On December 1, 2010, two CBR trainees will each receive awards of $15,000 per year for two years.  The purpose of this program, supported by the CBR and an unrestricted educational grant from Talecris Biotherapeutics, is to provide translational research opportunities for young scientists and to encourage CBR interactions.   CBR trainees submitted proposals which require a collaboration between at least 2 CBR PIs, and these were evaluated and ranked by 4 external scientific referees.  In this first competition, 5 applications were submitted and funding for 2 projects will be provided – to Kate Slowski and to Anna Prudova.

Kate Slowski completed her first year in the Interdisciplinary Oncology graduate program and is on her way to do a PhD. In a project supervised by Drs. Aly Karsan and Juergen Kast, Kate will evaluate the role of microRNAs in myelodysplastic syndrome, a bone marrow disorder that progresses to acute myeloid leukemia. Using a range of approaches that draws on expertise from both CBR labs, this project will identify pathways which are pivotal to the pathogenesis of myelodysplastic syndrome and potentially to other hematologic malignancies.

Anna Prudova is a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Chris Overall. In a collaborative project with Dr. Cedric Carter and Dr. Shannon Jackson, she will employ the proteomics approach termed Terminal Amine Isotopic Labeling of Substrates (TAILS) to identify products of proteolytic degradation of factor VIII that is administered intravenously to hemophilia A patients to prevent them from bleeding. Anna plans to create a databank of proteolytic fragments of factor VIII and to identify those peptides that correlate with clinical response to the treatment protocol. The findings may reveal novel mechanistic and therapeutic insights into the varied phenotypes associated with hemophilia and a range of bleeding disorders.

Watch for announcements in the New Year ….. The CBR will provide more funding opportunities for trainees in the near future!