By KURT LOFT
The Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Soldiers in the war on cancer are fighting with new and more powerful weapons, including an international team at H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute.

Armed with fresh ammunition - $2.2 million in state grant money - a group of oncologists, chemists and molecular biologists is working on what could prove to be revolutionary battle tactics in basic research.

From studying cancers that thrive on nicotine to how tumors build resistance to chemotherapy, the scientists say they are refining strategies and tools considered primitive less than a decade ago.

The team has used grant money from the Bankhead-Coley Cancer Research Program to explore innovate approaches and technologies, most on the molecular level. Although basic research can take years to translate into treatment, the scientists say the pace in the lab has picked up speed.

Their goal is to help slow cancer’s toll. This year, nearly 1.5 million Americans will be diagnosed with some form of the disease, and an estimated 566,000 will die from any of its myriad forms. That’s more deaths than the combined number of U.S. soldiers killed in battle in all the major wars of the 20th century.

Here’s a look at how some Moffitt researchers are using their grant money.

Lori Hazlehurst, 41, a molecular biologist, received $400,000 over two years for her work investigating the relationship between drug resistance and chemotherapy. She studies how tumors thrive in the bone marrow, and ways to attack them before they develop a tolerance to treatments.

“If you aren’t able to kill the entire disease (with chemotherapy) there can be a residual tumor left, and it becomes more and more resistant,” she says. “So you want to eradicate the tumor at the onset.”

Hazlehurst looks at the genetics of the tumor itself to better understand how to stop if from growing: “We are looking at how to make (tumor) cells more sensitive to chemotherapy, sensitive in the sense that they have a lower threshold for the drugs required to kill them.”

Ed Seijo, 39, manager of Moffitt’s Shared Resources Laboratory, received a $500,000 award to buy a bio-bank freezer system, where human tissues and other samples are stored for study. At -80 degrees Centigrade (-112 Fahrenheit) it can keep the integrity of biological samples intact for years.

“And it definitely will keep your beer cold,” Seijo says.

The new system is part of Moffitt’s push for new technologies to fine-tune the way scientists approach cancer treatment, Seijo says: “We are reaching a point where technology and basic science are converging. Ten years ago, we couldn’t go down to the molecular level and find out what was wrong with the patient.”

Srikumar Chellappan, 48, an oncologist, used his $200,000 grant to study the link between nicotine and cancer. Tobacco smoke contains a number of cancer-causing agents, and scientists are focusing on how nicotine promotes cancer growth.

Chellappan observed how lung cancer cells that normally die when exposed to chemotherapy drugs “do not die when the treatment is done in the presence of nicotine.” He said he hopes this research “will be of relevance to those who smoke, as well as those who quit smoking and use nicotine supplements.”

Jiandong Chen, 43, a molecular biologist, received $200,000 to study a protein that controls the longevity of yeast cells, and how it might react to cancer in people. The protein, SirT-1, may play a role in how and when cancer reacts to chemotherapy. By activating or inhibiting the protein at certain stages of cancer growth, researchers hope to manipulate the way a cancer progresses.

“We think it’s an important finding,” he says. “We think it will be helpful for the testing of drugs and when to use them.’

Dmitry Gabrilovich, 46, an immunologist, received $180,000 to identify new therapeutic strategies in battling multiple myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cells that affects about 50,000 people in the United States.

“It is an incurable but treatable disease,” he says. “The main clinical problem of this disease is that patients often develop resistance to chemotherapy, which results in disease progression. Our research effort is focused on finding new ways to overcome this resistance and provide chemotherapy the opportunity to wipe out tumor cells completely.”

David Shibata, 41, associate professor of surgery and oncology, used his $130,000 to study tumor suppression. His interest is a gene – HPP1Ö—that appears to throw up a roadblock against colorectal cancer, a killer of more than 52,000 Americans each year. He believes the current research could create innovative “molecular profiles of tumors” in the next decade.

“Our findings may lead to the identification of novel pathways that contribute to colorectal cancer development,” he says. “The goal is to translate our research into better care for patients.”

John Koomen, 33, an analytical chemist, received $428,000 over two years to buy and conduct research using a hybrid quadruple ion trap mass spectrometer, a device that measures proteins.

Kooman inoculates mouse organs – livers, lungs and kidneys – with human tumor cells, then introduces certain proteins to incite reactions. Kooman says gains in basic research, better drugs and treatments together are revolutionizing the fight against cancer.

“It’s a phenomenal improvement from 10 years ago,” he says. “We’re starting to understand how cancer works as an intact system.”

By KURT LOFT
The Tampa Tribune

TAMPA The Hubble Space Telescope just revealed our ultimate fate through a dramatic series of images capturing the collision of massive galaxies.
Launched 18 years ago this week, the orbiting observatory trained its powerful eye on about 60 examples of merging spiral galaxies similar to the Milky Way. The images are important because they offer clues about the “seeds” from which everything flowers, said Lars Lindberg Christensen, a scientist with the European Space Agency in Garching, Germany.
“As the galaxies interact, the large reservoir of gas in their discs is compressed into stars,” he wrote in an e-mail.
The images, however, reveal something more: What will happen in our own backyard when the Milky Way and neighboring Andromeda galaxies get too cozy. Because of their proximity — a mere 2.5 million light years — the two galaxies are considered “twins.”
“The ultimate fate of our corner of the universe is one big merger,” said Ray Villard, a spokesman with the Hubble Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. “It will happen when the sun burns out, in about 6 billion years.”
Astronomers in the past have only been able to observe one out of a possible million galaxies in the state of collision. The new cosmic atlas suggests that merging galaxies are common, even though they appear to defy logic.
For example, if the universe is isotropic — expanding in all directions — why are some galaxies coming together and not moving apart?
“The universe is expanding and accelerating, but locally, gravity still rules,” Villard said. “Planets still orbit the sun, and a galaxy can feel the pull of a nearby galaxy. They can still collide like bumper cars.”
The images help bolster public interest in Hubble just months before an effort to repair the aging, $2 billion observatory. In August, a space shuttle crew will fly into orbit to make the fourth and final servicing mission on Hubble, extending its life for at least another five years.

By KURT LOFT
The Tampa Tribune

CAPE CANAVERAL - After delivering a giant robot to the International Space Station, the crew of the shuttle Endeavour glided home Wednesday night to complete what NASA calls a near-perfect, by-the-book mission.

Endeavour touched down at 8:39 p.m. at Kennedy Space Center, 90 minutes after the agency postponed the first attempt because of clouds over the compound. On its second try, the shuttle flew just south of the Tampa Bay area, announcing its arrival with a pair of sonic booms along the path of descent.

The astronauts ended a 16-day, 6 million-mile venture to deliver the robot along with the Japanese Kibo science lab, the largest habitable part of the station. The additions not only expand the size of the station, but give NASA a novel way to maintain and repair it.

Named Dextre, the robot is built to survive brutal extremes of cold and heat and endure blasts of cosmic radiation, all while working on the most delicate tasks 250 miles above the Earth.

For NASA, Dextre takes pride of place as the world’s first servicing robot in orbit. The $200 million machine is designed for all sorts of jobs that would otherwise require astronauts in bulky spacesuits.

“It actually replaces the tasks that have been done by people, and we expect it to perform beyond our expectations,” said Alexander Gregorre-Rousseau, an engineer and mission planner with the Canadian Space Agency, which spent eight years designing and building Dextre.

Dextre acts as a giant space mechanic that can replace faulty instruments, move large pieces of cargo and make critical damage inspections. The robot is equipped with cameras, lights, sensors and power tools, and its 14 elbows allow it to work in contorted positions. Commands can be made by station astronauts as well as ground controllers.

Dextre also was made to survive the rigors of space, from solar eruptions to micro-meteorites.

“Right now, the whole assembly of the station has been done by astronauts,” Gregorre-Rousseau said. “And they’re exposed to a lot of risks with radiation. So having a robot do this is a great asset because it releases them from a great burden.”

The 3,400-pound robot – known as the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator – also is smart. It can compensate with counterforces to prevent damage to a payload or the station.

“So it’s very sensitive,” Gregorre-Rousseau added. “It can sense forces and adapt itself.”

The next shuttle mission is tentatively set for May 25, when Discovery will deliver another part of the giant Japanese Kibo science module to the station. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has scheduled six missions this year, and hopes to complete the station by the time it retires the shuttle fleet at the end of 2010.

Reporter Kurt Loft can be reached at (813) 259-7570 or kloft@tampatrib.com.

By KURT LOFT of The Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Neil deGrasse Tyson may be the world’s sexiest astrophysicist, but he cares more about the state of science literacy than his much-touted good looks.
“There are adversaries, cultural adversaries, to the progress of science,” Tyson said by telephone this week. “History has demonstrated that whenever they get the upper hand, progress stalls or reverses.”
Tyson is a scientist with plenty to say, and he will share his thoughts tonight in Cosmic Quandaries, a lecture on everything from the big bang to stem cell research. Sponsored by WEDU, Channel 3, the event is at the Palladium Theatre in St. Petersburg, and includes a talkback with the audience.
The director of the Hayden Planetarium at the Museum of Natural History in New York also is promoting his new book, “Death by Black Hole and other Cosmic Quandaries.” He has been recognized as one of the country’s most influential people by Time magazine, and People magazine anointed him “Sexiest Astrophysicist Alive.”
But Tyson prefers to talk about causes and effects. When asked about the recent attempts among politicians and religious groups to alter science in the schools, Tyson waxed philosophical.
“Just look back at the Dark Ages,” he said. “They were dark because people were not allowed to think freely, and any time you do that you regress. There are many examples in history that tell us that you don’t want to stop human exploration.”
Tyson is an advocate of science education, and the processes of the how and why. If people have a better understanding of science, he said, they would be more apt to appreciate what otherwise appears improbable or even impossible.
“The elements that comprise our bodies are traceable to the formation of the stars; now, that’s a profound concept,” he said. “But to be denied such a discovery is to close off the wonders of the universe.”
Tyson has worked at the American Museum since 1995, and known to a larger audience through his books and public television’s “ScienceNow” series on Nova. While many scientists have little contact with the public, he believes an ongoing conversation is critical if people are to know the difference between astrology and astronomy.
Tyson will talk tonight about his passion — the universe — but he’s happy to tackle any subject the audience wants to discuss, including the evolution-creationism debate.
“My concern is not whether people in the world are religious or whether they maintain a faith-based system of thought,” he said. “What matters is whether they take that philosophy into the science classroom. If you want to bring non-science into the science classroom you will compromise what the next generation thinks science is.”
The less Americans know about basic science, he said, the less prepared they will be in sifting the facts from public policy. But inevitably, that understanding is up to each person, he said: “I’ve stopped blaming leaders for things — I hold Americans accountable. It’s entirely up to them.”

Reporter Kurt Loft can be reached at (813) 259-7570 or kloft@tampatrib.com.

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