Family Update Newsletter
Family Update is a biweekly newsletter we hope families visiting the Cancer and Blood Diseases Institute (CBDI) can use. This newsletter is our opportunity to share with you stories about the exciting work of our cancer scientists, advances in medical care, and our heroes and supporters. Family Update also contains information about upcoming community events, as well as events and activities here at the hospital for CBDI patients, their families and friends. You can also find out who the current fellows and attending physicians are.
Cover Story From the Most Recent Issue
Yi Zheng - Hunting for Molecules to Disrupt Cancer
Yi Zheng, PhD, Director, Division of Experimental Hematology and Cancer Biology, leads a hunt for small molecule inhibitors that can disrupt the function of cancer stem cells.
The Zheng lab has already discovered several such small molecules. The molecule “CASIN” can push leukemia-initiating cells into the bloodstream, where they become much more vulnerable to chemotherapy and may make stem cell transplants much more effective.
Recently, his lab discovered “Rhosin,” a molecule that can disrupt a key cell signaling molecule, RhoA, and stop breast cancer cells from spreading in laboratory culture. Zheng and colleagues are currently studying another small molecule, Y16, which appears to work in conjunction with Rhosin to further disrupt cancer cell signaling. This research was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in February.
“Our goal is combination therapy,” Zheng says. “Instead of one magic bullet, we need several different magic bullets. Fortunately, decades of research have built the foundation for us to design chemicals that disrupt specific targets in cancer cells that were previously thought to be untreatable with drugs.”
Read our most recent issue, published in portable document format.
Past Issues
- April 29, 2013
- April 15, 2013
- March 18, 2013
- March 4, 2013
- Feb. 18, 2013
- Feb. 4, 2013
- Jan. 21, 2013
- Jan. 7, 2013
- Dec. 17, 2012
- Dec. 3, 2012
- Nov. 19, 2012
- Nov. 5, 2012
- Oct. 22, 2012
- Oct. 8, 2012
- Sept. 24, 2012
- Sept. 10, 2012
- August 27, 2012
- August 13, 2012
- July 30, 2012
- July 16, 2012
- July 2, 2012
- June 18, 2012
- June 4, 2012
