Hematology/Oncology Grand Rounds – “Advances in the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of AL amyloidosis.”

Cardiology Grand Rounds – “Amyloidosis – the changing landscape.”

Irene Roman, a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Dominguez’ lab received a travel award to give an oral presentation entitled “CK2 is essential for heart morphogenesis in mouse development” at the Northeast Regional Meeting for the Society for Developmental Biology, April 23-25, 2010, Marine Biology Lab, Woods Hole, MA

Yi-jang Lin, a senior BU undergraduate student, joined Dr. Dominguez’s lab this summer and was awarded FROG award from the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) for her laboratory work during the fall semester.

Yi-jang Lin has been elected to membership in Phi Beta Kappa by the Epsilon of Massachusetts Chapter at Boston University.

Irene Roman, a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Dominguez’ lab won a New Investigator Travel Award from the Council of Cardiovascular Sciences, to present a poster entitled: ” CK2 is Essential for Heart Morphogenesis in Mice and Xenopus Laevis” at the Basic Cardiovascular Sciences Conference 2010: Technological and Conceptual Advances in Cardiovascular Disease, Rancho Mirage, CA, U.S.A.” Irene’s abstract was ranked among the top 10 percent.

Sanchorawala V, Quillen K, Sloan JM, Andrea NT, Seldin DC. Bortezomib and high dose melphalan conditioning for stem cell transplantation for AL amyloidosis: a pilot study. Haematologica 2011 {Prepublished online on August 22, 2011}

Meier-Ewert HK, Sanchorawala V, Berk J, Finn KT, Skinner M, Seldin DC, Ruberg FL. Regression of cardiac wall thickness following chemotherapy and stem cell transplantation for light chain (AL) amyloidosis. Amyloid 2011; 18 (1):125-126.

Seldin DC, Andrea N, Berenbaum I, Berk JL, Connors L, Dember LM, Doros G, Fennessey S, Finn K, Girnius S, Lerner A, Libbey C, Meier-Ewert HK, O’Connell R, O’Hara C, Quillen K, Ruberg FL, Sam F, Segal A, Shelton A, Skinner M, Sloan JM, Wiesman JF, Sanchorawala V. High-dose melphalan and autologous stem cell transplantation for AL amyloidosis: recent trends in treatment-related mortality and 1-year survival at a single institution. Amyloid 2011;18 (1):122-124.

Reece D, Hegenbart U, Sanchorawala V, Merlini G, Palladini G, Blade J, Fermand J, Hassoun H, Heffner L, Vescio RA, Liu K, Enny C, Esseltine D, van de Velde H, Cakana A, ComenzoRL. Efficacy and safety of once-weekly and twice-weekly bortezomib in patients with relapsed systemic AL-amyloidosis: results of a phase-1/2 study. Blood 2011 {Prepublished online on May 11, 2011}

Sanchorawala V, Finn KT, Fennessey S, Shelton A, Doros G, Zeldis JB, Seldin DC.

Durable hematologic complete responses can be achieved with Lenalidomide in AL amyloidosis. Blood 2010; 116(11): 1990-1.

Currier, N., Chea K., Hlavacova, M., Sussman, D.J., Seldin, D.C. Dominguez, I., Dynamic expression of a LEF-EGFP Wnt reporter in mouse development and cancer. Genesis 2010 Mar; 48(3): 183-94.

Genetic Signatures of Exceptional Longevity in Humans Paola Sebastiani,1,* Nadia Solovieff,1 Annibale Puca,2 Stephen W. Hartley,1 Efthymia Melista,3 Stacy Andersen,4 Daniel A. Dworkis,3 Jemma B. Wilk,5 Richard H. Myers,5 Martin H. Steinberg,6 Monty Montano,3 Clinton T. Baldwin,6,7 Thomas T. Perls4,*

Tapan U, Seldin DC, Finn KT, Fennessey S, Shelton A, Zeldis JB, Sanchorawala V. Increases in B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) during treatment with lenalidomide in AL amyloidosis. Blood 2010; 116(23): 5071-2.

Sanchorawala V, Seldin DC, Berk JL, Sloan JM, Doros G, Skinner M. Oral cyclic melphalan and dexamethasone for patients with AL amyloidosis. Clinical Lymphoma, Myeloma & Leukemia 2010; 10(6): 469-472.

Dr. Seldin was awarded a one year grant from Link Medicine Corporation, titled “Evaluation of Link Medicine Corporation’s Compound in AL Amyloidosis” in the amount of $44,000.

Dr. Zhong was awarded a three year grant in the amount of $253,500 from the National Institute of Health for a project intitled, “Role of L2pB1 Cells on Central Immune Tolerance in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus”.

Section of

On Monday, January 25th from 5:30-7:30 p.m. in the Evans Seminar Room 112a, the section of Hematology and Oncology will be holding a “Research Fair” for the sake of Fellows, Residents, Graduate Students and Post Docs interested in doing basic, translational, clinical or epidemiological research related to Hematology and Oncology. Dinner will be provided.

Recent Faculty Publications:

Wu H, Symes K, Seldin DC, Dominguez I. Threonine 393 of β-catenin regulates interaction with Axin. J. Cell. Biochem. 2009; Sep 1;108(1):52-63.

Rosenzweig M, Seldin DC, Remick DG, Skinner M, Quillen K, Oran B, Finn KT, Sanchorawala V. Febrile reactions occurring with second cycle of high-dose melphalan and SCT in patients with AL amyloidosis: a ‘melphalan recall’ reaction. Bone Marrow Transplant. 2010 Jan;45(1):21-4. Epub 2009 May 4.PMID: 19421171

Awards:

Irene Roman, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Isabel Dominguez lab was awarded a “Beatriu de Pinos postdoctoral fellowship”, a postdoctoral training program from the Catalonian Government.

Victoria Gau, a Boston University undergraduate student working in Dr. Dominguez’s lab was awarded a UROP grant for the spring semester, in addition to recieving the UROP award this previous fall semester. The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) was established in 1997 to facilitate participation by Boston University undergraduates in faculty-mentored research.

“An update on systemic amyloidosis” Rheumatology Grand Rounds, Tufts Medical Center, November 12, 2009.

“AL amyloidosis: how far have we come” Bone Marrow Transplant Grand Rounds, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, November 19, 2009.