April marks National Cancer Control Awareness Month, which focuses on the importance of prevention, treatment, and research. Making significant contributions in all of these areas is The Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ), one of the nation's 40 Comprehensive Cancer Centers as designated by the National Cancer Institute and the only such center in New Jersey. As a Center of Excellence of UMNDJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, CINJ prides itself on the ability of its internationally recognized scientists to translate their research into new prevention, treatment and education initiatives.
For instance, CINJ investigators are engaging in a vaccine therapy study for pancreatic cancer, which aims to harness the body's own immune system through direct tumor injection.
Beakers and microscopes are being integrated with computer labs in an area known as biomedical informatics. CINJ is one of a handful of facilities across the country sharing resources to build a massive database of tissue samples, corresponding test results and other data, which may one day lead to widespread use of "personalized medicine" in the area of cancer care.
CINJ is also one of the few cancer centers in the nation to have their own zebrafish laboratory. A transparent breed of the fish is allowing scientists to go farther than ever in the areas of leukemia and lymphoma research by allowing them to see cancers as they develop inside the fish.
Exploring the unique needs of the ever-growing population of cancer survivors is yet another area of great focus at CINJ as part of its Center for Cancer Survivorship.
CINJ experts available for comment include:
Edmund Lattime, PhD, is the deputy director at CINJ and associate director for education and training. Dr. Lattime, who is also a professor of surgery at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, currently participates in research that investigates the possible treatment of pancreatic cancer through vaccine therapy and can discuss the recent advances in the development of cancer vaccinations in general.
Guna Rajagopal, PhD, is the executive director of bioinformatics at CINJ. Dr. Rajagopal's team is leading an ambitious statewide data-integration effort called POPWEB, which is focused on linking genomic and clinical data to facilitate translational research. One of the aims of POPWEB is to facilitate collaboration between academia and industry throughout New Jersey and beyond.
Hatem E. Sabaawy, MD, PhD, is a medical oncologist at CINJ and assistant professor of medicine at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Dr. Sabaawy's laboratory is utilizing a form of zebrafish that remains transparent throughout its life. Through the use of this breed, scientists have an enhanced ability to monitor and detect cancer development in aged fish. Together with researchers at the National Human Genome Research Institute, a collaborative effort is underway to study the regulation of gene expression in early leukemia development using zebrafish.
Elliot Coups, PhD, is a behavioral scientist at CINJ with research expertise in the area of cancer survivorship. He also is an associate professor of medicine at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Dr. Coups is currently engaged in research examining patterns in post-treatment diet and physical activity for colorectal cancer patients with the goal of developing future intervention models for this population.
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