Jerry to be honored at breast cancer symposium

Scientists from Dartmouth Medical School and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will discuss their research on breast cancer at a symposium on Monday, Oct. 23 in 1009 Campus Center.

Sponsored by the UMass Amherst/Baystate Medical Collaborative Biomedical Research Program, the event will open with refreshments at noon.

At 12:15, Michael Sporn, a molecular biologist and pharmacologist at Dartmouth Medical School, will speak on “New Approaches to Prevention and Treatment of Breast Cancer with Synthetic Triterpenoids and Rexinoids.”

Charles M. Perou, assistant professor of genetics and pathology at UNC, will discuss “Molecular Portraits of Breast Cancer” at 1:15.

Perou’s talk will be followed by the presentation of the Frederick W. Byron Research Award for Excellence in Promoting Collaborative Biomedical Research to D. Joseph Jerry, associate professor in the Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences.

Jerry, who is also director of the Breast Cancer Working Group at the Pioneer Valley Life Sciences Institute and an adjunct faculty member in the department of pathology at Baystate Medical Center, was instrumental in promoting and cultivating the UMass Amherst/Baystate Medical Collaborative Biomedical Research Program that began in 1996. He has served as a member of its program oversight committee since 2001.

With major grants from the National Institutes of Health, Jerry’s laboratory has made significance contributions in defining the role of p53 in mammary gland development and susceptibility to mammary tumors in mice as a model for human breast cancer susceptibility.

Jerry recently received a Milestone Award from the Amherst campus for securing his fifth patent.

Following the award presentation, there will be refreshments and poster presentations by the Breast Cancer Working Group of the Pioneer Valley Life Sciences Institute.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

More Information

Program

October 17, 2006.

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