CDU Division of Cancer Research and Training

Come join us at noon on Monday, May 8th, to listen to Dr. Albert Ngo, Assistant Professor, present at Cancer Journal Club. He will be presenting the article "Delta-like ligand3-targeted radioimmunotherapy for neuroendocrine prostate cancer”, Korsen, Joshua, et al. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (2022). Tune in using the link below or attend in person at Charles R. Drew University LSRNE Building Room S202! 😁
Meeting Link: https://lnkd.in/gXQzAFy

Come join us at noon on Monday, May 1st, to listen to Dr. Weizhou Tang, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, present at Cancer Journal Club. She will be presenting the article "Disparities in Primary Breast Cancer Stage at Presentation Among Hispanic Subgroups”, Swami, Nishwant, et al. Annals of Surgical Oncology (2022). Tune in using the link below or attend in person at Charles R. Drew University LSRNE Building Room S202! 😁
Meeting Link: https://lnkd.in/gXQzAFy

Our Division would like to recognize the work of Lesa R. Felton, an undergraduate student in the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science (CDU) Biomedical Sciences program and a 2023 participant in the CDU/UCLA Undergraduate Cancer Research Training Program (UCRTP).

Recently, Lesa attended the 2023 Student National Medical Association’s (SNMA) Annual Medical Education Conference (AMEC) held in Hartford, Connecticut.

Lesa Felton was selected to showcase her research she began over the summer for UCRTP during the 2023 Wilbert C Jordan Research Forum. This highly competitive forum provides medical students conducting research to present their groundbreaking research during the Annual Medical Education Conference. Lesa was among a handful of undergraduate students chosen to present. Ms. Felton presented, “Understanding Barriers of Minority Patients Participating in Cancer Clinical Trials: A Systematic Literature Review of Barriers and Strategies.”

In addition, Ms. Felton was selected to participate in SNMA’s highly competitive 2022-2023 Regional Alliance of Leadership Development (RALD) for Region 1, where she was introduced to the inner workings of the organization and attended professional development workshops to prepare Lesa for national leadership position. As a result of her outstanding performance in RALD, Ms. Felton was invited to participation in the highly coveted National Leadership Academy, an intense, day-long program that is a precursor for successful matriculation to the National Future Leadership Program; a unique pipeline initiative with the goal of preparing new leaders to address important issues in medical education and underserved communities by implementing innovate programs to address health disparities. Lesa presented her project, “Increasing Social Media Engagement Among Region 1.” The project yielded an impressing 83% increase in social media engagement!

Lesa credits the unwavering support of her mentors, Jay Vadgama, PhD, Vice President for Research and Health Affairs at CDU, Yanyuan Wu, MD, MS, Rev. Joe H. Waller, PhD, and the CDU/UCLA Cancer Center Partnership to Eliminate Cancer Health Disparities.

We are immensely proud of her accomplishment and look forward to her continued growth as a champion for health disparities and minority representation in clinical trials!

Come join us at noon on Monday, April 24th, to listen to Dr. Pranabananda Dutta, Assistant Professor, present at Cancer Journal Club. He will be presenting the article "H3K27me3 conditions chemotolerance in triple-negative breast cancers”, Marsolier, Justine, et al. Nature Genetics (2022). Tune in using the link below or attend in person at Charles R. Drew University LSRNE Building Room S202! 😁
Meeting Link: https://lnkd.in/gXQzAFy

Come join us at noon on Monday, April 17th, to listen to Dr. Yong Wu, Associate Professor, present at Cancer Journal Club. He will be presenting the article "Targeting Lactate Metabolism by Inhibiting MCT1 or MCT4 Impairs Leukemic Cell Proliferation,
Induces Two Different Related Death-Pathways and Increases Chemotherapeutic Sensitivity of Acute Myeloid Leukemia Cells”, Saulle, Ernestina, et al. Frontiers in Oncology (2021). Tune in using the link below or attend in person at Charles R. Drew University LSRNE Building Room S202! 😁
Meeting Link: https://lnkd.in/gXQzAFy

Come join us at noon on Monday, April 3rd, to listen to Dr. Suhui Yang, Assistant Professor, present at Cancer Journal Club. She will be presenting the article “Protein Disulphide Isomerase A1 is Involved in the Regulation of Breast Cancer Cell Adhesion and Transmigration via Lung Microvascular Endothelial Cells”, Stojak, Marta, et al. Cancers (Basel) (2020). Tune in using the link below or attend in person at Charles R. Drew University LSRNE Building Room S202! 😁
Meeting Link: https://lnkd.in/gXQzAFy

Come join us at noon on Monday, March 27th, to listen to Mr. Gabriel Garcia-Campos, Research Assistant, present at Cancer Journal Club. He will be presenting the article “Visfatin Enhances Breast Cancer Progression through CXCL1 Induction in Tumor-Associated Macrophages”, Wang, Yen-Yun, et al. Cancers (Basel) (2020). Tune in using the link below or attend in person at Charles R. Drew University LSRNE Building Room S202! 😁
Meeting Link: https://lnkd.in/gXQzAFy

Come join us at noon on Monday, March 20th, to listen to Professor Aziza Lucas-Varnado, Assistant Professor, present at Cancer Journal Club. She will be presenting the article “Facilitators and Challenges to Health Promotion in Black and Latino Churches”, Maxwell, Annette, et al. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities (2022). Tune in using the link below or attend in person at Charles R. Drew University LSRNE Building Room S202! 😁
Meeting Link: https://lnkd.in/gXQzAFy

Come join us at noon on Monday, March 13th, to listen to Mr. Eduard Karapetyan, Research Associate, present at Cancer Journal Club. He will be presenting the article "PDIA6 promotes pancreatic cancer progression and immune escape through CSN5-mediated deubiquitination of β-catenin and PD-L1”, Ma, Yihui, et al. Neoplasia (2021). Tune in using the link below or attend in person at Charles R. Drew University LSRNE Building Room S202! 😁

Meeting Link: https://lnkd.in/gXQzAFy

Come join us at noon on Monday, March 6th, to listen to Dr. Piwen Wang, Associate Professor, present at Cancer Journal Club. He will be presenting the article “Enzalutamide Monotherapy vs Active Surveillance in Patients with Low-risk or Intermediate-risk Localized Prostate Cancer: The ENACT Randomized Clinical Trial”, Shore, Neal, et al. JAMA Oncology (2022). Tune in using the link below or attend in person at Charles R. Drew University LSRNE Building Room S202!

Meeting Link: https://lnkd.in/gXQzAFy

Come join us at noon on Monday, February 27th, to listen to Dr. Yahya Elshimali, Associate Professor, present at Cancer Journal Club. He will be presenting the article “Epigenetic regulation of Neuregulin 1 promotes breast cancer progression associated to hyperglycemia”, Lee, Changhu, et al. Nature Communications (2023). Tune in using the link below or attend in person at Charles R. Drew University LSRNE Building Room S202! 😁
Meeting Link: https://lnkd.in/gXQzAFy

Dr. Vadgama and the CDU/UCLA Cancer Center Partnership would also like to congratulate Samuel, a UCRTP 2021 trainee, for being a 2023 recipient of the NIH Undergraduate Scholarship Program (UGSP). Samuel is a 3rd year undergraduate at UCLA, majoring in Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics. Due to his experience in UCRTP, Samuel found a greater appreciation for biomedical research and is looking forward to the opportunity to work in the labs at the NIH over the summer! For now, Samuel is considering between medical school and clinical laboratory science, but will make the decision after his post-baccalaurate training at the NIH.

Come join us at noon on Monday, February 13th, to listen to Dr. Jorge Espinoza-derout, Assistant Professor, present at Cancer Journal Club. He will be presenting the article “Empagliflozin inhibits excessive autophagy through the AMPK/GSKB signalling pathway in diabetic cardiomyopathy”, Madonna, Rosalinda, et al. Cardiovascular Research (2023). Tune in using the link below or attend in person at Charles R. Drew University LSRNE Building Room S202! 😁

Meeting Link: https://lnkd.in/gXQzAFy

Dr. Vadgama and the CDU/UCLA Cancer Center Partnership would like to congratulate Moses, a UCRTP 2019 trainee, for being the 2022 recipient of the NIH Undergraduate Scholarship Program (UGSP). The NIH UGSP is a highly competitive scholarship for students from underserved and underrepresented backgrounds who are committed to careers in biomedical research. As a recipient of the NIH UGSP, Moses received scholarship support from the NIH, completed a 10-week Summer Laboratory experience as a paid summer research employee at the NIH, and continue training as a full-time employee in an NIH research laboratory upon graduation. Currently, Moses is a post-baccalaureate research fellow at the NIH/NCI Figg Lab, where the primary research focus is to understand the pharmacology of new anticancer agents for prostate cancer and other disease. Because of this experience, Moses has solidified his passion to develop therapeutic agents to treat diseases such as cancer, HIV, and diabetes, and is currently in the process of applying to Pharmacology PhD programs. UCRTP provided Moses with his first real experience as a researcher and cultivated his desire to continue with his research career.

Come join us at noon on Monday, January 30th to listen to Dr. Setareh Attar, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, present at Cancer Journal Club. She will be presenting the article “HER2+ breast cancers evade anti-HER2 therapy via a switch in driver pathway”, Smith, Allison E., et al. Nature Communications (2021). Tune in using the link below or attend in person at Charles R. Drew University LSRNE Building Room S202! 😁

Meeting Link: https://lnkd.in/gXQzAFy

Come join us at noon on Monday, January 23rd to listen to Dr. Kevin Kemp II Postdoctoral Research Fellow, present at Cancer Journal Club. He will be presenting the article “Characterization of the Genomic Landscape in Cervical Cancer by Next Generation Sequencing”, Qiu, Ling, et al. Genes (2022). Tune in using the link below or attend in person at Charles R. Drew University LSRNE Building Room S202! 😁

Meeting Link: https://lnkd.in/gXQzAFy

The CDU/UCLA Undergraduate Cancer Research Training Program (UCRTP) is accepting applications for summer 2023! UCRTP is a 10-12 week research program for undergraduate students who are interested in pursuing a career in biomedical sciences. Students will be paired with a faculty mentor at CDU or UCLA laboratories. The goal of UCRTP is to ensure that each undergraduate student acquires the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to become proficient in cancer health disparities research.

The deadline to apply is March 17th, 2023 and the application can be accessed at https://ucrtp.smapply.io/.

Come join us at noon on Monday, December 19th to listen to Dr. Ke Wu, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, present at Cancer Journal Club. He will be presenting the article “Lactic acid promotes PD-1 expression in regulatory T cells in highly glycolytic tumor microenvironments”, Shogo, Kumagai, et al. Cancer Cell (2022). Tune in using the link below or attend in person at Charles R. Drew University LSRNE Building Room S202! 😁

Meeting Link: https://lnkd.in/gXQzAFy

Come join us at noon on Monday, December 12th to listen to Dr. Qiongyu Hao, Assistant Professor, present at Cancer Journal Club. He will be presenting the article “METTL3 enhances the stability of MALAT1 with the assistance of HuR via m6A modification and activates NF-kB to promote the malignant progression of IDH-wildtype glioma”, Chang, Yu-Zhou, et al. Cancer Letters (2021). Tune in using the link below or attend in person at Charles R. Drew University LSRNE Building Room S202! 😁

Meeting Link: https://lnkd.in/gXQzAFy

Come join us at noon on Monday, December 5th to listen to Dr. Suhui Yang, Assistant Professor, present at Cancer Journal Club. She will be presenting the article “Tumor cells rely on the thiol oxidoreductase PDI for PERK signaling in order to survive ER stress”, Kranz, Phillip, et al. Scientific Reports (2020). Tune in using the link below or attend in person at Charles R. Drew University LSRNE Building Room S202! 😁

Meeting Link: https://lnkd.in/gXQzAFy

Come join us at noon on Monday, November 28th to listen to Dr. Albert Ngo, Assistant Professor, present at Cancer Journal Club. He will be presenting the article “AR- negative prostate cancer is vulnerable to loss of JMJD1C demethylase”, Yoshihama, Yohei, et al. PNAS (2021). Tune in using the link below or attend in person at Charles R. Drew University LSRNE Building Room S202! 😁

Meeting Link: https://lnkd.in/gXQzAFy

Come join us at noon on Monday, November 21st to listen to Ms. Marlisa Hall, ACS Masters Scholar in Prevention and Control, present at Cancer Journal Club. She will be presenting the article “Association of Obesity and Diabetes with the Incidence of Breast Cancer in Louisiana”, Hossain, Fokhrul M., et al. American Journal of Preventive Medicine (2022). Tune in using the link below or attend in person at Charles R. Drew University LSRNE Building Room S202! 😁

Meeting Link: https://lnkd.in/gXQzAFy

Come join us at noon on Monday, November 14th to listen to Mr. Gabriel Garcia-Campos, Research Assistant, present at Cancer Journal Club. He will be presenting the article “CXCL1 derived from tumor-associated macrophages promotes breast cancer metastasis via activating NF-κB/SOX4 signaling”, Wang, Neng, e al. Cell Death and Disease (2018). Tune in using the link below or attend in person at Charles R. Drew University LSRNE Building Room S202! 😁

Meeting Link: https://lnkd.in/gXQzAFy

Come join us at noon on Monday, November 7th to listen to Dr. Suhui Yang, Assistant Professor, present at Cancer Journal Club. She will be presenting the article “Tumor cells rely on the thiol oxidoreductase PDI for PERK signaling in order to survive ER stress," Kranz, Phillip, et al. Scientific Reports (2020).

Tune in using the link below or attend in person at Charles R. Drew University LSRNE Building Room S202! 😁
Meeting Link: https://lnkd.in/gXQzAFy

Come join us at noon on Monday, October 31st to listen to Dr. Kamrul Hasan, Assistant Professor, present at Cancer Journal Club. He will be presenting the article “Creatine-mediated crosstalk between adipocytes and cancer cells regulates obesity-driven breast cancer," Maguire, Olivia A., et al. Cell Metabolism (2021).

Tune in using the link below or attend in person at Charles R. Drew University LSRNE Building Room S202! 😁
Meeting Link: https://lnkd.in/gXQzAFy