Saskatchewan Cancer Research Conference brings together Cancer Researchers in the Province

The Saskatchewan Cancer Research Conference was held June 18 in Saskatoon and was well attended with close to 100 registered participants from a range of disciplines (Oncology, Pathology, Pharmacy & Nutrition, Biochemistry, Anatomy & Cell Biology, Medical Imaging, Epidemiology, Surgery, Computer Science, Radiation Oncology, Microbiology & Immunology, Physics, Screening, Population Health).  This conference recognizes and promotes the excellent cancer research within the Province and provides valuable learning and networking opportunities for the participants.  Drs. Keith Bonham and Franco Vizeacoumar organized this event with assistance from Sheila Ash and Marley Hartt.

The conference featured Keynote Speaker, Dr. Phil Hieter, Professor of Medical Genetics from the University of British Columbia.  His presentation was titled: Chromosome instability and synthetic lethality in yeast and cancer.

Additional presentations were made by principle investigators (Drs. W. Xiao, M. Babu, M. Sakharkar, V. Kundapur, C. Eskiw, Y. Wu and F. Vizeacoumar) and trainees (E. Beaton-Brown, Dr. E. Bagu, Dr. A. Ward, B. Maruthachalam).

The conference also included poster presentations, and recognized several poster winners:

•    Graduate Student, First Place ($300):
James Paul (Co-supervisors: Drs. F. Vizeacoumar and A. Freywald. Dept. of Biochemistry)
Mammalian functional genomic screen using a lentivirus-based shRNA library

•    Graduate Student, Second Place ($200):
Odette Allonby (Supervisor: Dr. A. Freywald, Dept. of Pathology)
EphB6 receptor downregulation is supported by stimulation-dependent disruption of EphB6-Hsp90 interaction

•    Graduate Student, Third Place ($100):
Erika Beaton-Brown (Supervisor: Dr. K. Bonham, Dept. of Biochemistry)
HD1 mediated transcriptional regulation of gene expression in cancer cells

•    Post-Doctoral Fellow ($300):
Dr. Paul Mellor (Supervisor: Dr. D. Anderson, Dept. of Oncology)
CREB3L1 is a metastasis suppressor that represses expression of genes regulating metastasis, invasion and angiogenesis