News

Led by Drs. David Orren and Amrita Machwe of the Department of Toxicology and Cancer Biology and the Markey Cancer Center and conducted jointly by recent Ph.D. graduate Deanna Edwards and Dr. Machwe, this article was published online in the September 30 issue of the prestigious, interdisciplinary scientific journal Nature Communications.  The research clarifies a putative telomeric maintenance function for the WRN protein that is defective in the cancer-prone and premature aging hereditary disease, Werner syndrome.

 

Students and Faculty in the Department of Toxicology and Cancer Biology held an Open House in August to meet with incoming first year graduate students. Oral and poster presentations highlighted the varied research programs in the department that investigate basic, translational and clinical aspects of toxicology and cancer biology.

What if a failed leukemia drug could reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease? A team at the University of Kentucky recently led an effort to investigate this hypothesis. Their results were published today in the journal, Human Molecular Genetics. The UK researchers, led by Steve Estus at the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging, study a genetic variant in a gene called CD33 that reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. The Estus group recently published findings suggesting that this variant promotes production of a truncated form of the CD33 protein that lacks a putative functional domain.

Nathan Vanderford, assistant director for research at the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center and assistant professor in the Department of Toxicology and Cancer Biology, has a featured article on graduate education in the March 5 edition of Nature. Nature is one of the most prominent and prestigious interdisciplinary scientific journals in the world. Vanderford co-wrote an article titled, "Wanted: Information" with Viviane Callier from the Ronin Institute for Independent Scholarship.

Mary Vore was recently awarded the 2014 William R. Willard Award. This award is the College’s highest honor given to individuals who have made singular contributions to the College’s missions in research, teaching and service. Educated at Asbury College, Mary obtained her Ph.D. in pharmacology at Vanderbilt University. She returned to Kentucky as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and rose through the ranks to Professor in 1986.

Growing up in the small rural town of Paintsville, Kentucky, Hilaree Frazier always loved science. She remembers that from a young age she was interested in pursing a PhD in science, but when she finished her bachelors of science at Eastern Kentucky University (EKU), she was intimidated by the prospect of going straight into a doctoral program. Even though she was interested in UK's Integrated Biomedical Sciences PhD program, she didn't apply. "I think I just didn't have enough confidence," she said.

The University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society hosted their third annual "Meet the Researchers Day" on Tuesday.

Congratulations to Joanne Collazo for passing her Ph.D. defense on Wednesday, 11/26/2013!

Congratulations to Cassandra Reiling for passing her Ph.D. defense in Toxicology on Friday, 11/15/2013!

Congratulations to Wei Zhang on receiving First place at the 16th Annual Gill Heart Institute Cardiovascular Research Day!

Congratulations to Hedy Chawsheen and Murli Mishra for passing their qualifying exams!

The "Triple Crown" is a term reserved for the greatest accomplishment in thoroughbred racing -- winning the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes.

Transporters function in cellular influx and efflux to maintain homeostasis for normal cellular and tissue physiology. Therefore, they play an important role in eliminating xenobiotics from the body.

Cancer research at the Department of Toxicology and Cancer Biology involves multiple laboratories with various focus areas. They include chemical carcinogenesis, metal carcinogenesis, tumor suppressor genes, gene regulation during carcinogenesis, redox-mediated mechanisms of tumor suppression, reactive oxygen species and cancer, cell signaling in cancer biology, environmental risk factors in cancer, and cancer prevention.

Wei has been awarded a predoctoral fellowship from American Heart Association 07/01/13 – 6/30/14. Her project title is: The Role of Mrp1 in Protecting against Doxorubicin - induced Cardiotoxicity.

It appears tiny and inconsequential enough, but the "super mouse" — created by researchers at the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center some six years ago — has spawned plenty of new research into preventing and/or treating many types of cancer. Back in 2007, cancer researcher Vivek Rangnekar and his team announced that they discovered a gene — known as Par-4 —that specifically kills cancer cells without killing normal cells.

As a native Kentuckian, the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center's Dr. Susanne Arnold understands many of the health issues our state faces — and focusing on the problems that hit hardest close to home has kept her motivated in her work.

"I got into research in Appalachia because I'm an eighth-generation Kentuckian, and my father, who was also a doctor and researcher, was a seventh-generation Kentuckian," Arnold said. "I learned a very valuable lesson from him — that we can't make progress in the treatment of diseases without being invested in the research that we do."