Leaders in cancer research to speak at NMSU in March

It’s your chance to learn more about a stomach cancer-causing bacterium and about how transparent zebrafish embryos are used to study human brain pathways with potential for cancer cells.

New Mexico State University is hosting two speakers who are leaders in cancer research at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

Nina Salama, a microbiologist who leads a research team studying the stomach cancer-causing bacterium Helicobacter pylori, will speak at 6 p.m. Friday, March 10. Cecilia Moens, a developmental biologist working to uncover the genes and proteins that shape the brain, will speak at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, March 30.

The talks are free and open to the public. Both will be held in the Gerald Thomas Hall Auditorium, Room 194.

Funded by a grant from the National Cancer Institute, the Partnership for the Advancement of Cancer Research (PACR) is sponsoring the speakers. PACR is housed in the NMSU College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences’ Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences. The partnership – which began in 2002 – is between NMSU and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

Mary O’Connell, a Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences Regents professor, and Graciela Unguez, a Department of Biology professor, are the NMSU directors for the PACR program.

“The NMSU-Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Partnership for the Advancement of Cancer Research is committed to benefitting the public by holding free lectures delivered by leading researchers in cancer biology,” Unguez said. “These lectures will fascinate and inform all who attend.”

Salama and her team are leaders in the field studying the H. pylori bacterium. They’ve studied how that particular bug colonizes the stomach and how it triggers the chronic inflammation that can lead to gastric ulcers and, for some people, stomach cancer.

Salama was featured as one of the panelists at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center’s “Rock Star Women in Science” event last summer.

Moens studies zebrafish embryos to research brain activity. Because the almost completely transparent embryos form outside their mother, and because their brain development is so similar to that of the human brain, Moens has made many discoveries studying the embryos.

She’s discovering what may go wrong in developmental disorders that affect the brain, such as autism and spina bifida syndromes. Her research is relevant to understanding how cancer works. Understanding more about the brain’s pathways may uncover more about brain cancer.

For more information about the speaking engagements, contact PACR Program Manager Lené Loest at 575-646-5104 or hloest@nmsu.edu. For more information about PACR, visit http://cancer.nmsu.edu. For more information about the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, visit fredhutch.org