September 2006 News@MSKCC

The Tri-Institutional Stem Cell Initiative, comprised of three leading New York City biomedical research institutions -- Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, The Rockefeller University, and Weill Medical College of Cornell University -- has announced the first wave of stem cell research projects to be funded through a $50 million gift from The Starr Foundation.

The Women Faculty Affairs' Athena group -- one of several WFA initiatives -- is providing women at MSKCC with mutual mentorship, support, and guidance.

For forty years, the gold standard for treating a single, small tumor in the kidney has been to remove the entire kidney. A retrospective study by urologists at MSKCC and their colleagues suggests that this practice needs to be re-evaluated.

Research by MSKCC investigators suggests that patients taking imatinib (Gleevec) to treat chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) or gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) may experience changes in bone metabolism.

MSKCC scientists have discovered a new branch in the signaling network of the TGF-b protein that is part of a larger TGF-signaling pathway known to control the production of mature red blood cells.

MSKCC researchers have created two new mouse models of lung cancer that will be used to further understand the molecular basis of cancer development and to test potential new lung cancer drugs.

Ten promising physicians who are beginning their careers at MSKCC were among the leading young investigators honored at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) this year.

Dennis Dowdell, Jr., has been named Vice President of Human Resources at MSKCC.

Dan R. Littman has been appointed a member of the Immunology Program in the Sloan-Kettering Institute and named the inaugural incumbent of the Alan N. Houghton Chair.

MSKCC has announced the creation of the Molecular Diagnostics Service in the Department of Pathology and named Marc Ladanyi the service's first Chief.