mar;93(3):225-236.
Ethanol deregulates Mecp2/MeCP2 in differen a ng neural stem cells via interplay between 5-methylcytosine and 5hydroxymethylcytosine at the Mecp2 regulatory elements. Liyanage VR, Zachariah RM, Davie JR, Rastegar M. Exp Neurol. 2015
Mar;265:102-17.
Intratumoural inflamma on and endocrine resistance in breast cancer. Murray JI, West NR, Murphy LC, Watson PH. Endocr
Relat Cancer. 2015 Feb;22(1):R51-67.
Differen al cellular responses induced by dorsomorphin and LDN-193189 in chemotherapy-sensi ve and chemotherapyresistant human epithelial ovarian cancer cells. Ali JL, Lagasse BJ, Minuk AJ, Love AJ, Moraya AI, Lam L, Arthur G, Gibson SB,
Morrison LC, Werbowetski-Ogilvie TE, Fu Y, NachƟgal MW. Int J Cancer. 2015 Mar 1;136(5):E455-69.
FUNDINGOPPORTUNITIES
March 9—Canadian Breast Cancer Founda on opera ng grant
March 13— FAAF Children’s Hospital Research Ins tute of Manitoba Major Opera ng grant (LOI previously required)
March 15—Ride for Dad prostate cancer grant
March 16– Ban ng Research Founda on Discovery Award
- Movember team grant
- LLS SPOR applica on (LOI previously required)
March 17—Research Manitoba le ers of support
- FAAF Prostate Cancer Canada Movember Discovery grant
- FAAF Canadian Liver Founda on
March 18—FAAF CCSRI Innova on Grant
- FAAF CCSRI Innova on to Impact Grant
March 19—Sontag Founda on for Brain Cancer
March 23—Health Sciences Centre Founda on opera ng grant, allied health research grant, and nursing research grant
March 25– LOI CCSRI Impact Grant
- The Company of Biologists mee ng grant
March 27—Children’s Hospital Research Ins tute of Manitoba major opera ng grant
March 31- Canadian Liver Founda on opera ng grant
-Research Manitoba Bridge funding
- LOI CIHR Human Fron er Science Program
April 1– CIHR eHealth Innova on Partnership Program (registra on)
- Cancer Research Ins tute Fellowship in tumour immunology
- Canadian child health clinician scien st program rising research support program
- Research Manitoba chair in demen a research
- CCSRI Innova on grant
- CCSRI Innova on to Impact
- CIHR Thromboembolic Disease clinical trial
- Prostate Cancer Canada Discovery grant
- FAAF NSERC Idea to Innova on
- CanFASD travel award
- CCSRI Career Development Awards in Preven on
April 2—FAAF NSERC Collabora ve research and training experience program
April 7– NSERC Idea to Innovate