The winner of the contest was Orrin Stone, a BBSP student rotating in the Roth Lab.  He correctly guessed the exact amount of 230 pieces of candy.  Check out his happy smile in the picture! Click image for enlargement.

The winner was announced on Halloween.  Orrin said he hadn't bought his candy yet for the trick or treaters, so he'll share his winnings with them.

We were able to raise $64 for the Carolina Cares, Carolina Shares SECC Campaign, which ends on Nov. 9.  Many thanks to everyone who participated.  Our combined donation will certainly make a difference for the people who lives are touched by the charities supported by the SECC.

Congratulations to Orrin!

flyer with picture of Halloween Candy jar

A slideshow of photos from the event can be viewed here.

Dr. Sharp, who is an Institute Professor at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT, is the discoverer of RNA splicing and "discontinuous genes".  He is a member of  the National Academy of Sciences, and the Institute of Medicine, and Foreign Fellow of the Royal Society, UK.  He has been awarded the National Medal of Science, and the AACR Margaret Foti Award for Leadership and Extraordinary Achievements in Cancer Research. He  co-founded Biogen and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals.

Photos from the reception - click for enlargement

"Dr. Horwitz has had a long time interest in small molecules and particularly natural products that had anti-tumor activity.  Thus, as an early investigator, she was asked by the NCI to evaluate the mechanism of action of a natural product, Taxol, that displayed anti-tumor activity.  As she wrote in a personal reflection  on the development of taxol, she thought they would work on the product for a month or so to see if it was interesting. As it turned out,  Dr. Horwitz uncovered that Taxol was a fascinating agent that displayed  a new mechanism of action of inhibiting microtubule dynamics and cell division.  She then took on understanding the mechanisms of resistance to paclitaxel as well as the characterization of novel microtubule polyermizing agents.  Her pioneering work was essential throughout the at-times tumultuous development of taxol as a clinical agent."

"Dr. Horwtiz’s work on taxol has touched the lives of thousands of individuals worldwide by extending the lives of cancer patients that receive taxol as a component of first-line chemotherapy to treat breast, lung and ovarian cancer. For her pioneering discoveries,  Dr. Horwitz has of course received numerous honors.  Dr. Horwitz is a member  American Academy of Arts and Science, a fellow of the National Foundation for cancer research, and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine. Last year, she was honored with a lifetime achievement award by the American Association for Cancer Research.   Importantly, Dr. Horwitz has also taken on a number of  leadership roles as both a president of the AACR and a key advisor on the NCI’d drug screening and development system." (~from Dr. Angelique Whitehurst's introduction of Dr. Horwitz at the lecture)

Photo above: Drs. Angelique Whitehurst and Susan B. Horwitz. Click for enlargement.

This prestigious Lectureship was established in 1992 by Dr. Sanford Steelman (the former director of international clinical pharmacology and endocrine research at Merck) to honor his father, Avery, who wished to attend medical school but did not have the opportunity to complete his education.

Dr. Sanford Steelman received his  Ph.D. in biochemistry and physiology from UNC in 1949. Throughout his career, Dr. Steelman published extensively authoring over 100 scientific publications and obtained 5 patents – many related to the isolation and characterization of critical hormones such as human growth hormone and follicle stimulating hormone. Notably in 1988, Dr. Steelman  has been recognized as one of 200 people, living or dead, who had made a major contribution  to reproductive and endocrine medicine.   Dr Steelman was a close associate of Paul Munson, the founding chair of UNC Pharmacology. Dr. Steelman attended all of the lectures during the early years of the lectureship.

The Steelman lecturers have all been highly distinguished scientists including three Nobel laureates and many members of the National Academy. It has been customary to invite a distinguished scientist working in the broad area of endocrinology.

Invited speakers who spoke on this topic included: Timothy A. J. Haystead, PhD, Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology, Duke University, who spoke on “Exploiting Serendipity to Discover New Drugs,” and Colin R. F. Monks, PhD, Intelligent Imaging Innovations, Inc., Denver, CO, who spoke on "The Story of 3i, How a Company of Scientists Survive on the Leading Edge."

After lunch, invited speaker, Gaudenz Danuser, PhD, Professor of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, gave a talk about "Peeking at Cellular Signals and Their Function by Computer Vision." Dr. Danuser was followed by six graduate student and postdoc presentations:

Martilias S. Farrell, 5th year Graduate Student: “Selective Modulation of Striatopallidal Ga_s Signaling Using a DREADD Enables Differential Modulation of Behavioral Sensitization and Conditioned Place Preference to Amphetamine.”

Andrei V. Karginov, PhD, Research Assistant Professor: “Engineered Allosteric Regulation of Kinase Activity in Living Cells.”

Jason R. Goldsmith, 4th Year Graduate Student: “Intestinal Epithelial Cell (IEC)-derived mu-opioid Signaling is Protective Against Two Models of Acute Murine Intestinal Injury.”

Emily A. Oestreich, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow: “A ‘Regulator of G-protein Signaling’ (RGS) Protein Involved in CNS Synapto-pathologies and Mouse Behavioral Correlates of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.”

Nicole Vincent Jordan, 5th Year Graduate Student: “Chromatin Dynamics Regulate Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition in Epithelial Stem Cells and Cancer.”

Yang Wang, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow: “Systematic Identification and Study of Intronic Splicing Enhancer and Cognate Splicing Factors”

As at every retreat there were about 60 poster presentations of current research.  Posters were judged in two sessions and awards were given  for the five best poster presentations.  An award was also given to the best student/postdoc speaker.  

The best speaker award went to Emily Oestreich.  Best poster awards went to Pei-Hsuan Chu, Chia Li, Danielle Cook, Ernesto Perez-Chanona, and Bryan Richardson.  Winners received a check for $100.  Congratulations to all the winners!

Photo below: Left to right: Pei-Hsuan Chu, Danielle Cook Emily Oestreich, Ernesto Perez-Chanona, and Bryan Richardson.  not pictured: Chia Li. (Click for larger view.)

More photos (click for larger view):

Research Retreat 2011 Agenda (pdf)

The UNC Zeiss Imaging Center will serve the UNC community with the most up-to-date imaging systems. Carl Zeiss will provide new equipment for extended periods of time, allowing researchers to collect data for publications and grant applications using cutting edge technology. Currently the center is equipped with the Cell Observer SD and LSM 710 with additional BiG detectors. Carl Zeiss plans to exchange these systems every few months with new and different technologies.

The first lecture was titled, "Optical Superresolution Microscopy - a review of how they work, suitable applications and some practical limitations," and was given by Duncan McMillan, Group Product Manager, Bioscience Products, Carl Zeiss Microscopy, LLC.

Lunch was catered by Ole Time Barbeque, and it was delicious! About 150-200 people attended in the GMB atrium.  Lunch was followed by tours of the UNC Zeiss Imaging Center in Room 2009 Genetic Medicine.

In the afternoon a second lecture was was given by Jerry Lehman, Group Product Manager, Charged Particle Systems, Carl Zeiss Microscopy, LLC,  titled, "Correlative Microscopy - Linking Information from Light Microscopy and Electron Microscopy."

Photos from the luncheon (click for larger view):