The San Antonio Cancer Institute (SACI) will hold an informational meeting at 9:30 a.m. Friday, Aug. 27, in lecture hall 3.102B near the Briscoe Library. Continental breakfast will be available at 9 a.m. Current SACI members are requested, and all others are invited, to attend.
SACI, a partnership of the Health Science Center and the Cancer Therapy and Research Center and one of only two National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Cancer Centers in Texas, was relocated to the Health Science Center on Dec. 1, 2003. Sporting a new look administratively and programmatically, it started its 14th year with NCI Cancer Center Support Grant funding on Aug. 1, 2004.
David Boldt, M.D., the interim director, will give an overview of SACI and the leaders of each of the five research programs will give a brief overview of the programs. A booklet that contains additional information about SACI will be available.
“NCI-designated Cancer Centers are important in bringing cancer researchers together,” Dr. Boldt said. “They conduct basic, clinical, prevention and translational research and provide patient care, education and outreach. NCI Cancer Centers increasingly are viewed as important hubs of the nation’s cancer care and research.”
SACI members belong to one of five research programs – cancer-related bone disease, experimental therapeutics, geriatric oncology, genomic integrity and carcinogenesis, and cancer prevention and population science. As of June 1, SACI members’ funded research totaled $80 million from 459 externally funded projects.
SACI awarded $192,000 to nine investigators for novel pilot research and technology/development projects this year. A major benefit of membership is the reduced fees at one of the 14 SACI-supported shared resources.
On Aug. 20, Gregory Mundy, M.D., professor of cellular and structural biology and deputy director of SACI, presented the inaugural lecture of the newly instituted SACI Seminar Series with a discussion of proteasome inhibitors and multiple myeloma. The series continues with lectures by Daniel Von Hoff, M.D., of the University of Arizona on Sept. 24; David Roodman, M.D., Ph.D. of the University of Pittsburgh on Oct. 22; Thomas Look, M.D., of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute on Nov. 19; and Charles Cantor, Ph.D., of Boston University on Dec. 17. All presentations will be at 2:30 p.m. in room 309L, School of Medicine building.
The SACI will hold a research symposium Nov. 11 at the Children’s Cancer Research Institute. The day of scientific program presentations and poster presentations will include a keynote address titled “The Future of Cancer Prevention” by Douglas Weed, M.D., Ph.D., director of the NCI’s Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program.
