Prior to leaving my position at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute in early December 2016, I wrote the following stories which were later published in February and March 2017:
Tag: cancer
December 2016/January 2017 Writing for Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
I wrote the following stories published in December 2016 and January 2017 by the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute:
Q&A with Sage Myers: How a National System of Health Data Can Improve Care
CHOP Research In the News: Hypertension, Cancer Survivors’ Parents, Breastfeeding, Antibiotics, Allergies
Frankly, My Dear, That’s Clear to an Expert: A Q&A on ‘Frank’ Presentations of Autism
Our 12 Top Stories Show Great Things Happened for Children’s Health in 2016
A Look Back at 2016: A Banner Year for Pediatric Research at CHOP
Researchers Find Compelling Preclinical Evidence for High-Risk Leukemia Therapies
Trio of Studies Shows Oral Antibiotics Are As Good As IV Antibiotics After Discharge
Neuroblastoma Genetics Study Seeks to Spell Out Structural Errors
Transformational Science: Q&A with Douglas Wallace, PhD, Winner of Franklin Medal
October 2016 Writing for Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
I wrote (or edited, as noted) the following articles published in October 2016 by the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute:
Scientists Seek Mitochondrial Mechanism to Overcome Cancer Treatment Resistance
Finding of Variability in Antibiotic Prescribing Yields Improvements, Accolades
Project Aims to Automate Adverse Event Reporting in Cancer Clinical Trials
In a Teenager’s Brain, HIV Infection Could Cause Unique Damage
How to Address Four Factors That Limit Gender Equality in Academic Medicine
I noticed a CHOP-affiliated co-author, Dr. Ganetzky, listed on a piece in the journal Academic Medicine calling for action on gender equality. I approached Dr. Ganetzky with the idea for a guest blog post on the subject and worked with her to refine and edit the post for publication.
CHOP Research In the News: Ear Infection Genetics, Childhood Cancer Heredity, Vaccine Anniversary
CHOP, Penn Researchers Share Progress and Tips for Using mHealth Tools
CHOP Research In the News: Cancer Moonshot Yields Data-Sharing Initiatives, Hemophilia Surprise, Mitochondrial Medal
Mentorship in Medicine, Zebras, and Holsteins: Q&A with Elaine Zackai
September 2016 Writing for The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
I wrote the following stories published by The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute in September 2016:
Going with the Flow: How Lymphatics is Emerging as Medicine’s Newest Specialty
Pediatricians May Better Help Parents Quit Smoking With Decision Support Tool
Discovering How a Neurological ‘Pit Crew’ Keeps the Brain on Track
Scientists Identify Molecule Controlling Inflammatory Immune Response
Neuroblastoma Drug Candidates Target Key Henchmen of a Supervillain Oncogene
Fresh Hope for Treating a Rare Progressive, Lysosomal Storage Childhood Disease
CHOP Research In the News: Cancer Moonshot, Why Children Get Cancer, and a Push for Vaccination
Patients as Partners and the Legacy of Henrietta Lacks: A Q&A with David Lacks
Do Food Allergies Increase the Risk of Asthma? Key Questions From a New Study
CHOP Research In the News: Emmy Award, Kids and the Cancer Moonshot, Precision Approach to Epilepsy, Concussion Monitoring App
April 2016 Writing for The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
I wrote the following articles published by The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute in April 2016:
Restoring Balance in the Brain After Concussion
CHOP Oncologist Appointed to Blue Ribbon Panel for National Cancer Moonshot
Teaching a Computer to See Like a Dermatologist
Study Maps Early Connectivity Networks in Newborn Babies’ Brains
CHOP Research In the News: Transgender Youth, Vaccines, and Sleep
In Bench to Bedside: Finding Research Success in Setbacks
Growing Into Healthy Relationships: A Teen Dating Violence Q&A
CHOP Research In the News: Genetic Superheroes, Excess Bone, and Secondhand Smoke
Coordinating Research with 80 Million Participants: A PCORnet Q&A
Hakon Hakonarson Honored for Excellence in Research Mentoring
CHOP Research In the News: Plastic Bronchitis, Baby BMI, Voice at the Vatican
Four Projects, One Goal: Curing Childhood Cancer
Originally published in Bench to Bedside, the CHOP Research monthly publication.
I prepared this article based on the project descriptions and email correspondence with the investigators.
Excerpt:
Many cancer treatments have harmful side effects when they act on healthy tissues in addition to cancer cells. A team led by Garrett M. Brodeur, MD, director of the Cancer Predisposition Program at CHOP, and funded by a CURE grant, is seeking ways to increase drug delivery to the tumors to improve drugs’ effectiveness while reducing their toxicity.
Their method uses tiny nanoparticles as delivery vehicles. Nanoparticles are a promising way to get drugs into tumors because tumor blood vessels are leaky, and the nanoparticles can enter the tumor much more easily than normal tissues.
“By increasing drug delivery to tumors by one or two orders of magnitude, we can achieve dramatically better anti-tumor effects while simultaneously decreasing total drug exposure to patients,” Dr. Brodeur said.
CHOP Big Data Center Visits White House for Precision Medicine Summit
Originally published on Cornerstone, the CHOP Research Blog.
I composed this original article based on an interview with the investigator.
Excerpt:
Today at the White House, President Obama welcomed guests, including Adam Resnick, PhD, representing The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, for a morning of remarks and discussions about what the Precision Medicine Initiative (PMI) has achieved to date, and how it can take the next steps into the new era of medicine that delivers the right treatment at the right time to the right person. One way CHOP will be an integral part of that effort is through its commitment to data-driven discovery in pediatrics.
The PMI, which President Obama first announced in his 2015 State of the Union speech, launched last year with a White House event attended by CHOP leukemia patient Emily Whitehead and by the hospital’s then-CEO, Steven Altschuler, MD. The pair was invited in recognition of the progress at CHOP and the University of Pennsylvania in developing an investigational precision-medicine T-cell therapy for cancer patients like Emily.
But that type of discovery is only one part of the precision medicine equation, according to Dr. Resnick, co-director and co-founder of CHOP’s new Center for Data-Driven Discovery in Biomedicine (D3B).
“Even to make a new T-cell therapy, you have to begin with data about what to target,” Dr. Resnick said. “The other side of the coin in harnessing the potential of precision medicine is empowering the pediatric community to share and use data transparently and collaboratively through initiatives that connect patients, clinicians, and researchers to that data.”
New CHOP Investigator Combines Bioinformatics and Cancer Genomics
Originally published on Cornerstone, the CHOP Research Blog.
I composed this profile based on an interview with the investigator.
Excerpt:
“I’m excited being here at the right time,” said Kai Tan, PhD. “Hopefully we can really push translational medicine in cancer, faster, with our new algorithms.”
It is the “right time” because Dr. Tan, a cancer genomics and bioinformatics researcher, joined The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in January. Within weeks of his arrival, Vice President Joe Biden launched the cancer “moonshot” initiative during a visit with cancer researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and CHOP at Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center.
The rapid expansion of precision medicine in cancer — in which researchers aim to develop clinical treatments precisely targeted to a tumor’s genetic profile — has created an urgent need for scientists like Dr. Tan, who has pioneered the development of novel computational strategies and systems biology to identify molecular events that drive cancers.
Proton Therapy Neuropsychology Study Receives Dissertation Award
Originally published on Cornerstone, the CHOP Research Blog.
I composed this original article based on interviews with the investigators.
Excerpt:
Babies being treated for brain cancer have not received traditional radiation therapy since the 1980s. At that time, doctors realized that the side effects of radiation hitting healthy developing brain tissues in very young children was simply too severe. But within the past decade, proton therapy has become available to some of even these youngest patients. This newer radiation therapy method has a more targeted radiation beam that better concentrates its effect on the tumor while hitting fewer healthy tissues — but the nature of its effects on the developing brain are still being studied.
One such study, a doctoral dissertation project by a researcher at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, was recently recognized for its quality of design and potential impact with the John E. Gordon Dissertation Award from the Philadelphia Neuropsychology Society (PNS) and Clinical Neuropsychology Associates.
Scientists Discover a Better ALK Inhibitor to Treat Neuroblastoma
Originally published on Cornerstone, the CHOP Research Blog.
I edited this article based on a CHOP press release and an additional interview with the investigator.
Excerpt:
Pediatric cancer researchers at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia believe they have succeeded in their search for a powerful next-generation drug for neuroblastoma tumors with mutations in the anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene associated with the cancer. Based on their preclinical findings, they are fast-tracking the launch of a clinical trial this year.
Usually appearing as a solid tumor in the chest or abdomen, neuroblastoma accounts for a disproportionate share of cancer deaths in children, despite many recent improvements in therapy.
The search for better ALK inhibitors originated when, in 2008, CHOP pediatric oncologist Yael Mossé, MD, and colleagues identified ALK mutations as a driver of most cases of rare, inherited neuroblastoma. Subsequent research showed that abnormal ALK changes drive approximately 14 percent of high-risk forms of neuroblastoma.
Based on this knowledge, scientists including Dr. Mossé in the multicenter Children’s Oncology Group were able to repurpose crizotinib, an ALK inhibitor already approved to treat adults with lung cancer, in clinical trials of children with neuroblastoma. But they found that different mutations within the ALK gene in neuroblastoma responded differently to crizotinib, and a mutation labelled F1174L was resistant to the drug.
Rachel Ewing 