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| 2008 Seed Grant Recpients
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June Isaacson Kailes, LICSW, MSW
Center for Disability Issues and the Health Professions, Pomona, CA
Universal Access to Mammography
Download Ms. Kailes' year-end report (click to download in Adobe PDF format)
Ms. June Isaacson Kailes, associate director of CDIHP at Western University of the Health Sciences, has a distinguished record of advocacy for individuals with disabilities at both the local and national levels. Women with disabilities currently receive mammograms at significantly lower rates than others. One reason for this disparity may be a lack of accessible mammography equipment for women with disabilities.
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With a 2008 Seed Grant from NRGF, Ms. Kailes and the Breast Health Access for Women with Disabilities collaboration will open a dialogue with manufacturers of mammography equipment and discuss applying principles of universal design to future equipment. Success in this project would potentially result in many thousands of women with disabilities having new access to mammograms, as well as the creation of a model for collaboration between advocates and industry for other accessibility issues related to breast cancer, such as accessible treatment equipment and technologies.
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Prof. Carol Heckman, Ph.D.
Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH
Cancer Cell Feature Reversion as a Novel Therapeutic Approach to Cancer
Download Prof. Heckman's year-end report (click to download in Adobe PDF format)
Prof. Carol Heckman, the director of the Center for Microscopy and Microanalysis at BGSU, has developed a method for classifying cancer cells based on their appearance under a microscope. Her group has identified a particular enzyme that seems to be important in the transformation from non-cancerous to cancerous cell appearance.
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With a 2008 Seed Grant from NRGF, Prof. Heckman and her colleagues used mass spectrometry to identify the sequences of proteins that are modified by this enzyme. They found two sequences from related proteins that are part of the cellular "skeleton", but with patterns that suggest that there is an intermediate step between the enzyme they had identified and the protein targets they found. These intermediate proteins might become targets for new chemotherapy drugs aimed at disrupting the structural transformations that occur as normal cells become cancer cells. Their next step will be to see if blocking the intermediate proteins interferes with the changes they can observe under the microscope.
The further development of this project could lead to a new class of more effective, less toxic chemotherapeutic agents, increasing the array of options available to breast cancer patients.
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Honorable Mention
Venktesh Shirure
Ohio University, Athens, OH
Characterization of E-Selectin Ligands on Breast Cancer Cells
Venktesh Shirure, a graduate student at Ohio University, is exploring the factors that cause breast cancer to spread to sites such as bone marrow. He has proposed to look for receptors on breast cancer cells that bind to E-selectin, a component of the lining of blood vessels in the bone marrow. Success could lead to a new target to diagnose, prevent, or treat bone marrow metastasis of breast cancer.
Honorable Mention
Shana Tauai
Hulston Cancer Center/CoxHealth, Springfield, MO
Seminar on Sexuality
Shana Tauai, director of support services at Hulston Cancer Center, has identified sexuality as a key area of concern for women living with breast cancer. She has proposed a half-day seminar with a well-known speaker on the subject, a question-and-answer period, and the opportunity for interpersonal interaction. Success in this project could lead to replication of the intervention and improved well-being for women with breast cancer.
Honorable Mention
A. Gabriella Wernicke, MD
Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY
Assessment of Levels of VEGFR1 and VEGFR2 as Potential Predictors of Metastatic Progression in Patients with Early Stage Breast Cancer Undergoing Radiotherapy
Lumpectomy and radiation are frequently used as breast-conserving therapy in women with early-stage breast cancer, but some of these cancers still recur. Two proteins, VEGFR1 and VEGFR2, are being considered as possible contributors to metastasis in breast cancer. Gabriella Wernicke, a junior faculty member at Weill Cornell Medical College, has already demonstrated that levels of these two proteins rise after surgery. She has proposed to study whether levels of these proteins change similarly in response to radiation therapy. Success in this project would lead to a better understanding of how breast cancer spreads and potentially lead to better therapeutic options.
Honorable Mention
Robert B. Saper, MD, MPH
Boston Medical Center, Boston, MA
Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial of Music Therapy to Improve Quality of Life in Minorities with Breast Cancer
Robert Saper, Director of Integrative Medicine at Boston Medical Center's Department of Family Medicine, has conducted several studies of complementary therapies for symptoms related to cancer and cancer treatment. Music therapy has been shown to reduce stress in middle- to high-income, predominantly white, breast cancer patients. Dr. Saper has proposed a randomized controlled trial of music therapy in an underserved, largely minority population. Success in this project could spur the availability of music therapy to a broader range of patients and improve well-being and reduce stress in underserved women with breast cancer.
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| 2007 Seed Grant Recpients
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Dr. Mark P. Rubinstein, PhD, University of California, San Diego
Mark Rubinstein, a postdoctoral researcher at UCSD, has identified a pair of proteins that stimulate the natural immune response. Immunotherapy for cancer has been hindered so far by two limitations: side effects of the drugs that stimulate the immune system, and the activation of a "regulatory" response that limits immune system activation. The proteins identified by Dr. Rubinstein (IL-15 complexes) have shown promise in cell culture, but nothing was known about how well they will work against a whole tumor.
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With a 2007 Seed Grant from NRGF, Dr. Rubinstein and his colleagues conducted a pilot study of this protein complex in mice. They studied the effect of these proteins in a new mouse model of spontaneous breast cancer and demonstrated that the proteins alone were not active, but they are following up these studies with experiments using combinations of the new proteins and conventional chemotherapy.
"We are currently addressing this hypothesis and believe that our findings may represent an important step in the development of new immunotherapeutic strategies for the treatment of breast cancer. We are grateful for the support of the Nancy R. Gelman Foundation, which helped make possible the initial experiments allowing us to evaluate our novel immunotherapeutic reagent in the context of a mouse breast cancer model. These initial experiments have not only guided the direction of our research but also facilitated our ability to secure traditional grant funding on this project."
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Clark Family Breast Cancer Services
Maria Clark and her family, having lost several relatives to breast cancer, formed the Clark Family Breast Cancer Services in October 2005 to serve the uninsured and underinsured women of Camden County, NJ, with outreach and support both before and after diagnosis. While national breast cancer screening rates hover around 75%, among the uninsured women of Camden County the rate is less than 10%. As a result, these women lose the benefit of early detection of their breast cancer and are at greater risk of dying from it.
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In 2007 Clark Family Breast Cancer Services developed and implemented the Neighborhood Outreach & Support Program, based on the "Witness Project", an evidence-based intervention originally developed for use in African-American churches. The program included teaching breast self-examinations, educating about risk factors associated with breast cancer and encouraging women to take control of their health and their bodies by getting annual mammograms and clinical breast exams. A total of 430 women in Camden County, New Jersey, benefited from the program between April 1, 2007 and March 31, 2008. Clark Family Breast Cancer Services also reached isolated rural areas such as Winslow Township. Moreover, as a result of the Clark Family intervention, 13 uninsured women were screened for breast cancer during that period.
Clark Family Breast Cancer Services is presently planning to expand outreach activities to two new counties: Gloucester and Burlington. Moreover, they are currently developing a project to encourage medically insured women who have not had a mammogram in over 2 years to undergo examination.
“As a result of our outreach, and the grant from NRGF, the Neighborhood Outreach and Support Program was able to get 13 women screened for breast cancer. We are happy to report that there were no diagnoses of breast cancer.”
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Prof. Margaret Barton-Burke, PhD, RN
University of Massachusetts-Amherst
Sisterhood Education: A Website for the Black Women Breast Cancer Survivors Project
Margaret Barton-Burke, a professor of nursing at UMass-Amherst, has conducted an in-depth sociological study of the needs of Black women breast cancer survivors. She has identified an important gap: there are no Internet-based survivorship resources that speak directly to this community.
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Prof. Barton-Burke and her colleagues will develop a website for Black women breast cancer survivors to turn to for information on available resources and to build a sense of community where they can share their stories and advice. Prof. Barton-Burke plans to measure the outcomes of this project using web statistics and satisfaction surveys. Success in this project would provide a new resource for psychological, social, and medical support for Black women diagnosed with breast cancer, and would likely lead to the replication of this project at the local level across the country.
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Honorable Mention
Dr. Katherine Regan Sterba, PhD
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Understanding Caregiver Support in Survivors
Katherine Sterba, a postdoctoral researcher at UT, is exploring the dynamics in couples where one partner is a breast cancer survivor. She has proposed a qualitative study to describe aspects of the couple as a unit that lead to improved outcomes. Success could lead to development of a couples-therapy intervention to help couples cope with a diagnosis of breast cancer.
Honorable Mention
Lei-Chun Fung, MPH, MSW
Chinatown Public Health Center, San Francisco, CA
Chinese Breast Cancer Survivors as Advocates
Lei-Chun Fung, a health educator at the Chinatown Public Health Center in San Francisco, is working on involving the city's Chinese-speaking breast cancer survivor population more actively in setting health policy priorities. Success could lead to an increased focus on efforts most important to patients in this population with barriers to receiving care.
Honorable Mention
George Ochenjele
Feinberg Cardiovascular Institute - Northwestern University Medical Center
Understanding Side Effects of Cancer Therapies
George Ochenjele, a medical student at Northwestern University, is interested in learning how trastuzumab, an antibody used to treat breast cancer, causes damage to heart muscle cells. He has proposed a series of experiments designed to show that the damage occurs through a pathway involving reactive oxygen species. Success in these experiments could lead to testing of antioxidant supplements as a way to decrease the side effects of this therapy
Honorable Mention
Ms. Wendy Mathews, RN
Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare Foundation
Breast Health Transportation Fund
Wendy Mathews of the Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare Foundation has proposed to reduce barriers to mammography for uninsured and underinsured women by providing them with transportation to mammography sites. Success could lead to higher rates of screening for this population and to earlier detection of cancer.
Honorable Mention
Proactive Community Services
Olympia Fields, IL
Breast Cancer Rx for African American Women
Eula Burge, executive director of Proactive Community Services, has proposed to conduct a multi-pronged outreach intervention in low-income African American communities in the greater Chicago area, with the goal of connecting women to free screening resources. Success could lead to higher screening rates in this underserved population.
Honorable Mention
Prof. Emmanuelle Meuillet, PhD
University of Arizona - Tucson
Testing a New Therapy for Breast Cancer
Emmanuelle Meuillet, an assistant professor at Arizona, has identified a molecule from computer-based screening that kills cancer cells in tissue culture. She has proposed to conduct further studies of this compound to determine whether it is toxic and whether it can kill breast cancer in a mouse model. Success could lead to a new class of medications to treat breast cancer.
Honorable Mention
Hartford Hospital, Hartford, CT
Increased Access to Mammograms for Un- and Underinsured Women
Hartford, CT, is the ninth poorest city in the country, and access to transportation is a critical barrier to obtaining screening for many residents. Hartford Hospital has initiated a mobile mammography program to bring screening resources to women who would otherwise go unscreened. They have proposed to increase staffing levels in order to serve more women more efficiently. Success would mean better access to screening for underserved women in this area.
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| 2006 Seed Grant Recpients
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Vista Community Clinic, Vista, CA
Breast Cancer Survivor Program
Natasha Riley, Program Manager
Download Vista Community Clinic's year-end report (click to download in Adobe PDF format)
Like many communities, North San Diego County has a significant population of low-income, minority breast cancer survivors. Vista Community Clinic, which focuses on removing economic, social, and cultural barriers to health care, has already been successful in increasing breast cancer screening rates among this at-risk population. So far, however, they have not been able to provide structured support services to survivors.
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With a 2006 Seed Grant from NRGF, Vista conducted a focus group of low-income, underserved breast cancer survivors, and used the data to develop a support group for these survivors. Natasha Riley, the University of New Orleans-trained manager of the VCC Breast Health Program, directed the development of the support group materials.
As a result of this project, a breast cancer support group was developed in the spring of 2006. The members meet on a bi-weekly basis to share information, and occasionally meet to share a meal, or celebrate a birthday. Based on the support group and focus groups, Vista plans to seek funding in order to expand the support group to include workshops and/or presentations covering topics of importance to breast cancer survivors including: education about breast cancer treatments and side effects and what can be done to help; challenges faced by survivors and their families; how other cultures cope with a diagnosis of breast cancer in order to learn from each other; hosts co-survivor nights where family and friends can come to express themselves and receive support and training.
Vista plans to disseminate the results of their project at conferences and through their network of existing contacts.
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Alliance has developed an educational and inspirational bilingual booklet titled“Triunfadoras” to be used for educational and prevention purposes among the Hispanic community in Utah. Experiences included were based on personal testimonies from Hispanic/Latina women survivors from different countries, ages, different stages of the illness and different circumstances when facing the diagnosis. A bilingual professional writer was hired in March to write, edit, and lay out the booklet. Carmen Chavira Jones has experience in similar projects and the commitment to the goal of the project. She spent countless hours conducting the interviews, recording, editing, photographs and above all was able to gain the interviewees' trust and confidence. She conducted 15 interviews and participated in the meetings with the University of Utah Communications Department. So far at least 13 stories have been edited and we will complete the remaining ones. Alliance worked closely with the “Triunfadoras” Hispanic Support Group and were able to identify 15 survivors who were willing to share their stories.
An integral concern to both phases in the development of a distribution plan to ensure that the books are available to the neediest in the community. The production and success of this book will lead to further work for videos and internet responses to meeting other health and social challenges in the Utah Hispanic/Latino community. Alliance will continue to work closely with the UCAN Medically Underserved workgroup along with the Multicultural Health and Ethnic Health and the Alliance Hispanic Health Care Network, “Triunfadoras” Hispanic Support Group to reduce cultural barriers in reaching the Hispanic population throughout the State with information about breast cancer survivors and resources available for many different cancers.
Alliance also surpassed their goal of reaching at least 600 Hispanic women residing in Salt Lake and adjacent counties to receive information and education regarding the importance of early detection examinations by April 2007. They reached almost 900 women individually, over 800 more women in group presentations, and an estimated 90,000 women in the target population through the media. As a result, over 1100 screening mammograms and clinical breast exams were conducted, resulting in the detection of at least 6 cases of breast cancer.
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Honorable Mention
Prof. Darin Y. Furgeson
University of Wisconsin School of Pharmacy, Madison, WI
Darin Furgeson, a recent faculty hire at UW-Madison, is exploring ways to target chemotherapy drugs to tumor cells, while sparing normal cells. He proposes to combine several targeting methods into one design. Success could open up a new class of therapies to treat breast cancer.
Honorable Mention
Dr. Perla del Pino-White
The Reading Hospital and Medical Center, Reading, PA
Perla del Pino-White, a family medicine resident, is interested in increasing mammography rates among Latinas in the Reading area. She proposes to provide information and low-cost mammograms to this at-risk population and measure the effect using surveys. Success would improve the mammography rate in this community.
Honorable Mention
Marina Post
University of Texas, Tyler, TX
Marina Post, an undergraduate at UT-Tyler, is interested in the cellular processes mediated by the estrogen receptor in breast cancer cells. She proposes to investigate how estrogen receptor levels affect two other proteins of interest. Success could pave the way for new therapies for chemotherapy-resistant breast cancers.
Honorable Mention
Hallmark Health
Gail Merriam, MPH, Director of Community Services
Hallmark Health is interested in improving mammography education and outreach programs in two communities in Massachusetts. They propose a series of community forums on early detection. Success would result in higher mammography rates.
Honorable Mention
Al-Taj for Health and Heritage, Arraba, Israel
Kassim Baddarni, Chairman
Al-Taj, a nonprofit based in the Galilee, seeks to improve the health of the at-risk Arab Israeli population there. The organization proposes an intervention consisting of education and the provision of services such as mammography and clinical breast examination. Success would result in earlier diagnosis and better cure rates in this population.
Honorable Mention
Hunterdon Regional Cancer Center
Barbara Tofani, Director
Hunterdon Regional Cancer Center seeks to provide a mind/body component to their existing breast cancer survivorship program. They propose to implement a pilot program of exercise, stress management, and support for survivors. Success could lead to improved well-being for survivors and wider implementation of such programs.
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| 2005 Seed Grant Recpients
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Prof. Carolyn Friel, RPh, PhD
Opening Young Minds to Breast Cancer Research
Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences – Worcester
Carolyn Friel is dedicated to the development of the next generation of breast cancer researchers. As a junior member of the faculty at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences – Worcester (MCPHS-W), she is responsible for teaching future Doctors of Pharmacy, and she recognizes the contribution that pharmacy students can make to the development of new therapies.
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Prof. Friel designed a series of chemical compounds that could be useful in learning more about the properties of the estrogen receptor with which tamoxifen binds, or could even become leads for future hormone therapies. She worked one-on-one on a daily basis with her student, Brooke van Eeghen, to carry out the chemical synthesis of six new compounds by a novel chemical route over a six-week period. The next steps in the project will be testing the compounds for biological effect and improving the yield of the chemical synthesis.
Prof. Friel and her student presented a poster on these compounds, "The synthesis of estrogen receptor antagonists for the treatment of breast cancer," to an audience of 700 pharmacists at the 65th Annual Reed Conference in Foxborough, MA, and an oral presentation at the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) Annual Conference this summer. The results have enabled her to successfully apply for a New Investigator grant from the AACP and to jump-start a broader research program at MCPHS-W. Her student, Brooke van Eeghen, PharmD '06, has moved on to a career which includes a strong research component, continuing the chain of scientific curiosity to a new generation.
"The seed funding provided the first external funding for my laboratory and allowed me to generate 'proof of concept' data. The data was used to successfully apply for a competitive American Foundation for Pharmaceutical Education New Investigator Grant. My laboratory now has eight students working on the synthesis of new compounds to be tested as estrogen receptor antagonists. My original NRGF Pharm.D. student is now a clinical pharmacist working at the Comprehensive Cancer Center at Miriam Hospital in RI."
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Download Dr. Wilken's year-end report and an informational article (click to download in Adobe PDF format)
Jason Wilken is motivated to capitalize on the promise shown by therapies such as trastuzumab (Herceptin), an antibody recently reported to be useful in the treatment of early as well as advanced breast cancers. A postdoctoral fellow in cancer biology at the Yale School of Medicine, he has designed a project that should push forward the frontiers of knowledge about how breast cancer cells respond to naturally-occurring signaling proteins and could lead to the development of one of these proteins as part of a therapeutic regimen for breast cancer.
Previously trained at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Dr. Wilken plans to investigate a recently-described protein that inhibits the growth of breast cancer cells in the laboratory. Because most cancer treatments involve more than one medication, the next step is to study how this protein interacts with other protein-based breast cancer therapies, including Herceptin. Dr. Wilken will measure the effect of this protein on breast cancer cells either by itself or in combination with other proteins. Dr. Wilken will also carry out a set of experiments on cells representative of different types of breast cancer, in order to determine whether the new protein is more effective against a particular subset of cancers.
Success in this project could lead to the new protein entering pre-clinical studies, as well as a better sense of which tumors it will be most effective in treating. Ultimately, it should lead to improved combination therapies for breast cancer.
Honorable Mention
Dr. Elizabeth Yeh, PhD
Describing Pathways to Breast Cancer
Duke University Department of Pharmacology
Elizabeth Yeh, a postdoctoral researcher at Duke, is exploring the ways that cells decide whether or not to multiply, and how those processes go wrong in the development of breast cancer. She has identified a protein that may play a critical part in the growth of many breast cancers, and has proposed a set of experiments to better describe its role. Success could lead to new targets for future breast cancer therapies.
Honorable Mention
Developing Cancer Vaccines
Christopher Woo
Duke University School of Medicine
Christopher Woo, a medical student at Duke, is designing new vaccine therapies for breast cancer. Working in one of the world’s foremost cancer vaccine laboratories, he is designing a vaccine against a protein found in 90% of breast cancers. His challenge is to create a vaccine that will lead the body’s immune system to attack cancer cells while sparing healthy ones. Success would bring the dream of a vaccine therapy for cancer one step closer.
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| University of Wisconsin Comprehensive Cancer Center
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The latest of NRGF’s institutional partnership gifts has been made to the University of Wisconsin Comprehensive Cancer Center (UWCCC) at the end of 2004. This gift, administered at UWCCC by senior oncologist Ian Robins, MD, PhD, is directed to support the UWCCC Breast Brachytherapy Group’s research into successful delivery of targeted radiation after lumpectomy for breast cancer.
Radiation therapy, which Nancy Gelman received later on in the course of her cancer treatment, has increasingly become an accepted strategy right after lumpectomy, surgery that removes a breast tumor while conserving as much of the surrounding healthy tissue as possible. Radiation helps to kill any cancer cells left behind after surgery, but its side effects include scarring and the treatment course often requires six weeks of regular visits. In some patients, it has been suggested that radiation to healthy breast tissue carries some risk of developing another cancer later, although this risk is outweighed by the benefits of the radiation.
The UW Breast Brachytherapy Group, led by Dr. Rakesh Patel, MD, has a strategy to deliver radiation directly to the tissue surrounding the surgical site while minimizing the exposure of more distant tissue and drastically shortening the length of treatment. This technique, brachytherapy, in which radioactive “seeds” are temporarily inserted into the breast itself through precisely placed catheters, was originally developed to treat prostate cancer but is gaining acceptance for a variety of other cancers.
Dr. Patel’s group, which has the highest volume of breast brachytherapy procedures in the U.S., is currently conducting a clinical trial of breast brachytherapy to determine which patients may benefit most from this technique. NRGF is proud to support Dr. Patel’s research; more information is available at www.breastbrachytherapy.com.
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| Alamo Breast Cancer Foundation
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The Alamo Breast Cancer Foundation (ABCF) is a community-based all volunteer breast cancer support and advocacy in San Antonio, Texas, with 170 members. ABCF has no paid staff and operates on the nearly 15,000 hours of volunteer time donated to the agency each year.
As a grassroots organization, ABCF understands the importance of disseminating information to the public. With the assistance of a partnership grant from NRGF, ABCF will hold a public meeting to share research highlights from the 2006 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.
The ABCF's public forum, to be held in January 2007, will present medical research as actionable, accessible information. The forum will serve up to 300 members of the public, including healthcare providers who cannot attend the four-day Symposium.
ABCF's goal is to empower the public and the medical community with new information that could save women's lives. The information to be presented can be used by:- Health care consumers in making informed decisions
- Health care providers in offering new treatments
- Advocates for their own or others' health care
The science of breast cancer is changing quickly, especially as the field of genetics informs new approaches to treatment. The news from medical laboratories can save lives and can help women get through cancer treatments with fewer side effects and less misery. ABCF's public forum will help disseminate information about these discoveries to those in need of the information.
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