Notes from the Director’s Chair

Notes from the Director’s Chair
The dog days of summer are here with thunderstorms, mosquitoes, and hot humid
temperatures. I hope most of you will enjoy the hot weather and get some time for
camping, vacation and/or relaxation. For the rest, I hope the summer will be filled be
research results and writing of manuscripts and/or grants.
MICB researchers have been successful at receiving peer-reviewed
grants this past month. Dr. Ryan Zarychanski received a CIHR
Young Investigator Award for five years. Dr. Sachin Katyal was
awarded a five year open operating grant from CIHR as well. Drs.
Leigh Murphy, Wayne Xu and Jim Davie each received
Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation Prairie /NWT
operating grants for two to three years each. Dr. Jim
Davie received a Manitoba Institute of Child Health
operating grant. And finally Dr. Shantanu Banerji
received a Thorlakson award for his research.
Congratulations on your successful grants!
We welcomed students from the University of Manitoba’s
Biomedical Youth Camp. Thank you to Sara Kost, Eric
Bouchard, Leigh Minuk, Rebecca Dielschneider and Alex
Coates for demonstrating how to extract DNA from fruit
and giving a tour of MICB.
As announced at the State of the Institute talk, a new
CancerCare Manitoba Training Program was created to
support our trainees in Medical Physics, cancer and
blood disorders research. We have two Terry Fox Rising Star entrance scholarships for
graduate students joining the training program within their first year of graduate school.
The graduate student will collaborate with other funded Terry Fox laboratories. Deadline
to apply is July 31st with the winners announced the first week in September.
July 2014
Our annual MICB/BMG BBQ will be held the afternoon of August 15th at Kildonan Park
featuring Memphis BQQ sauce. Sign-up sheets to contribute foods, drinks, condiments
and desserts are at the main office.
The first MICB Summer Student Symposium will be held on August 20th in the Lecture
Theatre from 9:00 am to noon. Each summer student will have 10 minutes to give an
oral presentation of the work they did with us. Coffee and donuts will be served at 10:30.
The best presentation will receive a pair of tickets to the Bombers-Montreal game on
August 22nd. The symposium’s guest speaker and judge will be Dr Meghan Azad, a
former MICB summer student and graduate student who is now an Assistant Professor in
the Department of Pediatrics and Child Health and a Research Scientist with the
Manitoba Institute of Child Health. She recently returned the Lindau Nobel Laureate
Meetings in Germany where she interviewed Nobel Laureates for Nature magazine.
Meghan will be giving her talk at noon. Please make a point of coming to this symposium
and supporting our summer students.
2014 MICB Annual Retreat will be held from September 26-28th at the Lakeview
Resort and Conference Center in Gimli, Manitoba. This year's theme is "Metastasis and
Relapse" with Dr Ann Chambers, Canada Research Chair in Oncology from London
Health Sciences Centre and Dr Sean Egan, Senior Scientist in Developmental & Stem
Cell Biology at Sick Kids Hospital as our invited speakers. Please contact your supervisor
regarding your attendance so a list of those
attending from individual labs can be created.
A sign-up sheet will be posted for those who
require or are willing to provide transportation
to the Lakeview Resort. Deadline for
registration is August 29th. Please contact
Cecile Verrier for more details.
CancerCare Manitoba is the largest recipient
of blood products from the Canadian Blood
Services Blood Bank. CCMB will be hosting a “What's Your
Type?” event outside the Lecture theatre on August to help staff
find out their blood type & increase awareness about donating
blood products. Contact Eilean McKenzie-Matwiy if you want
to volunteer to hand out brochures and recruit donors.
I would like to announce the new trainee representative for
MICB will be Landon Wark who is a graduate student in Dr.
Sabine Mai’s laboratory. As part of his responsibilities, he is
gathering feedback from trainees on the Cell Biology Club.
July 2014
Sign-up sheet for Cell Biology Club 2014/2015 at the main office. Please use link to fill
out a survey on how to improve Cell Biology Club
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/C5PRJZY
All Graduate students whose supervisors hold appointments as a Senior Research
Scientist or Research Affiliate Scientist at the Manitoba Institute of Cell Biology and who
have successfully completed a program of studies leading to a Master or Ph.D. degree at
the University of Manitoba in the year prior to the granting of the award (Sept 2013 Aug 2014) are eligible for this prize. Submit 3 unbounded copies to Cecile Verrier by
August 31.
We will be holding a series of contests throughout the summer for a pairs of Bombers
tickets. These tickets are available to all staff in MICB, not just trainees. A pair of tickets
will be given away to the top student presentation at the annual MICB retreat on
September 26th-28th in Gimli. Good Luck!
On June 26 2014, CancerCare Manitoba concluded an agreement with 3D Signatures Inc.
for the assignment to 3D Signatures Inc of the rights to novel methods of 3D Genomic
Analysis that are useful for diagnosing, predicting and measuring cancers and various
neurological disorders and their progression in patients, which were developed under the
leadership of Dr. Sabine Mai PhD at CancerCare Manitoba. Dr. Sabine Mai PhD has
dedicated her life to the research of Cancer and other debilitating diseases. She has been
instrumental in the development of ground breaking 3D analysis of genomic instability,
which will help in diagnosing more specifically and earlier several forms of Cancer. This
will allow physicians to personalize treatment and improve the quality of outcomes.
During the course of more than twenty years of research she has contributed to a portfolio
of patents protecting her discoveries. Her vision is to use her discoveries for the benefit
of patients everywhere. Cancer Care Manitoba through its extensive financial and
personal support of Dr. Sabine Mai’s work, has shared in her dream at every point along
the way. 3D Signatures was formed to bring the results of Dr. Sabine Mai’s research into
clinical use. The Company is envisioned not only as a licensor but also as the supplier of
the expert training required to perform the protocols and also the proprietary software
tools required. It will also expand the range of applications and markets through further
research and development. In recognition of the contribution and support of CancerCare
Manitoba, of the University of Manitoba and of the Province of Manitoba, through the
Department of Manitoba Jobs and the Economy, and other, 3D Signatures Inc. will center
its operations in Winnipeg and will continue benefiting Manitoba and working with
Diagnostic Services Manitoba will ensure that Manitobans are first to benefit from these
discoveries.
July 2014
Publications:
Preferential Estrogen Receptor β Ligands Reduce Bcl-2 Expression in HormoneResistant Breast Cancer Cells to Increase Autophagy. Ruddy SC, Lau R, Cabrita MA,
McGregor C, McKay BC, Murphy LC, Wright JS, Durst T, Pratt MA. Mol Cancer Ther.
2014 Jul;13(7):1882-93.
ERβ splice variant expression in four large cohorts of human breast cancer patient
tumors. Wimberly H, Han G, Pinnaduwage D, Murphy LC, Yang XR, Andrulis IL,
Sherman M, Figueroa J, Rimm DL. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2014 Jul 10. [Epub ahead of
print]
Estrogen regulation of anti-apoptotic bcl-2 family member mcl-1 expression in breast
cancer cells. Schacter JL, Henson ES, Gibson SB. PLoS One. 2014 Jun 27;9(6):e100364.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0100364. eCollection 2014.
Red blood cell transfusion in patients with traumatic brain injury: a systematic review
protocol. Boutin A, Chassé M, Shemilt M, Lauzier F, Moore L, Zarychanski R, Lacroix
J, Fergusson DA, Desjardins P, Turgeon AF. Syst Rev. 2014 Jun 18;3(1):66.
Upcoming Grant and Fellowship Deadlines:
July 29 – Pre application CDMRP Lung Cancer Research Program Concept Award
July 30 – FAAF Uniting against lung cancer legacy for advances in lung cancer
July 31 – Federation of Chinese Canadian professionals
Aug 1
- ASH translational Research training in hematology
- NSERC discovery NOI
- FAAF US Dept of Defense Breast Cancer Research Breakthrough awards and
innovator award
- MICH Travel grant
- Registration Genome Canada – Genomics Innovation Network and Core
Operations Support Funds
Aug 4 FAAF US Dept of Defense Breast Cancer Research Era of Hope Scholar
Aug 5
- FAAF CIHR Planning and Dissemination Grant
- FAAF Matsumae International Foundation Research Fellowship Program
Aug 6
- FAAF US Dept of Defense ALS Therapeutic Idea and Therapeutic Development
awards
- LOI Mitacs elevate post-doctoral fellowship
Aug 12
- FAAF Mitacs elevate PDF
July 2014
- FAAF Genome Canada Innovation Network and core ops support funds
- Lung cancer research program concept award
Aug 13 Uniting against lung cancer legacy
Aug 14
- FAAF US Dept of Defense Bone marrow failure research
- FAAF Heath and Stroke grants in aid of research
Aug 15
- CCSRI Innovation grant abstract registration
- US Dept of Defense Breast Cancer Research Innovator Award
- US Dept of Defense Breast Cancer Research Breakthrough Award
- MHRC Applied health services research grant
- CIHR Registration Industry-partnered research program
- MMSF Operating grant
Aug 16 - US Dept of Defense Breast Cancer Era of Hope
Aug 18 – FAAF CIHR Banting Post-doctoral fellowship program
- CIHR Planning and Dissemination grant
Aug 20 – US Dept of Defense ALS awards
Aug 28
- Heart and Stroke Foundation
- US Dept of Defense Bone Marrow Failure
- FAAF EU Marie Sklodowska Cure Actions Fellowships
Aug 31 – Matsumae International Fellowship
Sept 1
- Colon Cancer Canada Operating Grant
- CCSRI Impact Grant
- MICH Travel Grant
- Crohns’ and Colitis Foundation Innovation Award
July 2014