I hope you had a good weekend.
We stayed in town this weekend (giving both I-95 and Amtrak a break!). On Friday night we attended a wonderful GU event at the Law Center honoring the Commencement awardees. On Saturday we also attended a wonderful evening event celebrating the CBCC Lombardi Avon Walk for Breast Cancer team’s accomplishments. We had a wonderful time; one of the key events of the evening was an appreciation of Jeanne Mandelblatt’s leadership of the team. Note that the team decided to create a marvelously humorous effigy of her – her likeness is on a toilet (which she urged the team members to use frequently as a tool to assure they were hydrated during practice walks). The only thing missing was a set of knitting needles and yarn!
Aside from a few errands, I have spent the rest of the weekend working on a new grant – no, not the CCSG, which was formally submitted early in the week. This is a U01 supplement to the U54 Center for Cancer Systems Biology, where we will examine the really interesting (to me, at least!) proposition that the evolution of drug resistance occurs due to two types of broad mechanisms. The first, which I term “clonal adaptation”, can be viewed as genetic, epigenetic and related modifications of an existing clone that allow those cells to survive assault by the immune system, drugs or radiation. The other mechanism can be termed “clonal heterogeneity”, where resistance is not really acquired, but results from the selection of clones that are well adapted to survive in a particular selection pressure. We will use a variety of tools, including conditional cellular reprogramming, reverse phase protein microarrays, siRNA library screening (of course!), and others.
Of course, there is still the CCSG, with the site visit looming on October 3. Carolyn Hurley has already sent me the template for my slide presentations! We have much work to do to assure that our site visit is up to the standards of our application. But we will get there.
Last week was typically busy, highlighted by the dedication of the renovated chemotherapy unit on 5 Main in the hospital; the unit was renovated due to the support of Neil Kishter, who dedicated this in memory of his late wife, and in honor of her doctor, Craig Kessler. Craig gave a marvelous talk at the dedication in the Lombardi atrium, which has really become a real gathering place for celebrations. You should take advantage of the opportunity to celebrate yet again in the atrium this Wednesday, when we celebrate the Hackensack affiliation with our new colleagues. Please join us at the event! And make sure to take note of the atrium since it seems likely to undergo another round of renovations in the near future. A DC advisory committee has recommended that the proposed proton therapy unit, to be housed in the Lombardi clinic building, should be approved. This clears the way for new construction that could begin as early as this coming autumn – so the current repaved driveway is likely to be only a temporary respite before the fun resumes, albeit without water damage. But the end result will be more high technology options for our patients and some very nice remodeling of the atrium and related spaces.
Finally, it’s been a busy week for Beth Peshkin as well — she has had multiple media interviews as a results of the news regarding Angelina Jolie’s preventative double mastectomy, including a truly great interview on PBS News Hour. She has really been a terrific voice of reason amidst this media blitz. Check out some links to these news stories in the “In the News” section of Lombardi Next Week.
Have a wonderful week.