Director’s Blog | Tissue Microenvironment (TiME) Training Program

THE CANCER CENTER AT ILLINOIS’ COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION

To the CCIL community,

Discrimination, as painfully illustrated by recent events, affects every aspect of our daily lives. While the recent loss of life and ensuing violence provide an acute reminder, they are also a painful outcome of the cumulative effects of chronic, everyday discrimination. These every day “thousand small cuts” eventually add up to segments of our community neither being able to benefit from nor contribute to our collective – mental, social, economic and physical – well-being. The loss of talent and opportunity from discrimination means that we are not doing all we can, for example, to diagnose cancer or find cures or take care of survivors. As the Cancer Center at Illinois, we do and shall continue to denounce any acts of racism and violence. Discrimination, whether it is race, gender, orientation, or beliefs, in any form is simply wrong, and it will continue to have no place in the Cancer Center at Illinois.

The Cancer Center at Illinois is a unit that has the greater good of society at its very core. Our lives are significantly enriched in the knowledge that we contribute every day to progress against one of the great challenges of modern society. Let us also be mindful of the challenge of maintaining a just and equitable society as well. While things will get better, they will not immediately become what they should be. It will take considerable effort.

Let us all re-commit to an equitable and just outlook for everything we do and everywhere we are. Let us take these moments to re-affirm that we will not remain passive when we can do our part to improve society. Our actions can make a difference. It is the small, everyday thoughts and acts from each one of us that can go a long way to changing the national culture such that unfortunate events resembling those of the past week are confined to history.

Best wishes,

Rohit
Director, Cancer Center at Illinois

REGISTER FOR TIME DAY SYMPOSIUM 2020

The fourth annual TiMe Day Symposium will take place on April 16, 2020, and will highlight tissue microenvironment research from the TiMe program. The Symposium will feature keynote speaker Dr. Amy LeBlanc, Senior Scientist in the Molecular Imaging Program and Director of the Comparative Oncology Program at the National Cancer Institute, and plenary speakers.

Graduate and undergraduate students are invited to submit abstracts for poster sessions and oral presentations to present their tissue microenvironment-related research. Illinois faculty, student, and staff are welcome to attend this event.

RESPONSIBLE CONDUCT OF RESEARCH

Students and faculty are welcome and encouraged to attend the Beckman Institute’s Responsible Conduct of Research seminar series to learn and discuss good practices for conduct of research and enhancing collaboration.

Patty Jones, Beckman’s associate director for research on will give a lecture about “Teamwork, Communication, and Research Integrity” on February 18, 2020, at 12 p.m. in Beckman 1004. Lunch is provided.
Michelle Chitambar, technology manager, and Maria Jaromin, associate technology manager, from the campus Office of Technology Management, will talk about intellectual property. The talk begins at noon March 3, 2020, in Beckman 1005. Lunch is provided.

2019 TIME SCHOLAR AWARDS

Throughout 2019, the TiMe cohort has continued to demonstrate their dedication to cancer research with a focus on the tissue microenvironment. This year, students published 13 papers, presented their research in 50 conference presentations, and filed 3 patents.

17 awards were received by 5 TiMe scholars, including travel awards, best poster awards, and more. Congratulations to the following students for their excellent achievements!

Aidan Gilchrist: F31 DK117514 Ruth L. Kirchstein National Research Service Award (NIDDK); Mavis Future Faculty Award

Catherine Applegate: Nutrition 2019, CARIG Poster Session 3rd Place Award; University of Illinois Frank W. Kari Memorial Award; University of Illinois Margin of Excellence Travel Award; University of Illinois Margin of Excellence Research Award

Hailey Knox: European Molecular Imaging Meeting, Outstanding Poster Award; Bioorganic Chemistry Gordon Research Conference, Outstanding Poster Award; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Vandever Voorhees Award for Best Original Research Proposal

Parinaz Fathi: Coordinated Science Laboratory Best Poster Award; 2019 Biomedical Engineering Society Annual Meeting, Graduate College Conference Travel Award; Mavis Future Faculty Fellowship; NIH Summer Course in Clinical and Translational Research; Graduate College, Certificate of Mentorship; Los Alamos National Laboratory Advanced Studies Institute Award; Bioengineering Department Graduate Student Leadership Award

Svyatoslav Dvoretskiy: Thomas K. Cureton Physical Fitness Research Award

DIRECTOR’S NOTE SUMMER 2019

The summer break provides ample opportunity to reflect on the happenings at the Cancer Center at Illinois, and what a productive year it has been. Through exciting research findings, new partnerships, and applying for National Cancer Institute designation, the CCIL has been a hub of activity.

Our members continue to show that research is at our center’s core. From Stephen Boppart’s visualization of breast cancer tissue in real-time to Timothy Fan’s work in fighting osteosarcoma with immunotherapy, CCIL members are at the forefront of cancer research.

To foster that work, we launched a new Seed Grant Program in the spring. This initiative builds engineering–biology collaborations and advances novel research that shows promise for future external funding. In our initial call, the CCIL selected four projects for seed grants and eight for planning grants, and we’re eager to see their progress over the coming year.

We’re also excited to announce a new partnership with the Illini 4000, a student-led group of ambassadors who embark on a cross country bike ride every year to raise awareness for cancer research. The CCIL is now the official home of the group, and we’re looking forward to planning new events with them over the coming year.

The CCIL also welcomes new members to our senior leadership team. Barry Schatz, our Associate Director for Administration, brings a wealth of experience from Loyola University’s Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center. Marcia “Marci” Pool, the former director of undergraduate programs for the Department of Bioengineering at Illinois, joins the CCIL as an Assistant Director for Education and is intimately familiar with our educational programs. Both will provide exceptional expertise and guidance for our center. Exciting times are ahead as we develop our infrastructure, sharpen our focus, and mature as a research institute. We are, as always, thankful for your continued support and interest.

TIME DAY SYMPOSIUM 2019

Tissue Microenvironment (TiMe) Program Scholars organized and hosted the third-annual TiMe Symposium on April 26, 2019, at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. Over 90 participants across 15 University of Illinois campus departments attended the Symposium. Dennis Discher, Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, served as keynote speaker, and Rashid Bashir, Professor of Engineering and Dean of the Grainger College of Engineering provided the lunchtime talk. In addition, there were four plenary talks by Illinois faculty members and the TiMe scholars presented three-minute lightning talks to highlight their research. Best poster awards were given to Luke Akin (Chemistry), Anuj Yadav (Chemistry), and Mai Ngo (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering).

REGISTER FOR THE 2019 TIME DAY SYMPOSIUM

The third annual TiMe Day Symposium on April 26, 2019, will highlight research from the program, include keynote and plenary talks, and culminate with a poster session in which
all graduate and undergraduate students are encouraged to present their work.

Illinois faculty, staff, and students are welcome to attend this event, and graduate students and undergraduates conducting tissue microenvironment-related research are invited to submit abstracts and present posters.

Registration is now closed.

2018 TIME SCHOLAR AWARDS

At the end of the year, we would like to recognize the scholars in the Tissue Microenvironment (TiMe) Program for their achievements. Congratulations to the following students for their outstanding work and effort in their research.

Emily Chen: Mavis Future Faculty Fellowship, MF3 Award; A.T. Widiger Chemical Engineering Fellowship

Jamila Hedhli: Top 5 Most Innovative Students on Campus Award

Jan Lumibao: MilliporeSigma Life Science Award in Tumor Biology, Finalist; Illinois Nutrition Symposium, Oral Session 1 Winner; Illinois Division of Nutritional Sciences, Margin of Excellence Research Award and William Rose Endowment Award

Sisi He: ENDO 2018, Endocrine Society’s EndoCareers Early Career Forum Award; ENDO 2018, Endocrine Society Outstanding Abstract Award

Aidan Gilchrist: Mavis Future Faculty Fellowship, MF3 Award

Catherine Applegate: College of ACES Award and Fellowship

Hailey Knox: World Molecular Imaging Congress, Scholar Award and Top Abstract

Parinaz Fathi: Research Live! Finalist

Slav Dvoretskiy: Graduate College Conference Travel Award; Department of Kinesiology and Community Health Conference Travel Award

Sushant Bangru: 20th RAN Rustbelt Conference, Award for Outtanding Poster Presentation

Whitney Sinclair: Chemical Engineering Graduate Research Symposium 2018, 2nd Place Poster Presentation Winner; NIH F31: Ruth L. Kirchstein Predoctoral Individual National Research Award; Research Live! Finalist

DIRECTOR’S NOTE WINTER 2018

The Cancer Center at Illinois (CCIL) has come a long way since we started coming together as a small “Cancer Community” in 2011. Our membership has grown, we have developed strong educational programs to enhance training for tomorrow’s scientists, and our clinical partnerships continue to thrive. Together, these efforts have led to the elevation of the CCIL as the 8th campuswide research institute at Illinois, demonstrating the university’s commitment to cancer research and education.

Our members are at the heart of this evolution. From Shiva Abbaszadeh’s design of an imaging scanner for head and neck cancer patients to Pablo Perez-Pinera’s genetic research, CCIL members are creating singular approaches to understanding and fighting cancer. Our research excellence is reinforced by national recognition, and I especially congratulate both John Katzenellenbogen for the Outstanding Achievement in Chemistry in Cancer Research award from the American Association for Cancer Research and Paul Hergenrother for the George and Christine Sosnovsky Award for Cancer Research from the American Chemical Society.

Our new Seed Funding Program will support even more innovation and discovery. These pilot projects will encourage new collaborations, unique research, and external funding, ultimately boosting Illinois research teams in developing novel approaches to fighting cancer.

Our educational efforts continue to evolve as we train the next generation of cancer scholars. The TiMe program has selected its new cohort of graduate student researchers, and these 12 exceptional scholars reflect the breadth of Illinois’ cancer research interests. We’ve also recruited our largest cohort of undergraduate Cancer Scholars and our high school program, researcHStart, expanded to eight students this year.

Many thanks for your continued engagement and support! Exciting times are ahead as we prepare for NCI designation, and I hope you continue with us on this journey.

GRADUATE STUDENT APPRECIATION WEEK

CCIL’s graduate students and postdoctoral researchers are at the forefront of translational cancer research — helping to pave the way in new discoveries and technologies. Oct. 21 – 26 is Graduate Student Appreciation Week, and the CCIL values the time, dedication, and service you provide to our institution.