why Mayo? unsure how many of you have already done this- I suppose it depends on your work schedule. I have the morning off, so:
look up pancreatic cancer research at Mayo, and you can find out some stuff of note. One thing is that it is a SPORE for pancreatic cancer- specialized program of research excellence. ( Of course you will recall that BI Deaconess here in Boston is a SPORE for renal cell CA, and that has not helped us so much that we know about) It treats 1900 patients yearly with pancreatic cancer in the US(45,00 new dx yearly US)
There are 17 people listed on its research page, some of whom are in Scottsdale AZ and Jacksonville FL- its other centers as you may know. Some are in genetics surgery etc and cannot be linked to press release. 3 names caught my eye. None of them trained at or worked at Dana Farber or programs based in Boston.
3 names stand out.
Erlichman-prev director- through 20015- of Mayo cancer research. Research has focused on HSP 90 stuff, something called 17AAG and one other, long name starts with g. Also works on inhibitors of EGFR.
Alberts-current cancer clinical research director for Mayo. Works with Nat Cancer Institute GI group, and is on some Pancreatic cancer task Force. Interests in early drug development/trials
Urritia- interested in cell growth etc Very picky lines of research, but his papers are listed and #10 includes a mention of a p53 isoform
I have a limited understanding of cancer centers and research, very similar to man on the street survey, which would pull out Dana Farber and MD Anderson and Hutchinson and Memorial Sloan Kettering as big centers of excellence.
It would appear that Mayo has a lot of focus on pancreatic cancer, many published papers coming out, lots of trial expertise, and also, LOTS OF PATIENTS with this unfortunate cancer. This is an excellent affiliation for CTIX- should anything come of it. This remains to be seen of course.
I cannot see any instant connection between CTIX and Dana Farber and Mayo, other than they all know each other through papers and reputation I would think, and they see each other at ASCO
