Download Notes from the Director’s Chair:

Notes from the Director’s Chair:
Easter is almost here and the snow is gone. Spring is around the corner and there will be a potluck lunch
on Friday March 30th at the Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics seminar room (341
BMSB). I would like to wish everyone a Happy Easter!
I would also like to wish everyone going to the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR)
Annual meeting in Chicago the best of luck whether you are presenting research as a poster or platform or
just there to learn about new advances in research.
Two students in Dr. Mai’s lab received scholarships: Alexandra Kuzyk received both the Sheu L. Lee
Family Scholarship in Oncology Research and Nance J Mauro (nee Tooley) Graduate Studentship in
Oncology Research, and Eric Dupas received an undergraduate studentship from NSERC.
Congratulations!
Brent Guppy (graduate student in Dr. McManus’s lab) received a Dieter Hettig Scholarship award. Rita
Hettig will make the presentation to Brent on April 16th during Cell Biology Club. I encourage all
trainees to attend this special event and congratulations to Mr. Guppy.
Dr. Oumar Samassekou has been awarded a CIHR Canada-Hope Scholarship. He will be arriving soon to
join Dr. Mai’s laboratory as Post-Doctoral Fellow.
Two new grants were awarded this month. Dr. Mai received Regional partnership funding from CIHR for
“The Impact of 3D Nuclear Chromosome and Gene Positions on Cancer”. Dr. Davie received a CIHR
grant to develop techniques in epigenetics. This grant ranked second in the competition. Congratulations
for your success!
Dr. Mai's next Imaging Workshop will be June 18-27th. Please contact Nikki Ryan for further details or
check the website at http://www.itmhrt.ca/.
CancerCare Manitoba Research Day will be held on May 2nd. The deadline for abstract is April 6th. The
guest speaker will be David Malkin, Hospital for Sick Children. The MICB guest speaker also
participating in Research Day will be Dr. David Lichtfield, former Senior Scientist at MICB and now
Chair of the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Western Ontario. I encourage all graduate
students and post-doctoral fellows to submit an abstract to [email protected] to participate
in Research Day.
Dr. Mai was interviewed about a new (ScienceExpress) article that describes extrachromosomal
microDNA. This article was published in Science and my comments were published in The Scientist,
under "News and Opinion".
Dr. Hicks and Dr Fainsod hosted a workshop on March 27th entitled “Identifying Children at Risk for
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder”. The workshop looked at the clinical diagnosis and genetic basis of
FASD, as well as brought in members of the community to discuss the socioeconomic impact, prevention
strategies, and programs to care for individuals and families coping with an FASD diagnosis.
The appointment of the new MICB director is proceeding and hopefully there will be an announcement in
the coming weeks!
Publications:
Sandhu S. Wu X, Nabi Z, Rastegar M, Kung S, Mai S, Ding H. Loss of HLTF function promotes
intestinal carcinogenesis. Molecular Cancer 2012. In press.
Martin LD, Harizanova J, Zhu G, Righolt C, Belch A, Mai S, Pilarski L. Lineage-specific repositioning
and increased proximity of translocation-prone genes in normal B-cells from multiple myeloma patients.
Genes Chromosomes Cancer 2012. In press.
Delcuve GP, Khan DH, Davie JR. Roles of histone deacetylases (HDACs) in epigenetic regulation:
emerging paradigms from studies with inhibitors. Clin Epigenetics. 2012 Mar 12;4(1):5.
Banerji V, Frumm SM, Ross KN, Li LS, Schinzel AC, Hahn CK, Kakoza RM, Chow KT, Ross L, Alexe
G, Tolliday N, Inguilizian H, Galinsky I, Stone RM, Deangelo DJ, Roti G, Aster JC, Hahn WC, Kung
AL, Stegmaier K. The intersection of genetic and chemical genomic screens identifies GSK-3α as a target
in human acute myeloid leukemia. J Clin Invest. 2012 Mar 1;122(3):935-47
If you have any awards, publicity, and/or publications accepted or in press please e-mail them to me so I
can include them in my notes.
Upcoming deadlines and seminars:
Grants
April 9th - US DoD Ovarian Cancer Research Program Pilot Awards Pre-Application
April 14th - C17 Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders
April 15th – Paul Thorlakson application
April 16th - CIHR GlaxoSmithKline Research Chair
April 25th - Pre application US Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program – Idea Award
April 26th - Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy RFA Full Application (pancreatic)
US DoD Breast Cancer Idea Award pre-application
April 27th - Association for International Cancer Research
April 30th Canada Research Chair Nomination deadline
May 1st Cdn Foundation on Fetal Alcohol Research
CIHR – Clinical Investigator Award (Genetics)
NSERC Collaborative Research And Training Experience (LOI)
Childhood Cancer Canada Foundation (LOI)
UofM Weiner Distinguished Visitor Award
May 3rd -US DoD Breast cancer Impact Award
Fellowships and Scholarships
April 2nd - NSERC Industrial postgrad scholarship
PDF Fondation Armand-Frappier
UofM Alumni Association Grad Student Award
Governor General’s Gold Award
UofM Grad student association department grants
Caroline Cope Oncology Research
Don Mazankowski Oncology Research Award
Hain Oncology research Scholarship
April 6th Canadian Society of Microbiologists
CCMB research days abstract deadline.
April 13th - Women’s Health Research Foundation of Canada
NSERC INNOVATION CHALLENGE AWARDS
April 15th - Molly Towell Fdn maternal-fetal and neonatal health
April 30th –Leukemia & lymphoma society of Canada studentship
Canadian Hemophilia Society Studentship
Dobbin Scholarship for study in Ireland
May 1st - NSERC CREATE studentships/Post-docs LOI
May 2nd - L’Oreal UNESCO women in science post-grad scholarship
CCMB RESEARCH DAYS
Please see Eilean for more details. If you are applying through the University, FAAF’s are due with ORS
at least 1 week before the deadline.
Spencer Gibson
Acting Director
Manitoba Institute of Cell Biology