Calendar

Mar
2
Tue
2021
Cancer Early Detection Seminar Series - Melissa Wong, Ph.D. @ Zoom - See Description for Zoom Link
Cancer Early Detection Seminar Series – Melissa Wong, Ph.D.
Mar 2 @ 11:00 am – 12:00 pm Zoom - See Description for Zoom Link
Cancer Early Detection Seminar Series - Melissa Wong, Ph.D. @ Zoom - See Description for Zoom Link

CEDSS: Disseminated cell hybrids as biomarkers for cancer detection, prognosis and treatment response

Melissa Wong, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Vice Chair
Department of Cell, Development and Cancer Biology
Program Co-Lead, Knight Cancer Institute
Oregon Health & Science University

 

Zoom Details
Meeting URL: https://stanford.zoom.us/s/98184098662
Dial: US: +1 650 724 9799  or +1 833 302 1536 (Toll Free)
Meeting ID: 981 8409 8662
Passcode: 084321

RSVP Here!

 

ABSTRACT

Metastatic progression defines the final stages of tumor evolution and underlies the majority of cancer-related deaths. The heterogeneity in disseminated tumor cell populations capable of seeding and growing in distant organ sites contributes to the development of treatment resistant disease.  We recently reported the identification of a novel tumor-derived cell population, circulating hybrid cells (CHCs), harboring attributes from both macrophages and neoplastic cells, including functional characteristics important to metastatic spread. These disseminated hybrids outnumber conventionally defined circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in cancer patients. It is unknown if CHCs represent a generalized cancer mechanism for cell dissemination, or if this population is relevant to the metastatic cascade. We detect CHCs in the peripheral blood of patients with cancer in myriad disease sites encompassing epithelial and non-epithelial malignancies. Further, we demonstrate that in vivo-derived hybrid cells harbor tumor-initiating capacity in murine cancer models and that CHCs from human breast cancer patients express stem cell antigens, features consistent with the ability to seed and grow at metastatic sites. We reveal heterogeneity of CHC phenotypes reflect key tumor features, including oncogenic mutations and functional protein expression. Importantly, this novel population of disseminated neoplastic cells opens a new area in cancer biology and renewed opportunity for battling metastatic disease.

 

ABOUT

The research focus of the Wong laboratory revolves around understanding the regulatory mechanisms that control epithelial stem cell homeostasis and their expansion in developmental, homeostasis and disease contexts, including cancer. I have substantial training and experience in intestinal stem cell investigation leveraging in vivo and ex vivo modeling, as well as in myriad cutting edge technologies (i.e. cyCIF, scRNA-seq). My publication record spans my post-doctoral fellowship in Dr. Jeffrey Gordon’s laboratory at Washington University School of Medicine, to studies in my own laboratory at Oregon Health & Science University. Our research impacts the understanding of regulatory mechanisms that govern cell state in the context of the evolving tissue microenvironment and changing cell signaling landscape, in development and disease.

 

Our studies in stem cell regulation led to the intriguing finding that stem cells can fuse with tissue macrophages in the context of injury repair and may impact tissue regeneration. We have extended these findings to the cancer setting, where cancer-macrophage fusions are detectible in primary and metastatic tumors, and my group recently identified and characterized these cells as a novel circulating tumor cell population. Importantly, our studies in cell culture, in mice and humans provide an indepth evaluation of hybrid cells to set the foundation for continued investigations into their biology, impact on disease progression or tissue regeneration, and use as a biomarker for disease burden. Importantly, we coined the term, circulating hybrid cell (CHC) for this novel population and reported they exist at higher levels than conventionally defined circulating tumor cells in the peripheral blood of cancer patients. This work was published in 2018 and highlighted by Science Magazine as one of the top ten publications in the cancer field in the science family journals. The science proposed in this U01 application leverage hybrid cell biology to assess treatment response and resistance in breast cancer patients undergoing targeted therapy. Our proposal leverages active collaborations with Dr. Young Hwan Young’s group to synergize biology with computation, as well as a number of other valuable collaborators to ensure success of the proposed, cutting-edge science.

 

Hosted by: Utkan Demirci, Ph.D.
Spon
sored by: The Canary Center & the Department of Radiology 
Stanford University – School of Medicine

Apr
1
Thu
2021
SMMR Panel Discussion: Mixed Reality for Surgical Guidance @ Zoom
SMMR Panel Discussion: Mixed Reality for Surgical Guidance
Apr 1 @ 9:00 am – 10:30 am Zoom
SMMR Panel Discussion: Mixed Reality for Surgical Guidance @ Zoom

Mixed Reality for Surgical Guidance will take place on Thursday, April 1st from 9:00 – 10:30 am PDT.

The event will start with a one-hour panel discussion featuring Dr. Bruce Daniel of Stanford Radiology and the Stanford IMMERS Lab; Christoffer Hamilton of Brainlab, a surgical software and hardware leader in Germany; and Dr. Thomas Grégory of Orthopedic Surgery at the Université Sorbonne Paris Nord.

This panel will be moderated by Dr. Christoph Leuze of Stanford University and the Stanford Medical Mixed Reality (SMMR) program.

Immediately following the panel discussion, you are also invited to a 30-minute interactive session with the panelists where questions and ideas can be explored in real time.

Register here: https://stanford.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJcqf-GrqToiHNKL4D-5haRLowQylIwMEAve

Apr
10
Sat
2021
Stanford School of Medicine's 2nd Annual Conference on Disability in Healthcare and Medicine
Stanford School of Medicine’s 2nd Annual Conference on Disability in Healthcare and Medicine
Apr 10 @ 8:00 am – 6:00 pm
Stanford School of Medicine's 2nd Annual Conference on Disability in Healthcare and Medicine

Date: April 10, 2021 (8 AM-6PM)

    • 8 AM-8:20 AM opening remarks Zainub and Pete
    • 8:20 AM-9:20 AM Talk 1 “I fought the law and no one won”
  • 10 minute Break
  • 9:30 AM-10:30 AM talk 2 students and doctors with disabilities panel
  • 20 minute break
    • 10:50 AM-11:50 AM Breakout
    • One hour lunch  (TBD)
    • 12:50 PM-1:50 PM Talk 3 the frontiers of disability research 
  • Lisa Meeks is moderating
  • Bonnie Swenor invited
    • 10 minute break
    • 2:00 PM-3:00 PM breakout 2
  • 10 minute break
  • 3:10 PM-4:10 PM talk 4 do-it-yourself disability advocacy (Poullos/Tolchin with students)
  • 4:10 PM-4:30 PM closing remarks
  • 4:30 PM-6 PM virtual happy hour

 

 

Apr
30
Fri
2021
Racial Equity Challenge: Race in society @ Zoom
Racial Equity Challenge: Race in society
Apr 30 @ 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm Zoom
Racial Equity Challenge: Race in society @ Zoom

Targeted violence continues against Black Americans, Asian Americans, and all people of color. The department of radiology diversity committee is running a racial equity challenge to raise awareness of systemic racism, implicit bias and related issues. Participants will be provided a list of resources on these topics such as articles, podcasts, videos, etc., from which they can choose, with the “challenge” of engaging with one to three media sources prior to our session (some videos are as short as a few minutes). Participants will meet in small-group breakout sessions to discuss what they’ve learned and share ideas.

Please reach out to Marta Flory, flory@stanford.edu with questions. For details about the session, including recommended resources and the Zoom link, please reach out to Meke Faaoso at mfaaoso@stanford.edu.

May
11
Tue
2021
Cancer Early Detection Seminar Series - Michael Berger, Ph.D. @ Zoom - See Description for Zoom Link
Cancer Early Detection Seminar Series – Michael Berger, Ph.D.
May 11 @ 11:00 am – 12:00 pm Zoom - See Description for Zoom Link
Cancer Early Detection Seminar Series - Michael Berger, Ph.D. @ Zoom - See Description for Zoom Link

CEDSS: “Building a Scalable Clinical Genomics Program: How tumor, normal, and plasma DNA sequencing are informing cancer care, cancer risk, and cancer detection”

 

Michael Berger, Ph.D.

Elizabeth and Felix Rohatyn Chair & Associate Director of the Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Center for Molecular Oncology
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

 

Zoom Details
Meeting URL: https://stanford.zoom.us/s/92559505314
Dial: US: +1 650 724 9799  or +1 833 302 1536 (Toll Free)
Meeting ID: 925 5950 5314
Passcode: 418727

11:00am – 12:00pm Seminar & Discussion
RSVP Here

 

ABSTRACT
Tumor molecular profiling is a fundamental component of precision oncology, enabling the identification of oncogenomic mutations that can be targeted therapeutically. To accelerate enrollment to clinical trials of molecularly targeted agents and guide treatment selection, we have established a center-wide, prospective clinical sequencing program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center using a custom, paired tumor-blood normal sequencing assay (MSK-IMPACT), which we have used to profile more than 50,000 patients with solid tumors. Yet beyond just the characterization of tumor-specific alterations, the inclusion of blood DNA has readily enabled the identification of germline risk alleles and somatic mutations associated with clonal hematopoiesis. To complement this approach, we have also implemented a ‘liquid biopsy’ cfDNA panel (MSK-ACCESS) for cancer detection, surveillance, and treatment selection and monitoring. In my talk, I will describe the prevalence of somatic and germline genomic alterations in a real-world population, the clinical benefits of cfDNA assessment, and how clonal hematopoiesis can inform cancer risk and confound liquid biopsy approaches to cancer detection.

 

ABOUT
Michael Berger, PhD, holds the Elizabeth and Felix Rohatyn Chair and is Associate Director of the Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Center for Molecular Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, a multidisciplinary initiative to promote precision oncology through genomic analysis to guide the diagnosis and treatment of cancer patients. He is also an Associate Attending Geneticist in the Department of Pathology with expertise in cancer genomics, computational biology, and high-throughput DNA sequencing technology. His laboratory is developing experimental and computational methods to characterize the genetic makeup of individual cancers and identify genomic biomarkers of drug response and resistance. As Scientific Director of Clinical NGS in the Molecular Diagnostics Service, he oversees the development and bioinformatics associated with clinical sequencing assays, and he helped lead the development and implementation of MSK-IMPACT, a comprehensive FDA-authorized tumor sequencing panel that been used to profile more than 60,000 tumors from advanced cancer patients at MSK. The resulting data have enabled the characterization of somatic and germline biomarkers across many cancer types and the identification of mutations associated with clonal hematopoiesis. Dr. Berger also led the development of a clinically validated plasma cell-free DNA assay, MSK-ACCESS, which his laboratory is using to explore tumor evolution, acquired drug resistance, and occult metastatic disease. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Physics from Princeton University and his Ph.D. in Biophysics from Harvard University.

 

Hosted by: Utkan Demirci, Ph.D.
Spon
sored by: The Canary Center & the Department of Radiology 
Stanford University – School of Medicine

Jun
3
Thu
2021
IMMERS - Stanford Medical Mixed Reality Panel Discussion Series @ Zoom
IMMERS – Stanford Medical Mixed Reality Panel Discussion Series
Jun 3 @ 9:00 am – 10:30 am Zoom
IMMERS - Stanford Medical Mixed Reality Panel Discussion Series @ Zoom

Join us for a panel on Behavioral XR on Thursday, June 3rd from 9:00 – 10:30 am PDT.  The event will start with a one-hour panel discussion featuring Dr. Elizabeth McMahon, a psychologist with a private practice in California; Sarah Hill of Healium, a company developing XR apps for mental fitness based in Missouri; Christian Angern of Sympatient, a company developing VR for anxiety therapy based in Germany; and Marguerite Manteau-Rao of Penumbra, a medical device company based in California.  This panel will be moderated by Dr. Walter Greenleaf of Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab (VHIL) and Dr. Christoph Leuze of the Stanford Medical Mixed Reality (SMMR) program.  Immediately following the panel discussion, you are also invited to a 30-minute interactive session with the panelists where questions and ideas can be explored in real time.

 

Register here to save your place now!  After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

 

Please visit this page to subscribe to our events mailing list.

 

Sponsored by Stanford Medical Mixed Reality (SMMR)

Oct
6
Wed
2021
Early Detection of Cancer Conference @ Virtual Event
Early Detection of Cancer Conference
Oct 6 – Oct 8 all-day Virtual Event
Early Detection of Cancer Conference @ Virtual Event

Cancer Research UK, OHSU Knight Cancer Institute and the Canary Center at Stanford, present the Early Detection of Cancer Conference series. The annual Conference brings together experts in early detection from multiple disciplines to share ground breaking research and progress in the field.

The Conference is part of a long-term commitment to invest in early detection research, to understand the biology behind early stage cancers, find new detection and screening methods, and enhance uptake and accuracy of screening.

The 2021 conference will take place October 6-8 virtuallyFor more information visit the website: http://earlydetectionresearch.com/

Oct
12
Tue
2021
Cancer Early Detection Seminar Series - Azra Raza, MD @ Venue coming soon!
Cancer Early Detection Seminar Series – Azra Raza, MD
Oct 12 @ 11:00 am – 12:00 pm Venue coming soon!
Cancer Early Detection Seminar Series - Azra Raza, MD @ Venue coming soon!

CEDSS: The First Cell: A new model for cancer research and treatment

Azra Raza, M.D.
Chan Soon-Shiong Professor of Medicine
Director, Myelodysplastic Syndrome Center
Columbia University Medical Center

 

Location: Zoom
Meeting URL: https://stanford.zoom.us/s/99340345860
Dial: US: +1 650 724 9799  or +1 833 302 1536 (Toll Free)
Meeting ID: 993 4034 5860
Passcode: 711508

RSVP Here

 

ABSTRACT

Cancer research continues to be predicated on a 1970’s model of research and treatment. Despite half a century of intense research, we are failing spectacularly to improve the outcome for patients with advanced disease. Those who are cured continue to be treated mostly with the older strategies (surgery-chemo-radiation). Our contention is that the real solution to the cancer problem is to diagnose cancer early, at the stage of The First Cell. The rapidly evolving technologies are doing much in this area but need to be expanded. We study a pre-leukemic condition called myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) with the hope that we can detect the first leukemia cells as the disease transforms to acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Towards this end, we have collected blood and bone marrow samples on MDS and AML patients since 1984. Today, our Tissue Repository has more than 60,000 samples. We propose novel methods to identify surrogate markers that can identify the First Cell through studying the serial samples of patients who evolve from MDS to AML.

 

ABOUT

Dr. Raza is a Professor of Medicine and Director of the MDS Center at Columbia University in New York, NY.She started her research in Myelodisplastic Syndromes (MDS) in 1982 and moved to Rush University, Chicago, Illinois in 1992, where she was the Charles Arthur Weaver Professor in Oncology and Director, Division of Myeloid Diseases. The MDS Program, along with a Tissue Repository containing more than 50,000 samples from MDS and acute leukemia patients was successfully relocated to the University of Massachusetts in 2004 and to Columbia University in 2010.

Before moving to New York, Dr. Raza was the Chief of Hematology Oncology and the Gladys Smith Martin Professor of Oncology at the University of Massachussetts in Worcester. She has published the results of her laboratory research and clinical trials in prestigious, peer reviewed journals such as The New England Journal of Medicine, Nature, Blood, Cancer, Cancer Research, British Journal of Hematology, Leukemia, and Leukemia Research. Dr. Raza serves on numerous national and international panels as a reviewer, consultant and advisor and is the recipient of a number of awards.

 

Hosted by: Utkan Demirci, Ph.D.
Spon
sored by: The Canary Center & the Department of Radiology 
Stanford University – School of Medicine

Oct
14
Thu
2021
Alone in the Ring - presented by SMAC and Stanford Medicine and the Muse
Alone in the Ring – presented by SMAC and Stanford Medicine and the Muse
Oct 14 @ 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm
Alone in the Ring - presented by SMAC and Stanford Medicine and the Muse

Alone in the Ring (a research-based theatre production about inclusive healthcare workplaces) is coming to campus during the Annual Stanford School of Medicine Diversity Week and National Disability Employment Awareness Month, SMAC and Stanford Medicine and the Muse hope to continue the discussion on how to spark and sustain change towards inclusive workspaces. Alone in the Ring is followed by a discussion between the team and audience members. During the presentation, audience members are encouraged to reflect: How inclusive is your workspace? How could you make it more accessible?

Register for this event 

Oct
26
Tue
2021
Health Equity Action Leadership (HEAL Network) Fireside Chat
Health Equity Action Leadership (HEAL Network) Fireside Chat
Oct 26 @ 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Health Equity Action Leadership (HEAL Network) Fireside Chat

Office of Faculty Development and Diversity and SMAC.

The OFDD team welcomes all Stanford community members to join our inaugural Health Equity Action Leadership (HEAL Network) event, Health Equity Research in the Latinx Community, where faculty who do this work will share their experiences in a fireside chat panel.

Moderator: Lisa Goldman-Rosas

Speakers: Dr. Ken Sutha, Dr. Peter Poullos, Dr. Holly Tabor