Faculty, Staff and Student Work Highlighted at Markey Cancer Research Day

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 18, 2013) — The University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center held its annual Markey Cancer Center Research Day April 15, celebrating the advances of cancer research on the UK campus and giving students and postdoctoral fellows an opportunity to present their research.   

This year’s event featured a record 142 posters; three oral presentations from a graduate student, a postdoctoral fellow and a senior researcher; and two faculty oral presentations.

Awards for poster presentations were presented in two different categories - basic science and clinical science - for both graduate and postdoctoral fellows. A Researcher's Choice Award was also presented, based on a popular vote by people who attended Research Day. Additionally, the 2013 Markey Difference Maker of the Year award was announced.

The winners are:

Graduate Basic Science

First place: Tripti Bhattarai, " Paracrine Apoptotic Effect of the Tumor Suppressor p53 is Mediated by Secreted Par-4"

Second place:  Lu Miao, "Tumor necrosis factor alpha dependent redox signaling promotes aggressive phenotype of prostate cancer by activating the RelB and androgen receptor (AR) axis"

Postdoctoral Fellow Basic Science

First place:  Guogen Mao, "The Histone Mark H3K36me3 Regulates Human DNA Mismatch Repair through its Interaction with MutSalpha"

Second place: Tianxin Yu, " Regulation of Notch Signaling and KLF4 in the Intestine"

Graduate Clinical Science

Tie for first place: Nathanael Stocke, "Formulation and Characterization of Inhalable Magnetic Nanocomposite Microparticles (MnMs) for Targeted Pulmonary Delivery" and Molly Burchett, "Exploring the benefits of online palliative care communication training"

Postdoctoral Fellow Clinical Science

First place:  Jeffrey Elder, "Serial use of tumor morphology index during ultrasound-based screening may reduce false-positive results"

Second place: Wen Zhang, "Fluorinated N,N-dialkylaminostilbenes repress colon cancer by targeting methionine S-adenosyltransferase 2A"

Researchers' Choice Award

Winner: Dr. Piotr Rychahou, "Targeting colorectal cancer liver metastases with folate-conjugated ultrastable RNA Nanoparticles"

Markey Difference Maker of the Year

Tie: Allyson Yates and the staff of the Research Communications Office at Markey: Jennifer Rogers, Heather Russell-Simmons, Donna Gilbreath, and Cathy Anthony

Markey Cancer Research Day concluded with the State of the Cancer Center Address from Dr. Mark Evers, director of the Markey Cancer Center, and the Susan B. Lester Memorial Lecture by Dr. David Sabatini from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.