Welcome
The overarching mission of the OHSU Department of Cell, Developmental & Cancer Biology is to advance the understanding of problems relevant to human health and disease. To accomplish this mission, research groups in the department have historically focused on questions regarding cell structure, organelles, life cycle, differentiation, and regulated communication between cells and extracellular signals and cues. An ultimate application of knowledge gained from these studies has been to understand important cell physiologic processes that effect human biology. These issues directly link to problems of interest to developmental biologists, including molecular and cellular mechanisms regulating tissue morphogenesis, tissue polarity and patterning. Read full welcome message here.
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Dr. Missy Wong has been appointment as the Knight Cancer Institute's associate director of basic science. She steps into this role formerly held by Dr. Lisa Coussens who was named a co-deputy director in the KCI. After conducting a national search for this position, the search committee selected Dr. Wong from a strong slate of internal and external candidates. Missy has been at OHSU and a member of the Knight Cancer Institute for over 20 years. She currently serves as vice chair for the Department of Cell, Developmental and Cancer Biology in the OHSU School of Medicine, and has served as co-leader of the Cancer Biology Program for three competitive renewals of the KCI P30 grant from the National Cancer Institute, with three different co-leaders. Missy’s accomplishments as a scientist are well-recognized, particularly her laboratory’s research on the physiologic impact of cell fusion hybrids between circulating bone marrow-derived and intestinal tumor epithelial cells in advancing tumorigenesis.
Her history of collaborative team science and mentoring are notable, and her commitment to Community Outreach and Engagement (COE) and DEI add to our confidence in her success in this next chapter of her scientific leadership. In this new role, she will collaborate with Dr. Coussens, as well as Dr. Eneida Nemecek, associate director of clinical research, and Dr. Shelley Tworoger, associate director of population science, to guide the development of innovative policies and programs to further discovery-based science across all four research programs.
Dr. Sanjay Malhotra co-organized the 2024 Stanford Drug Discovery Symposium, an annual event that Dr. Malhotra co-founded in 2016. Notable attendees were a Nobel laureate, the FDA commissioner and leaders of large pharmaceutical and biotech companies.
Dr. Teresa Zimmers successfully co-organized the recent Keystone Symposia Cachexia and Wasting Syndrome in Cancer and Chronic Diseases. It was held at the Buck Institute in Novato, CA from May 5-7. Congratulations on a successful symposia and for engaging many new labs and investigators!
KCI Trainee Travel Awards
Travel awards are available for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows conducting cancer-focused research with Knight-affiliated faculty. Up to $1500 in funding will be awarded to selected trainees who will present their research at a national meeting but may not have sufficient funds available.
Deadlines for applications in 2025 are:
- January 22, 2025
- April 15, 2025
- July 15, 2025
- October 15, 2025
Learn more about the awards and apply here.
Questions? Email knightedu@ohsu.edu
Announcement: Knight Cancer Institute leadership change
Dr. Lisa Coussens had been appointed the interim director of the Knight Cancer Institute effective immediately. Please read Dr. Shivaani Kummar's announcement about the transition as well as Dr. Coussens' statement addressing her new role. Congratulations, Dr. Coussens, we trust in your leadership and have faith that you will lead the Knight Cancer Institute towards ending cancer as we know it!
Recent Accolades & Funding
Congratulations to Dr. Julie Fischer, Vaseva lab fellow, who was selected to present a short talk at the Society for NeuroOncology pediatric Neuro-Oncology conference in May. Julie will discuss preclinical efficacy of new class MEK inhibitors in NF-associated sarcoma.
The Wong lab has several announcements:
- Dr. Kathryn Fowler, surgical resident, delivered a podium presentation at the National Pancreatic Foundation Annual Meeting in April. Congratulations!
- Welcome to TJ Ekstrom, who joined the Wong and Gibbs labs to conduct her dissertation research.
- Tania Chavez, Wong Lab intern (LSAMP-PSU), won Best Scientific Communicator award for her poster presentation at the LSAMP conference at OSU, titled “Cell proliferative state of Bmi1+ intestinal stem cells in homeostasis and injury regeneration”
Congratulations to Dr. Michelle Ozaki, Schedin lab, who successfully defensed her thesis in March!
Congratulations to Dr. Brian Druker who was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Read more here.
Congratulations to Dr. Jonathan Brody who has been appointed as the Deputy Director of the Brenden-Colson Center for Pancreatic Care. Dr. Brody has demonstrated outstanding leadership and has made significant contributions to advancing BCCPC's mission.
With AACR's 2025 Annual Meeting coming up later this month, April 25-30, we would like to highlight the faculty who have been invited to present:
- Dr. Lisa Coussens, Speaker, Targeting Innate Immune Cell Subsets
- Dr. Shivaani Kummar, Speaker, Clinical Design Workshop: Complexities of Current Phase I Clinical Trials
- Dr. Teresa Zimmers, Chair and Speaker, Mechanisms and Targeting of Neuroendocrine Dysregulation and Inflammation in Cancer Cachexia
- Dr. Amy Moran, Chair and Speaker, Mechanisms Driving Sex Differences in Non-Reproductive Cancers
- Dr. Ted Braun, Speaker, High Throughput Single Cell Genomics Enables the Mechanistic Characterization of Blood Cancers
- Dr. Pepper Schedin, Speaker, The Local and Systemic Tumor Microenvironment in Cancer Progression
Recent Publications
The Grossberg lab has two publications to announce:
- "The metabolic basis of cancer-related fatigue" in Neuroscience Behavioral Reviews.
- "Perioperative Radiation for Patients with Resectable Pancreatic Cancer: an Updated Review After the Initial RTOG 0848 Results" in the Journal of Gastrointestinal Cancer.
In collaboration with Dr. Lauren Rodda's lab, the Moreau lab had a review article published in Nature Reviews Immunology titled, "B cells in non-lymphoid tissues." The lead authors were Dr. Abrar Samiea, postdoc in the Moreau lab, and George Celis, graduate student in the Rodda lab.
The Brody lab has two publications to announce:
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"Ongoing replication stress tolerance and clonal T cell responses distinguish liver and lung recurrence and outcomes in pancreatic cancer" in Nature Cancer, with Dr. Coussens as co-author.
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"Challenges and Opportunities in Targeting the Complex Pancreatic Tumor Microenvironment" in JCI Oncology Advances.
Congratulations to Dr. Mona Mohammadhosseini, postdoc in the Agarwal lab, who has published "Targeting the CD74 signaling axis suppresses inflammation and rescues defective hematopoiesis in RUNX1-familial platelet disorder" in Science Translational Medicine.
View all CDCB news and recognitions.
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CDCB labs recruiting
Careers with an emphasis on preclinical and translational science
CDCB welcomes
CDCB is excited to welcome Angelina Vaseva, Ph.D. who has joined OHSU as an Assistant Professor with a primary appointment in the Department of Pediatrics and a joint appointment with us in the Department of Cell, Developmental & Cancer Biology. Dr. Vaseva's research program will focus on targeting oncogenic RAS in pediatric cancers. Welcome, Dr. Vaseva!
CDCB is pleased to announce that Molly Thomas, M.D., Ph.D., will be joining us as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Cell, Developmental & Cancer Biology, with a joint appointment in the Division of Gastroenterology. Dr. Thomas is an inflammatory bowel disease specialist and mucosal immunologist. Her lab will focus on understanding gastrointestinal and hepatic complications of immune checkpoint blockade and how these immune related adverse events inform our understanding of tissue-resident memory T cells in these organ systems. Welcome, Dr. Thomas!
CDCB is please to welcome Joshua Moreau, Ph.D., who will be joining us as a joint faculty along with the Division of Oncological Sciences, Department of Dermatology, and a member of CEDAR. He aims to explore the earliest interactions between cancer and the immune system, within the tissues where cancer cells arise. Welcome, Dr. Moreau!