News
May 2023
Congratulations to Valerie Chai for her recent publication.
Xianzhong Ding, Rishi Kumar Kaiswal, Raymond Kostlan, Weihang (Valerie) ChaiDeficiency in Mammalian STN1 Promotes Colon Cancer Development Via Inhibiting DNA RepairSci Adv 2023 May 10;9(19):eadd8023. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.add8023. Epub 2023 May 10https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37163605/
PMID: 37163605
Congratulations to Manuel Diaz for his recent publication.
RNA binding induces an allosteric switch in Cyp33 to repress MLL1-mediated transcription.Sci Adv. 2023 Apr 21;9(16):eadf5330.doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adf5330.Epub 2023 Apr 19. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37075125/PMID: 37075125PMCID: PMC10115415DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adf5330
MARCH 2023
On March 1, we welcomed a new faculty member to our department, Ali Vaziri-Gohar, PhD, Assistant Professor. His research interests are in metabolism and pancreatic cancer. Dr. Vaziri-Gohar joins us from Case Western Reserve University. We look forward to working with him.
FEBRUARY 2023
Congratulations to all the participants in the Three Minute Thesis competition which was held yesterday, February 21st at the Lake Shore Campus. As usual, the Biomedical graduate students from the Health Sciences Campus performed admirably. Tying for 3rd place were Kanak Joshi (Zhang lab, Biochemistry, Molecular and Cancer Biology Program) and Carolyn Judy (Langert lab, Neuroscience program). First place was awarded to Hershey Kondeti (Langert lab, Molecular Pharmacology and Therapeutics program). Hershey Kondeti also won the Audience Favorite award.
The Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center and Department of Cancer Biology hosted a Research Night and Poster Session to highlight cancer-focused research from across the Health Sciences Campus and spark new ideas, projects and collaborations amongst our faculty and students.
Congratulations to Dr. Valerie Chai on her new NIH NIGMS R01 grant award entitled “Molecular Basis of Coats Plus Disease.”
Congratulations to Dr. Sean Fanning on his new NIH NCI R01 grant award entitled “Structural-Transcriptional Relationships that improve Y537S Estrogen Receptor Antagonism.”
JANUARY 2023
The Department welcomes Dr. Derek Wainwright, who joined our faculty on January 2nd. Dr. Wainwright will serve as Scientific Director of Brain Tumor Research, Associate Professor and Program Leader for Cancer Biology and Therapeutics. He joins us from Northwestern University where he lead an NIH-funded research program focused on Glioblastoma.
August 2022
Department Gathering and New Graduate Student Meet and Greet
A combined departmental gathering and graduate student meet and greet was held at the Oak Park Conservatory in August. More Photos
JULY 25, 2022 LUC SUMMER INTERNSHIP
Faculty, students, staff and family attended the LUC Research Intern Symposium. This symposium was the culmination of a ten-week, full tme research internship between LUC Undergraduate science majors and the Department of Cancer Biology and the Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center located on the Maywood campus. More Photos
March 2022
Congratulations to SSOM Department of Cancer Biology Assistant Professor Irida Kastrati who was awarded an internal Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion “JEDI” grant for her project titled “SELENOF and Western Diet Promote Aggressive Breast Cancer Disease That Predominantly Affects African American Women.” This work will establish whether the loss of SELENOF, a newly identified tumor suppressor in breast cancer, together with the consumption of a Western diet will promote and exacerbate breast tumorigenesis. Loss of SELENOF disproportionately affects African American patients, therefore findings may help elucidate the underlying biological factors contributing to racial disparity in breast cancer.
February 2022
Seven Stritch biomedical science students, three from the Department of Cancer
Biology participated in the 3-Minute Thesis Competition.
Pictured are (left to right): Monika Evdokimova (MIIM PhD, 3rd Place), Jesus Zamora-Pineda (MIIM MD/PhD), Emily Ma (ICB MD/PhD, 1st Place), Austin Runde (CMO-MS) and Asra Habibullah (CMO-MS). Not pictured: Manuel Flores and Will Zhang (both PHAR-PhD). 1st-place winner Emily Ma will go on to represent Loyola at the Midwest Association of Graduate Schools regional 3-MT competition.
Student Spotlight: Lola Badmus
PhD candidate Lola Badmus balances researching potentially life-saving leukemia therapies with promoting science and research to girls.
Recent Grant Awards
July 2022
Professor Nancy Zeleznik-Le has been awarded a NIH grant titled, "AF9 (MLLT3) Function in Leukemia and Normal Hematopoiesis"
June 2022
Professor Valerie Chai has been awarded a NIH grant titled "Identification of a Novel Tumor Suppressor of Melanoma and UV-Induced Genome.
May 2022
Professor Jiwang Zhang has been awarded a NIH grant title "RIP1/RIP3-Calpain-Stat3 and NF-kappa B Pathways in AML Pathogenesis and Treatment"
March 2022
Assistant Professor Irida Kastrati who was awarded an internal Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion “JEDI” grant for her project titled “SELENOF and Western Diet Promote Aggressive Breast Cancer Disease That Predominantly Affects African American Women.”