Henry Ford Health System and Wayne State University have entered into discussions aimed at creating a partnership in education, research and clinical services.

Henry Ford and Wayne State have signed a letter of intent to conduct extensive and formal discussions that would bring Wayne State’s School of Medicine into a closer, more comprehensive relationship than currently exists with Henry Ford.

If, in the next 90 days, talks conclude with an agreement to proceed, the two institutions will work toward a goal of a formal agreement that would be implemented by mid-2010.

Both organizations bring substantial resources to the table. Henry Ford Hospital, with its 1,000-member Henry Ford Medical Group, is the nation’s seventh largest provider of graduate medical education, with seven hospitals, 27 medical centers, an established, integrated health system and more than $70 million in annual research expenditures. The Wayne State School of Medicine is the nation’s largest single-campus medical school, with more than 1,200 medical students and 400 students in doctorate and master’s programs. In 2008, the School of Medicine received more than $115 million in research funding and grants.

Discussions are expected to be wide-ranging and comprehensive. Potential topics include increasing the number of Wayne State medical students training at Henry Ford, combining research efforts with an emphasis on translational research, the potential for a new research center in or near TechTown, and providing the next generation of physicians with a more comprehensive education in integrated health systems and best clinical practices.

Henry Ford and the Wayne State University School of Medicine also contribute heavily to the well-being of Detroit residents. Henry Ford absorbs more than $160 million in uncompensated health care each year. School of Medicine faculty annually provide more than $50 million in uncompensated health care.

The two organizations already collaborate on a number of projects in research and medical education. Henry Ford has been a core academic affiliate of the School of Medicine since 2002. In 2008, Henry Ford was the pilot site for the School of Medicine’s clinical campus model, hosting 62 third-year medical students at Henry Ford’s Detroit campus. Through that agreement, Henry Ford physicians and researchers who teach WSU students receive academic appointments as Wayne State faculty.

More than 260 School of Medicine alumni work at Henry Ford. The two organizations also have collaborated on a planning grant submitted for a National Institutes of Health Clinical Translational Science Award, while Henry Ford’s cytogenetic diagnosis, DNA and drug discovery labs are located in the TechOne building at TechTown, the university’s research and technology park.

“This partnership clearly would mean a major enhancement to the research and education programs of our School of Medicine,” said Jay Noren, M.D., president of Wayne State University. “Training our students at a national top 10 integrated health system such as Henry Ford would give them the diverse experiences and highly skilled technical knowledge required for the next generation of medical practice. I look forward to working with leadership of Henry Ford toward our common goals of exceptional medical education, extraordinary research and excellent medical care.”

“Not only does this potential partnership strengthen our academic and research missions,” said Nancy Schlichting, president and CEO of Henry Ford Health System, “it also strengthens Detroit’s reputation as a go-to city for training, research and clinical services, and could be a strong economic boost for the city.”

“These talks are a natural progression of our long-term relationship with Henry Ford,” said Valerie Parisi, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A., interim dean of the School of Medicine. “This is a really exciting opportunity for our medical students, exposing them to an integrated health system recognized nationally for its clinical excellence, patient safety and e-technology.”

“Henry Ford Medical Group has a long history of leadership in, and commitment to, academic medicine,” said Mark Kelley, M.D., CEO of the Henry Ford Medical Group. “Together with Wayne State’s School of Medicine, we will be one of the country’s premier organizations dedicated to conducting innovative research and will strengthen our academic mission of providing outstanding future health care providers.”

The Wayne State University School of Medicine announced today an expansion of a research grant of nearly $2.7 million, bringing the total award to more than $6.1 million. The project, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health at the National Institutes of Health, is the first combined imaging and genetics research study on obsessive-compulsive disorder.

The project, “Brain Chemistry and Genetics in Pediatric OCD,” led by Wayne State University, with collaborative partners at the University of Michigan and the University of Toronto/The Hospital for Sick Children, focuses on OCD, a severe, prevalent and chronically disabling disease. OCD affects approximately 1 percent to 3 percent of the population nationwide. About 50 percent of all OCD cases begin in childhood and adolescence.

“Initial findings at Wayne State University have shown that glutamate plays a key role in OCD,” said David Rosenberg, M.D., the Miriam L. Hamburger Endowed Chair of Child Psychiatry and professor of Psychiatry at the WSU School of Medicine and the principal investigator of the project. “Glutamate is the brain’s light switch, which helps turn serotonin and other chemicals off and on. Our research has shown that glutamate abnormalities in OCD have significant treatment implications. This new study will further our research by combining imaging and genetics, something never assessed in OCD patients.”

Teaming with Rosenberg is Gregory Hanna, M.D, associate professor of psychiatry and director of the Pediatric Anxiety and Tic Disorder Program at the University of Michigan. Hanna will lead recruiting efforts for patients and their clinical characterization. In addition, Paul Arnold, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto and The Hospital for Sick Children, will lead the genetic studies. Wayne State University will lead the imaging studies at Children’s Hospital of Michigan.

By performing critical imaging and genetic tests of glutamate genes in 200 OCD and 200 healthy control patients, this group of scientists aims to examine glutamate changes in brain regions implicated in OCD, and to combine this information with a detailed exploration of variants within genes influencing glutamate transmission.

“Brain processes visualized using magnetic resonance imaging are thought to be closer to the action of genes compared with complex behavioral phenomena like obsessive compulsive disorder,” Dr. Arnold said. “Therefore, we hope that combining the two powerful techniques of neuroimaging and genetics will help speed up the discovery of risk genes.”

Results will have significant scientific implications as well as key translational importance in bringing research from the bench to the bedside with clinical ramifications. By combining unique clinical assessment, magnetic resonance imaging and genetics expertise, the researchers will investigate biological, genetic and behavioral variables that may one day lead to a better understanding of pediatric OCD, and in turn, the development of new diagnostic and treatment approaches.

“This imaging genetics project builds upon a series of genetic linkage and association studies conducted during the past 15 years,” Dr. Hanna said. “These studies indicate genetic variants affecting the glutamate system have a primary role in the development of OCD.”

Starting this fall, the Wayne State University School of Medicine will host several WSU Professional Academic Development seminars for faculty, postdoctoral trainees and senior graduate students.

Since 2007, Wayne State's offices of the Vice President for Research, Graduate School and Provost have sponsored these career development sessions twice monthly from September through June. This year, the School of Medicine’s Office of Faculty Affairs, Human Resources and Professional Development and the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs are partnering with those offices to deliver the series.

The sessions offered at the School of Medicine will be held in the Margherio Family Conference Center in the Mazurek Education Commons from 1 to 2:30 p.m. on the following dates:

Oct. 23: Core Research Facilities at WSU

Nov. 13: Transforming Ideas into Reality: Intellectual Property, Technology Transfer and New Ventures

Dec. 4: Research Education: Teaching and Learning through Research in the Laboratory

Several additional seminars will take place on the central WSU campus, usually at the Welcome Center on Warren Avenue at Woodward.

The fall schedule can be found at http://www.research.wayne.edu/seminars-training/seminar-series.php.

Internal Funding at WSU

On Sept. 11, several WSU speakers provided detailed information about numerous internal research funding opportunities from the Office of the Vice President for Research, Graduate School, Office of the Provost, Honors Program, Humanities Center and Center for Health Research.

The speakers offered concrete suggestions for writing successful applications. You can view streaming video of the presentations and the session handouts at http://www.research.wayne.edu/seminars-training/seminar-series.php.

An Internal Research Support Booklet provides comprehensive information on competitions for faculty and graduate students, guidelines on university procedures for conducting research, information on research support services and a list of internal Web sites helpful for WSU researchers, including details about competitions and links to application forms. To go quickly to your page of interest, simply click on the award name in the booklet's Table of Contents. The booklet for the 2009-2010 academic year is now available online at http://www.research.wayne.edu/funding/internal-funding.php.

For a comprehensive array of information for WSU researchers, a 313-page research handbook can be found at http://research.wayne.edu/seminars-training/docs/nfo_handbook.pdf

Patricia LoRusso, D.O., director of the Phase I Clinical Trials Program at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute and professor of Internal Medicine at the Wayne State University School of Medicine, recently contributed to two articles published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

“Inhibition of the Hedgehog Pathway in Advanced Basal-Cell Carcinoma” was published Sept. 2. The study focused on basal-cell carcinoma, the most common skin cancer in the United States, and assessed the safety and pharmacokinetics of GDC-0449, a small-molecule inhibitor of smoothened homologue, and responses of metastatic or locally advanced basal-cell carcinoma to the drug. The study concluded that GDC-0449, an orally active small molecule that targets the hedgehog pathway, appears to have anti-tumor activity in locally advanced or metastatic basal-cell carcinoma. To view this article, click here.

The second article, “Treatment of Medulloblastoma with Hedgehog Pathway Inhibitor GDC-0449,” was also published Sept. 2. This study focused on medulloblastoma, the most common malignant brain tumor in children. The abnormal activation of the hedgehog signaling pathway is strongly implicated in the development of some cases of medulloblastoma. A 26-year-old man with metastatic medulloblastoma that was refractory to multiple therapies was treated with a novel hedgehog pathway inhibitor, GDC-0449, and treatment resulted in rapid, although temporary, regression of the tumor and reduction of symptoms. Molecular analyses of tumor specimens obtained before treatment suggested that there was activation of the hedgehog pathway, with loss of heterozygosity and somatic mutation of the gene encoding patched homologue 1 (PTCH1), a key negative regulator of hedgehog signaling. To view this article, click here.

Dr. LoRusso developed the Phase I program at Karmanos, one of only 14 National Cancer Institute-funded Phase I programs in the country, and the only such program in Michigan.

Dr. LoRusso has been integrally involved in the early clinical development of five of the last nine cancer drugs to become commercially available. She is recognized as an international expert in early phase clinical research. She has been awarded prestigious grants from the NCI and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, and serves as co-chair of the NCI's Investigational Drug Steering Committee. She has also served on both the Education and Scientific committees of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the Scientific Committee of the American Association for Cancer Research, and as a parent member of the NCI’s Quick Trials Clinical Subcommittee.

A member of the American Osteopathic Association and the American Association for Cancer Research, she has won numerous awards, including the 1999 Heroes of Breast Cancer and the 2004 Bennett J. Cohen Educational Leadership Award for Medical Research.

A program that provides free breast cancer screening and treatment for uninsured women and is overseen by a Wayne State University School of Medicine professor has received $784,731 from the Susan G. Komen Detroit Race for the Cure®.

Robert Burack, M.D., professor of Internal Medicine for the School of Medicine and the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, will use the grant to extend and enhance the services provided by the Wayne County Breast and Cervical Cancer Control Program. The program provides breast screening, follow up and treatment at no cost to uninsured women in the Detroit region.

Since its inception, the program has provided nearly 60,000 free screenings and potentially curative breast cancer treatment to nearly 700 women. The grant will extend program services to an additional 600 women this year, taking it from the current Michigan Department of Community Health assigned caseload of 7,700 to the proposed 8,300. The program will also enhance services, filling the gap for eligible women by providing coverage for breast biopsy fees, as well as treatment of breast cancer for those women denied Medicaid.

In addition, the Karmanos Cancer Institute's Alexander J. Walt Breast Center was awarded funds to cover breast diagnostic and limited breast cancer treatment for women and men who are uninsured or underinsured and who are not eligible for other community support. Karmanos' services are performed by specially-trained practitioners in an organized practice setting within a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center -- one of 40 in the nation and the only one in metropolitan Detroit. The grant will also assist with service gaps for patients enrolled in the Wayne County BCCCP. Grant-supported staff will evaluate all requests for financial assistance, provide Komen for the Cure educational materials, assist with system navigation, encourage follow-up, and help with transportation and outpatient prescription needs.

Each year, the Komen Detroit Race for the Cure® awards 75 percent of the current year’s net proceeds to a diverse group of organizations serving Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties. Funds support breast health education and breast cancer screening and treatment programs for the medically underserved. The remaining 25 percent funds breast cancer research and project grants awarded through Komen for the Cure. Since 1992, the Komen Detroit Race for the Cure® has raised more than $17.5 million.

Robert Lisak, M.D., chairman of the Department of Neurology at the Wayne State University School of Medicine, has received a grant to investigate the effect of a hormone on specific brain cells in an effort to combat Multiple Sclerosis and other similar disorders of the central nervous system.

The $318,808 grant from Questcor will fund the two-year investigation of an adrenocorticotropic hormone, or ACTH, and its effects on the function of glial cells in the central nervous system, including its ability to modify the effects of inflammatory mediators on those cells.

ACTH is a naturally occurring hormone that has been used to treat Multiple Sclerosis relapses. Questcor, a pharmaceutical company based in San Francisco, Calif., produces H.P. Actha, a derivation of ACTH. The product is used to treat a variety of disorders that include inflammation, like MS.

“We will study ACTH’s effect on certain population of brain cells, to see whether the hormone is able to directly effect various functions of these cells,” Dr. Lisak explained. “We will also see whether ACTH is able to modify the deleterious effects of certain mediators of inflammation on these brain cells since these mediators are responsible for much of the damage to the nervous system in Multiple Sclerosis and are recognized as contributing to brain cell damage in other neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease).

“It is widely assumed that the beneficial effect of ACTH in shortening the period of disability from relapes of MS is entirely due to ACTH stimulating the body to increase the amount of corticosteroid hormones, which in turn inhibit the inflammatory cytokines,” he added. “Our study is designed to determine whether ACTH could have a beneficial direct effect on brain cells that is independent of the increased amount of corticosteroids that a patient makes when responding.”

Joyce Benjamins, Ph.D., associate chair of Research in the Department of Neurology, will serve as co-principal investigator in the study.

Three Wayne State University School of Medicine researchers will explore complementary and alternative medicine therapies to reduce anxiety in children undergoing magnetic resonance imaging studies.

Ambika Mathur, Ph.D., professor of the Department of Pediatrics; Deepak Kamat, M.D., Ph.D., professor and vice chairman of Education in the Department of Pediatrics; and Prashant Mahajan, M.D., associate professor of the Department of Pediatrics, will use an $894,493 grant from the National Institutes of Health to fund their two-year study, “Comparison of the Effectiveness of CAM Therapies in Pediatric Patients Undergoing Sedation.” The grant comes via the National Center for Complementary & Alternative Medicine under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act economic stimulus bill.

The goal of the study, Dr. Mathur said, is to compare the effectiveness of three complementary and alternative medicine therapies in reducing the level of stress and anxiety in pediatric patients ages 1 through 12 who are undergoing sedation for imaging studies. If the therapies work, they could reduce the need for higher doses of intravenous sedation medicines or multiple sedation medications in young children.

“We hope to find that non-invasive complementary and alternative therapies reduce the need for intravenous sedative medications in children undergoing multiple MRIs for conditions such as brain tumors because these sedative medications have several adverse effects on the children,” said Dr. Mathur, who also serves as assistant dean of the Combined Degree Programs and Postdoctoral Affairs. “For MRIs, children in this age group are sedated to reduce anxiety and to keep them still, because if they move even a bit the MRI does not work.”

The drugs used to sedate children in this age group, she said, present a higher side effect risk, and have been associated with a number of adverse reactions, including airway obstruction, cardiovascular problems such as brachycardia and syncope, respiratory distress, allergic reactions and mental confusion.

The three methods that will be tested in the study include passive music therapy, active music therapy with a certified music therapist and distraction procedures conducted by a child life specialist. Passive music therapy involves listening to music of one’s choice via headphones while an intravenous line is placed. In active music therapy, a certified therapist engages the child in making or playing music or singing. The goals of the music therapy are to promote relaxation and reduce stress and anxiety before and during intravenous line placement. The therapist and child may use any number of instruments and song selections based on the patient’s musical preference. The therapist will vary tempo, volume and melody to meet the patient’s level of agitation and bring them to a more relaxed state.

Distraction therapy involves the use of items or techniques appropriately matched to the child’s age and development. A child life specialist might use bubbles, a View Master, I-Spy book, squeeze ball, a handheld game, board games or counting and deep breathing during IV placement.

Dr. Mathur said the research team anticipates that the distraction therapy will be the most effective of the methods to be tested in reducing anxiety.

The study will involve 400 children undergoing multiple MRI studies at Children’s Hospital of Michigan. The researchers will assess the outcomes of the alternative therapies by measuring the amount of sedative medications administered compared to controls as well as the effect on immunological markers such as inflammatory and pre-inflammatory cytokines and on the levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

“In addition, we will determine if the reduction in the sedative medication use will result in reduced recovery time and reduced length of stay in the hospital, thereby resulting in net cost savings to the families and to the health care providers,” Dr. Mathur said.

A Wayne State University School of Medicine researcher has secured a substantial grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to fund a study that focuses on behavioral modification for cocaine abusers.

Mark Greenwald, Ph.D., director of the Substance Abuse Research Division and chief of the Human Pharmacology Laboratory in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, will use the $890,000 over two years to investigate a non-drug reward system to combat cocaine addiction.

“As we develop cocaine treatment medications, it is critical to recognize that no medication will be universally effective. No ‘magic bullet’ is likely to be found or adhered to by patients,” Dr. Greenwald said. “Non-medication factors such as environmental conditions and individual differences will constrain the efficacy of any medication. Thus, tests of cocaine medications need to be conducted in synchrony with behavior therapies also taking into account individual differences in order to understand the mechanisms of interaction and potential boundary conditions of a medication’s efficacy.”

The study, Dr. Greenwald said, will develop a human laboratory model of behavioral “contingency management” treatment with cocaine abusers who are not seeking treatment and are thus more resistant to changing their drug abuse behavior. Contingency management is based on the idea that non-drug rewards such as financial incentives or vouchers are earned when the patient provides evidence of drug abstinence, like a cocaine-free urine sample. The process, he said, is generally more effective when rewards are delivered immediately, are larger and increase in value with repeated evidence of drug abstinence.

 A newer form of contingency management arranges for drug-abstinent patients to draw in a lottery style for chances to earn prizes. The magnitude and probability of rewards may encourage continued abstinence, Dr. Greenwald said.

“In this laboratory model, we will investigate the relative importance of magnitude and probability of non-drug rewards in reducing actual cocaine-seeking behavior,” he said. “Subjects will be given opportunities to make choices between various cocaine and money options under medically safe and scientifically controlled experimental conditions. The results will enable us to determine the scientific basis for the efficacy of this behavioral treatment approach. It will also enable us to make preliminary recommendations on how to combine this behavioral approach with medications to optimize treatment outcomes.

“We expect to find that higher- versus lower-magnitude, and higher- versus lower-probability monetary rewards will significantly reduce cocaine-seeking,” Dr. Greenwald added. “We also experimentally vary the ‘price’ of cocaine (i.e. the response requirement the subject has to complete to earn a unit dose) when subjects choose between cocaine and money options. We expect increasing price to reduce demand for (choice of) cocaine. We will also evaluate whether drug price interacts with non-drug (money) reward magnitude and probability to influence cocaine seeking.”

The study also will evaluate the effects of selected individual factors (severity of cocaine dependence and level of pre-experimental cocaine use) on the data. “It’s important to study multiple influences on the data because cocaine abuse is a complex problem that is often resistant to change,” said Dr. Greenwald, who noted that this information could ultimately be used to tailor treatments according to the individual.

The reward system for cocaine abusers will mirror an earlier study in at least one aspect. In that experiment, Dr. Greenwald identified about a dozen “hardcore” heroin addicts who spent at least $40 per day on the drug. The addicts were placed on the heroin substitute buprenorphine, and had to report for urinalysis three times a week. Their levels of buprenorphine were decreased over the course of several weeks. If they tested negative for heroin use for consecutive days, they received a check for $30. The majority of those who received the reward for remaining “clean” stayed off of heroin longer, even though their physical environment and acquaintances did not change. Dr. Greenwald believes that the $30 “reward” somehow became more valuable in the minds of the addicts than the need for heroin or a substitute.

Those initial findings, he said, may lead to tailored treatment for addicts. Some may need a shorter course of rehabilitation and contact with those providing treatment to successfully abandon drug habits. Others may be identified in the opening rounds of rehabilitation as needing more intensive treatment or longer contact with healthcare providers for successful rehabilitation.

Dr. Greenwald expects the research to involve up to 16 cocaine abusers, but will need to screen about 100 people to find subjects to complete the study. All the subjects screened, including those who are excluded from the laboratory study for medical or psychiatric reasons, will provide clinical information, and will be asked to provide blood for genotyping that will be used for additional scientific purposes.

The Wayne State University School of Medicine’s Department of Pathology presents its fifth annual full-day post-graduate course on “Contemporary Issues in Diagnostic Pathology” on Oct. 3.

The program, which will take place at the Ritz-Carlton in Dearborn, has been designed for pathologists, clinicians, pathology residents and fellows, said Rouba Ali-Fehmi, M.D., associate professor of the Department of Pathology.

“This one-of-a-kind continuing medical education activity features nationally and internationally recognized medical professional guest speakers who will provide an understanding of problematic and current issues in gastrointestinal tumor pathology with emphasis on molecular, morphologic diagnostic features and clinicopathologic correlation,” said Dr. Ali-Fehmi, course director. “Our previous courses had attendance from medical professionals around the United States and Canada, and have been reviewed as a most outstanding one-day intensive course in medical pathology.”

Speakers will include Mary P. Bronner, M.D., associate professor of Surgical Pathology and Cytopathology, and section head of Morphologic Molecular Pathology for the Cleveland Clinic Foundation; Jining Feng, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of Surgical Pathology and Cytopathology for Wayne State University, the Detroit Medical Center and the Karmanos Cancer Center; David Lucas, M.D., professor and director of Immunohistochemistry Surgical Pathology and Soft Tissue Tumor Pathology for the University of Michigan; Hala R. Makhlouf, M.D., Ph.D., professor of Pathology, the Division of Hepatic Pathology, and the Department of Hepatic and Gastrointestinal Pathology for the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology; Robert Daniel Odze, M.D., F.R.C.P.C., associate professor and chief of Gastrointestinal Pathology Service at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School; Robert Petras, M.D., F.C.A.P., F.C.A.G., national director of Gastrointestinal Pathology Services and director of the Ameripath Institute of Gastrointestinal Pathology and Digestive Disease; Faisal Qureshi, M.D., associate professor of Surgical Pathology and Perinatal Pathology for Wayne State University, the Detroit Medical Center and the Karmanos Cancer Center; and Richard J. Zarbo, M.D., D.M.D., senior vice president, and Kathleen D. Ward, chairwoman of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine for the Henry Ford Health System.

Topics include “Barrett’s Esophagus and Neoplasia: Pathologists’ Dilemma, Physicians’ Nightmare,” “Diagnostic Pathology and Molecular Genetics of Idiopathic Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Practical Guide for the Practicing Pathologist,” “Working LEAN in Surgical Pathology,” “Microsatellite Instability and Serrated Polyps in Common Practice,” “Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors: Contemporary Issues in Diagnostic Pathology” and “Chronic Hepatitis: A Practical Approach to Biopsy Interpretation, Grading and Staging.”

For more information and to register, visit http://www.wsupathology.org or contact Lydia Cuper at lcuper@dmc.org or (313) 745-2520.

A Wayne State University School of Medicine research team has secured a National Institutes of Health grant to investigate why metastasizing prostate cancer cells have a penchant for settling in bone structures, work that could lead to combating the cancer's spread by disrupting cellular interactions.

Michael Cher, M.D., professor and chairman of the Department of Urology, received the two-year, $909,524 grant that will fund “The Role of MT1-MMP/RANKL/Rank Axis in Prostate Cancer Bone Metastis.” Rafael Fridman, Ph.D., professor of the Department of Pathology, will serve as co-principal investigator on the project. R. Daniel Bonfil, Ph.D., associate professor of the Department of Urology, and Hyeong-Reh Kim, Ph.D., professor of the Department of Pathology, are co-investigators.

The grant was funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the national economic stimulus package signed into law by President Barack Obama.

Prostate cancer has a strong propensity for metastasizing to bones. The cancer, which is highly curable if caught early enough, becomes deadly once it spreads. In fact, bone metastasis is the leading cause of morbidity and death in prostate cancer patients.

Dr. Cher and his team are studying how and why the cancer cells migrate from the prostate to bone and why those cells seem to favor settling in bone marrow.

“There seems to be something special about the cellular and molecular ‘microenvironment’ of the bone marrow, as compared with other organ microenvironments throughout the body, that favors the growth of prostate cancer cells,” Dr. Cher explained. “We therefore study cellular and molecular interactions between bone and prostate cancer. Using multi-cellular models and mouse models, we look at specific growth factors and chemokines (small proteins that control cellular migration) that are involved in communication back and forth between bone and prostate cancer.

“We are investigating the hypothesis that MT1-MMP, a particular prostate cancer cell surface proteolytic enzyme, cleaves RANKL from the surface of other cells. RANKL is a chemokine that then stimulates cancer cells to proliferate and invade tissue, and it also causes bone cells to increase their metabolic activity, resulting in the typical osteoblastic and lytic changes noted when prostate cancer cells proliferate in the marrow.”

This cleavage of RANKL from cells by MT1-MMP, called "shedding," yields a soluble form of RANKL that contributes to the progression of the metastatic deposit by activating specific RANK-associated cell signaling pathways in cancer cells and bone cells.

The biochemical mechanisms by which MT1-MMP releases RANKL and the extent to which RANK signaling in tumor cells promotes progression of the metastatic deposit have not been characterized, Dr. Cher noted.

The team’s work may mean that future therapy for prostate cancer “may be aimed at disrupting the cellular interactions between prostate cancer and various elements of the bone marrow microenvironment,” he said.

Thirty-three students presented their research during the second Postdoctoral Scholars Research Day Poster Competition, held Sept. 4.

Four trainees were selected by a panel of faculty judges as winners of a $1,000 travel award for their presentations.

Valerie Parisi, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A., interim dean of the School of Medicine, gave the keynote address on “Career Development,” followed by a research presentation by J.-P. Jin, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chairman of the Department of Physiology, on “Continuous Learning from Troponin: From Protein to Gene to Integrative Physiology.”

The winners, in alphabetical order are:

Elizabeth Berger, Anatomy & Cell Biology - mentor: Linda Hazlett, Ph.D., chairwoman of the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, “Testican-1 Promotes Resistance Against P. Aeruginosa-induced Keratitis Through Regulation of MMP Expression and Activation.”

Sijana Dzinic, Pathology - mentor: Shijie Sheng, Ph.D., associate professor of the Department of Pathology, “Critical Structural Determinants of Maspin in Suppression of Prostate Cancer.”

Han-Zhong Feng, Physiology - mentor:  Dr. Jin, “Troponin T Heterogeneity Reduces Cardiac Efficiency.”

Euy-myoung Jeong, Physiology - mentor:  Dr. Jin, “H2-Calponin Regulates Transendothelial Migration of Macrophages.”

The farmers market that made its popular debut on the School of Medicine campus in August returns Sept. 17.

The market will be open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in front of Scott Hall, in the mall between Detroit ReceivingHospital and Scott Hall. Fifteen-minute metered customer parking will be available in the driveway off Canfield, between Scott Hall and the Lande Building.

The market will feature farmers from Detroit and the surrounding metropolitan region offering fresh, locally grown produce. Detroit growers who will sell at the market include the D-Town Farm run by the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network, Vandalia Gardens and the Grown in Detroit Cooperative coordinated by the Garden Resource Program Collaborative.

The market will accept cash and the Michigan Bridge Card. The Bridge Card is a debit card on which federal food stamp dollars are deposited so that participating low-income households can purchase food. The food stamp program -- now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program -- is offered at the market in partnership with Detroit’s Eastern Market Corp.

The Wayne State Medical Campus Farmers Market is a project of Sustainable Food Systems education and Engagement in Detroit & Wayne State University. SEED Wayne projects include the Warrior Demonstration Garden and the St. Andrew’s Allotment Garden on campus, in which students and staff grow herbs and vegetables; the Wayne State Wednesday Farmers Market in which area market gardeners and farmers sell fresh fruits, vegetables, herbs and prepared foods; Cafeteria Composting, in which kitchen wastes at the McGregor Memorial Conference Center and campus cafeterias are composted; a 4,000-square-foot passive solar greenhouse at the Capuchin Soup Kitchen for year-round production of vegetables for the soup kitchen; and Healthy Corner Stores, in which corner stores in the near-eastside neighborhood around Capuchin Soup Kitchen increase access to fresh produce in the community.

For more information, contact Kami Pothukuchi, associate professor of Urban Planning and SEED Wayne coordinator, at k.pothukuchi@wayne.edu.

The Wayne State University School of Medicine Alumni Association is seeking student and faculty volunteers to participate in this year’s Alumni Annual Telefund.

Volunteers can sign up and receive more information from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Scott Hall cafeteria Sept. 11, 14 and 15. You will receive a free School of Medicine gift when you sign up.

The Alumni Annual Fund supports a variety of programs for students at the School of Medicine, including medical student scholarships and loans; student activities such as community outreach programs, Match Day, Student Senate retreat, Career Day, Family Day, Welcome Ceremony, the Honors Program and maintenance of the student fitness center; summer research fellowships; an investment fund to support academic and student programs; and student research projects.

The student organization that raises the most money will receive a donation to that organization: first place, $500; second place, $250; third place, $100.

This year’s Telefund dates are Oct. 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 19, 20, 21, 22, 27, 28, 29, and Nov. 2, 4, 5, 9, 10 and 11. Volunteers may stop in to make calls between 5:30 and 9:30 p.m. on those days, and dinner will be served.

For additional information, contact Lisa Ramos, assistant director of Alumni Affairs for the Wayne State University School of Medicine, at (313) 577-9022 or lramos@med.wayne.edu.

The Wayne State University School of Medicine chapter of the Asian Pacific American Medical Student Association is supporting a fundraising event for victims of the recent typhoon that struck Taiwan.

The APAMSA invites members of the School of Medicine community to experience the Chinese community by attending a Sept. 12 concert at the Madison Heights Association of Chinese Americans Community Center. The center is located at 32585 Concord Drive in Madison Heights, and the concert begins at 5 p.m. Donations to support the Red Cross Society of the Republic of China will be accepted.

Tickets need to be reserved by calling (248) 585-934. Please mention you are from the Wayne State School of Medicine.

The APAMSA is very involved in the local Chinese community through health fair screenings.

The keynote speaker for the 13th annual Wayne State University Graduate Student Research Day will be Sean J. Morrison, Ph.D., professor of Cell & Developmental Biology and associate professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School.

Dr. Morrison, who also serves as director of the University of Michigan Center for Stem Cell Biology and an investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, will present “The Regulation of Stem Cell Self-Renewal” on Sept. 17, from 5 to 6 p.m., in the Green Auditorium in Scott Hall.

Dr. Morrison obtained his bachelor’s degree in biology and chemistry from Dalhousie University (1991), and then completed a doctorate degree in immunology at Stanford University (1996), and a postdoctoral fellowship in neurobiology at the California Institute of Technology (1999). Since 1999, Dr. Morrison has been at the University of Michigan, where his laboratory studies the mechanisms that regulate stem cell self-renewal and stem cell aging, as well as the role these mechanisms play in cancer. His laboratory’s work on stem cells is primarily funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the National Institutes of Health.

Dr. Morrison was a Searle Scholar (2000-2003), was named to Technology Review Magazine’s list of 100 young innovators (2002), received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (2003), the International Society for Hematology and Stem Cells’ McCulloch and Till Award (2007) and the American Association of Anatomists Harland Mossman Award (2008).

He has also been active in public policy issues surrounding stem cells as an officer and a director of the International Society for Stem Cell Research. Most recently, he was a leader in the successful Proposal 2 campaign to loosen restrictions on stem cell research in the state of Michigan.

Graduate Student Research Day is a student-organized, daylong event intended to promote interaction among Wayne State University departments and students within the biomedical research fields. In addition, the event serves to increase awareness of research activities performed by Wayne State University graduate students.

Jeffrey Szymanski, a student in the Wayne State University School of Medicine’s M.D./Ph.D. dual-degree program, is a recipient of the prestigious Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award individual pre-doctoral fellowship award (F30) from the National Institutes of Health.

Szymanski, who is conducting his dissertation research under the mentorship of Donald DeGracia, Ph.D., associate professor of the Department of Physiology, received the award for his research titled “HuR Regulation of HSP 70 in Brain Reperfusion.”

The fellowship provides funding for Szymanksi’s graduate training and for the remainder of his medical school training.

Ambika Mathur, Ph.D., assistant dean of Combined Degree Programs and Postdoctoral Affairs, said that with this most recent award, students in the M.D./Ph.D. program have received 10 extramural fellowships.

The Detroit News published a guest editorial on health care reform written by Herbert J. Smitherman Jr. M.D., M.P.H., assistant dean of Community and Urban Health and assistant professor of the Department of Internal Medicine for the Wayne State University School of Medicine.

In the editorial, published Sept. 3, Dr. Smitherman notes that the United States spends $2.5 trillion per year on health care -- about 50 percent more than Europe or Canada -- but with worse health care results. He also writes that despite this spending, America still has 47 million uninsured people.

The uninsured, he said, end up in emergency rooms because they lack access to primary health care. Avoidable ER visits and hospitalizations cost the health care system 10 to 20 times more than if they had that access.

Dr. Smitherman points to a study conducted by the Wayne State University School of Medicine, four Detroit health systems and a federally qualified health center. The Voices of Detroit Initiative, funded by the Kellogg Foundation, enrolled and tracked the care of 33,000 people who were without health insurance over five years. The college transitioned 55 percent of those patients out of preventable emergency room and hospitalization visits into affordable primary care medical home settings. The result was a 42 percent savings in overall care.

“The initiative achieved these savings by expanding primary care capacity and reorganizing the delivery system, better aligning health care services to the patient's immediate clinical needs,” he writes. “In other words, we got the patient to the right place at the right time for the right level of care.”

To read the complete editorial, visit http://www.detnews.com/article/20090903/OPINION01/909030340/1008/opinion01/Let-facts--not-fiction-improve-health-care

Martin Bluth, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of the Wayne State University School of Medicine Department of Pathology, will deliver the keynote address of the Translational Biomedicine and Multiplex Assays for the Progress of Translational Medicine session at the seventh annual Congress of International Drug Discovery Science and Technology. The congress will meet in Shanghai, China, Oct. 22-25.

In addition to giving the keynote address, “Biomarker Discovery Platforms in Pharmacogenomics and Personalized Medicine,” Dr. Bluth also will chair the session.

“The new wave of biomarker discovery is working to employ a personalized approach to a patient’s illness rather than generalized application to all patients. This allows for variation in detection and treatment for the individual. As such, a drug may work for one patient and not for another,” said Dr. Bluth, who also serves as director of Translational Research for the Department of Pathology and associate director of the Transfusion Service for the Detroit Medical Center. “The concept of pharmacogenomics -- which is loosely defined as the effect of drugs on the genome taking into account the polymorphism on an individual patient -- is valuable in the ability to tailor a more effective therapy and mitigates the idea that ‘one drug fits all.’”

Dr. Bluth’s areas of research include immunology/inflammation, pancreatology, biomarker discovery, glycolipid based anti-inflammatory therapy, role of IgE in viral diseases and cancer, and blood derived stem cell propogation.

In his role as director of Translation Research, Dr. Bluth is immersed in bringing research from bench to patient bedside, training residents and fellows in applied science, and “synergizing strengths of clinical and basic science toward human application.”

Dr Bluth is the editor in chief of the Journal of Pharmacogenomics and Personalized Medicine (Dove Medical Press) -- http://www.dovepress.com/pharmacogenomics-and-personalized-medicine-journal and holds more than 15 new inventions and technologies, many of which are patent pending. Dr. Bluth is also vice president of BioMedica Management Corp., and on the board of directors of FirstPoint Biotech venture fund. He has recently pioneered biomarker discovery platforms for use toward clinical applications and entrepreneurial start-up companies.

“This is a rather auspicious occasion where phama and academia will both be presenting and be well represented to discuss and promote future approaches to the diagnosis and therapy of disease,” he said of the congress.

Dr. Bluth has also been invited to give a presentation at Shantou Medical College and discuss areas of potential collaborations between Wayne State University and SMC by President Jiang Gu.

African-Americans have the highest death rate of all racial or ethnic groups, according to the American Cancer Society. In an effort to find answers to this alarming problem, Wayne State University, in a cross-campus collaboration with the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, the Institute of Gerontology and the Center for Urban and African American Health, has received notice of additional funding for research that aims to address minority cancer disparities.

This Community Network Program, funded by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health, is building a comprehensive, community-based program to reduce disparities of breast, prostate, colorectal and lung cancer that adversely affect older, underserved, African-American adults in metropolitan Detroit. The recent award of $199,883 brings the project funding total to more than $3 million since the program was initially funded in 2005.

The program, led by Terrance Albrecht, Ph.D., professor of Family Medicine and Public Health Sciences at Wayne State University’s School of Medicine, interim associate center director of Population Sciences and interim program leader of Population Studies and Prevention at Karmanos, is a catalyst for a community-based movement to improve access to and engagement of interventions for cancer screening and early stage cancer detection, diagnosis and treatment. With the ultimate goal of eradicating cancer health disparities, Dr. Albrecht heads a coalition of community leaders, researchers and medical professionals to  maintain education, research and training programs that reduce disparities, promote early detection, aid in treatment seeking, and sustain interventions and research.

“This important collaboration represents the commitment of Wayne State University to focus on major issues in urban health,” said Gloria Heppner, Ph.D., associate vice president for research at WSU. “Dr. Albrecht and her associates are on the forefront of efforts to ensure that all Americans are able to receive the latest and best information on cancer, ways to prevent it and ways to treat it.”

Tej Mattoo, M.D., professor and chief of Pediatric Nephrology at the Wayne State University School of Medicine and Children’s Hospital of Michigan, has received $267,999 in funds from the National Institute of Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health for the project, “Primary Vesicoureteral Reflux in Children.”

The grant comes under the auspices of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the national economic stimulus package signed into law by President Barack Obama.

To date, the NIH has funded more than $3 million for this research project and a separate study on Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis, a disease that attacks the kidney’s filtering system.

The grant will allow Dr. Mattoo to continue a study started in 2005 that is examining whether long-term antibiotics are necessary in children with vesicoureteral reflux. In addition, the grant will fund recruitment and/or salary support for research coordinators at participating study sites across the country.

Vesicoureteral reflux is a common congenital abnormality associated with recurrent urinary tract infections in children. With normal urination, the bladder contracts and deposits the urine through the urethra. In children with VUR, there is an abnormal flow of urine back into the ureters and sometimes the kidneys. This reflux exposes the kidneys to infection, which can cause serious kidney damage. The injury to the kidneys may result in renal scarring, which may cause high blood pressure later in life or even kidney failure.

“To prevent such damage and long-term effects, patients are currently treated with daily antibiotics for many years depending on the severity of their abnormality,” Dr. Mattoo said. “This collaborative study is testing the hypothesis that prolonged antibiotic prophylaxis does not reduce the frequency of urinary tract infections, nor reduce the risk of renal scarring or reverse VUR in children.”

Current treatment for VUR may not be necessary and may cause some harm -- including resistance to antibiotics -- requiring children to undergo expensive and painful radiology tests and surgical procedures.