Four center researchers win AACR Scholar-in-Training awards

Brief

Four center scientists received Scholar-in-Training awards at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, which took place March 27-31 in Orlando, Florida. The recipients, who were selected based on the scientific excellence of abstracts submitted for presentation at the meeting, each received a stipend that included money to cover the costs of travel to Orlando.

• Dr. Guangzhou Han, a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Norman Greenberg's lab in the Clinical Research Division, is the recipient of the AACR Gary J. Miller Memorial Scholar-in-Training Award. The award honors the research accomplishments of the late Dr. Gary J. Miller, a leading prostate cancer researcher. One award is given each year to the presenter of the most highly rated submitted paper in the field of prostate cancer. Han's research focuses on how specific mutations in a protein known as the androgen receptor can lead to prostate-cancer development and progression.
  
  
• James Babington, a University of Washington medical student working with Drs. Stephen Schwartz and Chu Chen in the Public Health Sciences Division, is the recipient of the AACR AstraZeneca Scholar-in-Training Award. The award is given to presenters of highly rated submitted papers in all fields of cancer research. Babington studies an enzyme called matrix metalloproteinase-3, which may be involved in the development of oral cancer.
  
  
• Dr. Kimberly Robien, who completed her doctoral research with Drs. Neli Ulrich and Jerry Radich of the PHS and Clinical Research divisions, respectively, is the recipient of the 2004 AACR-GlaxoSmithKline Outstanding Clinical Scholars Award. The award is given to promising young cancer researchers who are the authors of outstanding submitted papers related to clinical research. Robien's doctoral research focused on how certain variants of an enzyme important for folate metabolism affect a chronic myeloid leukemia patient's risk of relapse after a bone-marrow transplant.
  
  
• Joon-Ho Yu, a graduate student with Dr. Neli Ulrich in PHS, is the recipient of the AACR-Busch Scholar-in-Training Award. The award is given to presenters of highly rated sub-mitted papers in all fields of cancer research. Yu's presenta-tion focuses on an enzyme known as COX-2, which plays a role in inflammation, showing that a particular variant of COX-2 reduces risk of developing colorectal polyps.

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