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Vol. 10 Issue 1, Winter 2005

DoD Breast Cancer Research Program Update
The Ribbon 

You may have heard about - or perhaps are very familiar with - the Department of Defense (DoD) Breast Cancer Research Program, part of the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs. Or you may not know that this is a major source for breast cancer (as well as other cancers, and other diseases) research funding. Breast cancer research funding through this source has been available since 1993, and exists because of the yearly efforts of breast cancer survivors, advocates, and their family members. As in the past several years, $150 million will be available for the 2005 federal government fiscal year. For all information on the funding opportunities, please see the program's web site http://cdmrp.army.mil/

Recent awards in the Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine
We are pleased to announce that two colleagues here in Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine are recipients of the 2003 appropriations.

Tamas Nagy, DVM, in the laboratory of Jun-Lin Guan, Department of Molecular Medicine, was awarded a predoctoral trainesship award entitled, "Investigating the Role of FIP200 in Mammary Carcinogenesis Using a Transgenic Mouse Model." In the words of Dr. Nagy, "my proposal deals with understanding how information flow (in the form of protein interactions) from the outside to the inside of the cell influences cellular behavior with regard to mammary carcinoma. We are using a transgenic mouse model and hope that the results can be applied to humans."

Bendicht U. Pauli, DVM, PhD, also in the Department of Molecular Medicine, has received an Idea Award to research his hypothesis, "Rho, NHE, and Fibronectin Cooperate to Promote Pulmonary Metastisis." The ability of breast cancer cells to assemble a distinct protein coat on their surfaces consisting of polymeric fibronectin is a key factor in the spreading of cancer cells to distant sites such as the lungs. Dr. Pauli's group is investigating the molecular basis for how this protein coat is formed, in an attempt to find new treatment strategies for metastatic disease.

The ongoing role of consumer involvement
In addition to the important role of communicating the importance of this program to congressional representatives, there is an even more active role breast cancer survivors and those affected by the disease can play: serving as a Consumer Reviewer. In fact, in New York State, 30 individual Consumer Reviewers have served on the Breast Cancer Research Program panels. These Consumer Reviewers act as full and equal partners with scientists in the peer review process. Colonel Kenneth Bertram, M.D., Ph.D., F.A.C.P., oncologist and Director of the CDMRP, expressed his appreciation of the consumer advocates' perspective in the scientific review sessions. "They have provided valuable insight into funding decisions and helped the scientists understand the consumers' perspective of innovative research. Likewise, the consumer advocates have been enriched by learning more about breast cancer through discussing proposed research with scientists and seeing the future hopes of successful research." For more information, click on "consumer involvement" on the web

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Last Update 02.04.05