Committed to Excellence in Cancer Research, Education and Patient Care
Inroads
July 2019
Flemington Team Awarded $2.3 Million For
Virus-Related Malignancies Research
Members of the Flemington Lab team include (from left) Juliet Strauss; Nathan Ungerleider, Ph.D.; Xia Wang; Yi Yu; Claire Roberts; Monica Concha, Ph.D.; Melody Baddoo and Erik Flemington, Ph.D.
For decades the central tenet of molecular biology has been that DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) transfers genetic information to RNA (ribonucleic acid) which provides the instructions for the production of proteins. Over time, though, scientists have learned that the cell utilizes a vast array of “non-coding RNAs” that are not involved in protein synthesis but instead carry out biochemical reactions and play direct and complex regulatory roles in cells.
 
Erik Flemington, PhD , professor of pathology and Zimmerman Professor of Cancer Research, and his team study non-coding RNAs that are a bit peculiar. "For a long time, RNAs were thought to exist in a simple linear configuration," said Flemington. "The non-coding RNAs that our group studies are actually circular in nature. The first circular RNA was identified more than 30 years ago, and for years occasional circular RNA findings were thought to represent splicing mistakes and were largely ignored. However, a few years ago, cells were found to generate thousands of unique circular RNAs and since this time the field is learning that they play important roles in regulating cell signaling pathways and in cancer progression."
 
Last year, Flemington’s team reported the first findings of circular RNAs encoded by herpesviruses , and they were recently awarded two National Cancer Institute grants - a five-year, $1.8 million R01 grant and a two-year, $460K R21 - to investigate how these viral circular RNAs contribute to Epstein-Barr herpesvirus (EBV)-associated cancers.
 
"In most cases, if a virus makes a protein, it is processed and presented on the cell surface, where the immune system can recognize it as foreign and kill the virus-infected cell," said Flemington. "In EBV-associated cancers, the virus expresses primarily non-coding RNAs, including circular RNAs, that do not produce a protein. Through these non-coding RNAs, the virus contributes to the oncogenic process without eliciting recognition by the immune system."
 
Flemington says that viral non-coding circular RNAs may serve as tumor-specific therapeutic targets for attacking EBV-associated cancers as their roles in promoting cancer are better understood .
Our Summer Drive is ON!
GET INTO GEAR TO SUPPORT
PROSTATE CANCER RESEARCH!

  • Proceeds benefit Dr. Oliver Sartor's Prostate Cancer Research Program.

  • One lucky winner will receive the grand prize - a GMC Canyon Pickup.

  • Raffle tickets are $100 each and a maximum of 500 will be sold.

  • Tickets can be purchase via credit card only at


  • The winner will be selected in a random drawing on November 16 and need not be present to win.

  • Good luck and thanks for your support!
Bryan Subaru / LLS Distribute Blankets, Art Kits &
Messages of Hope to Cancer Patients
Participating in the Subaru Loves to Care blanket and art kit distribution were (from left): Kerri Diaz of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society - Louisiana Mississippi Chapter; Orren Lewis, sales associate with Bryan Subaru in Metairie; Tulane Bone Marrow Transplant physician Dr. Francisco Socola; Melissa Barrois, LMSW, Tulane Cancer Center social worker; Joy Frantz, RN; and Andy Daigle, finance/business manager for Bryan Subaru in Metairie.
Representatives from Bryan Subaru in Metairie and The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) visited Tulane Comprehensive Cancer Clinic recently to help spread hope, love and warmth to cancer patients through the Subaru Loves to Care initiative.

Since 2015, Subaru has partnered with LLS to donate over 105,000 blankets, 12,000 arts & crafts kits and messages of hope written by Subaru customers to those fighting cancer in hospitals and cancer treatment centers across the country. The kits are given to young cancer patients or children who accompany their parents to treatment.

" Once again, Subaru and LLS brought the Subaru Loves to Care initiative to life with messages of hope to patients undergoing cancer treatment here," said Melissa Barrois, LMSW, social worker for Tulane Comprehensive Cancer Clinic. "This year, 80 blankets and 30 art kits were distributed to patients in the Tulane Cancer Clinic and Bone Marrow Transplant Unit. LLS chapters and Subaru retailers continue their mission to assist those fighting cancer, one gesture at a time."
Accolades
Melissa Barrois, LMSW , Tulane Comprehensive Cancer Clinic social worker, (far right in photo) was recently honored with a Great Catch Award by Tulane Medical Center for going above and beyond to provide the best possible care for Tulane's cancer patients. Congratulations, Melissa!
Sam Landry, PhD , professor of biochemistry and Tulane Cancer Center contributing faculty member, was recently awarded a one-year, $30,000 Ladies Leukemia League grant. The funding will support his work on "Cooperation of p53 and Pol Epsilon Mutations in Mutagenesis and Lymphomagenesis."
Congratulations to Zachary Pursell, PhD , assistant professor of biochemistry and Tulane Cancer Center program faculty member, who also received a one-year, $30,000 Ladies Leukemia League grant for his project entitled "Neo-Epitopes for Tumor Vaccines."
If Americans changed their diets by swapping out just one item each day, they could greatly reduce their carbon footprint from food, according to a new Tulane University study that examined the real-world diets of thousands of people in the U.S. Diego Rose, PhD, MPH, RD, director of nutrition at Tulane University School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine and Cancer Center associate faculty member, was lead author on the study. Read more.
Calendar of Events

benefiting Tulane Cancer Center's Prostate Cancer Research Fund

Thursday, October 3, 2019
Renaissance Hotel Grand Ballroom
Baton Rouge
benefiting Tulane Cancer Center's Breast Cancer Research Program

Saturday, October 5, 2019
Jung Hotel
New Orleans

benefiting Tulane Cancer Center's
Prostate Cancer Research Fund

Saturday, March 7, 2020
Stella Plantation
Braithwaite, LA

Tulane offers free prostate screenings - a PSA blood test - on the second Tuesday of each month at Tulane Comprehensive Cancer Clinic, 150 S. Liberty St., New Orleans. To make an appointment, call 504-988-6300 or 1-800-588-5800.
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