From: https://health.ucdavis.edu/synthesis/issues/winter2024/science-education/nci-renews-collaboration.html

Renewal of the first National Cancer Institute grant to fund a University of California Cancer Consortium research collaboration is inspiring UC scientists to continue their quest to develop targeted therapies to treat gastric cancer and non-small cell lung cancer.

UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center serves as the lead research institution. It is also the only minority focused research center to have participated in the Patient-Derived Xenograft Development and Trial Center since its inception five years ago. The $5.2 million renewal of the NCI grant will span another five years.

Patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) are created by implanting tumor tissues from human patients into immunocompromised mice to create an environment that increases understanding of tumor development and spread. Other participants include all five University of California comprehensive cancer centers, and the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

The goal of the research alliance is to establish and characterize at least 120 new PDXs from racially diverse populations and study them to better understand the specific genetic factors that may underlie certain cancer disparities. The scientists also are testing precision medicine therapies that may be successful in overcoming gene mutations specific or more common to certain races or ethnicities.

“The impact of the collaborative is to understand the biological processes involved in cancer health disparities and to develop effective new treatments that we can then offer to patients as clinical trials.”

LUIS CARVAJAL-CARMONA, ASSOCIATE VICE CHANCELLOR FOR THE UC DAVIS OFFICE OF ACADEMIC DIVERSITY AND FOUNDING DIRECTOR OF THE CANCER CENTER’S CENTER FOR ADVANCING CANCER HEALTH EQUITY

Carvajal-Carmona said researchers will implant human fresh tumor samples into mice. The goal is to assess how ancestry influences patients’ response to anti-cancer drugs and what types of drug combinations will work more effectively in certain populations. The models and data generated in the study will be made available as a resource for UC scientists and those around the country.

Caitlin Leong (Undergraduate Researcher) and Paul Lott (Assistant Project Scientist) participated on a All Of Us panel in Sacramento, CA. They presented on how All Of Us is changing the research dataset paradigm – providing a rich genomics dataset that is available to all researchers.

“As a researcher, it’s easy to get started – just go to https://www.researchallofus.org/ and register. Depending on the level of access that you need, it should take less than 8 hours to register, and get through the necessary training.” – Paul Lott, Ph.D.

If you aren’t already a participant, please join All of Us.

March 15, 2023

https://health.ucdavis.edu/insideout/news/features/study-finds-tough-to-treat-tumor-genes-contribute-to-gastric-cancer-disparities-in-latinos/2023/03?utm_campaign=internalcomms&utm_medium=email&utm_source=biweeklyupdate&utm_content=20230315

See https://diversity.ucdavis.edu/news/new-leaders-diversity-equity-and-inclusion for the full article

The Office for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is delighted to announce the appointment of Luis Carvajal-Carmona, Ph.D., as Associate Vice Chancellor for the Office of Academic Diversity (DEI/OAD), effective March 1, 2023.

The Associate Vice Chancellor for the Office of Academic Diversity plays an influential role in the DEI office as we seek to empower faculty equity leaders, elevate the work of diverse faculty as they solve global problems, support equitable ecosystems for student opportunity through our HSI initiative, and model equity inclusion in higher education.

Luis’ position reports directly to Renetta G. Tull, Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and will serve on her core leadership team. “I am thrilled and excited to have these two talented leaders on our team who are experts and already contributing to advancing our DEI goals,” Tull said.

Luis Carvajal-Carmona

Dr. Carvajal-Carmona is professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine and holds the Auburn Community Cancer Endowed Chair in Basic Science in the University of California Davis (UCD). He is the Associate Director for the Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility (IDEAL) Office, and the Founder Director of the Latinos United for Cancer Health Advancement (LUCHA) Initiative and of the Center for Advancing Cancer Health Equity at the UCD Comprehensive Cancer Center. At the UCD Clinical and Translation Science Center, he co-directs of the Community Engagement Program.

“As a nationally recognized scientist and workforce diversity advocate, I look forward to working with VC Tull, our amazing DEI office team and our great leaders at Mrak Hall to advance inclusive excellence and to promote all dimensions of diversity among our students and faculty,” Carvajal-Carmona said.

As a researcher, Professor Carvajal-Carmona specializes on cancer genetics, epidemiology, health disparities and global health. His main contributions to science include the elucidation of the genetic origins of Latino populations, the discovery of the first common variants increasing risk of colorectal cancer and the identification of a novel familial form of gastric cancer. He has discovered multiple cancer susceptibility genes and variants and has published over 100 manuscripts in influential journals such as Nature Genetics, Gastroenterology, American Journal of Human Genetics, Lancet Gastroenterology and Hepatology and PNAS. He has received awards and fellowships from the European Association for Cancer Research, The University of Oxford and the V Foundation. Carvajal-Carmona has received funding from multiple agencies in Europe (Cancer Research UK, European Union, GSK Oncology) and the U.S. (V Foundation, California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine, NIH) and is currently PI/MPI of grants totaling >$17M in research funding.

In addition to his passionate pursuit for scientific research, Carvajal-Carmona is a keen supporter of a diverse biomedical research force. He has mentored dozens of undergraduate and graduate students, 95% of whom have been first-generation college graduates and members of under-represented groups. His mentees have been awarded 50+ fellowships and research awards and are all currently pursuing higher education or are employed at leading institutions and companies. In addition to the satisfaction of helping people with his research, Carvajal-Carmona’s most rewarding accomplishment is to see his mentees shine and achieve their dreams. He has been awarded the UCD Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Mentoring Undergraduate Research and the UCD ADVANCE Scholar Award for his outstanding scholarship and mentorship.

Dr. Carvajal-Carmona was invited to speak on February 25 at the 14th Annual International Congress of Human Genetics (ICHG) Conference (ICHG2023) in Cape Town, South Africa.

He delivered a talk in Session 17 – Predicting Phenotypes for Polygenic Traits in Diverse Populations. His talk was titled “Developing Effective Polygenic Risk Scores for Cancer in Latin American Populations” – discussing our work on developing polygenic risk score models for Breast cancer, Colorectal cancer, and Gastric cancer in Latino populations.

Publications that exemplified the research from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) funded research are selected and highlighted by the Epidemiology and Genomic Research Program (EGRP) Research Highlights.

We are honored that Ted Toal’s paper characterizing the genetic heterogeneity in gastric cancer was selected to be highlighted for 2022. Ted and the lab put 1000s of hours into characterizing the molecular changes that occur and identifying the heterogeneity that present in gastric tumors. We hope that this paper will inform the research and medical communities design of new research projects and treatment of gastric cancer.

Ted W. Toal, Ana P. Estrada-Florez, Guadalupe M. Polanco-Echeverry, Ruta M. Sahasrabudhe, Paul C. Lott, John J. Suarez-Olaya, Alix A. Guevara-Tique, Sienna Rocha, Alexa Morales-Arana, Fabian Castro-Valencia, Shiro Urayama, Amanda Kirane, Dongguang Wei, Nora Rios-Sarabia, Rafael Medrano, Alejandra Mantilla, Magdalena Echeverry de Polanco, Javier Torres, Mabel E. Bohorquez-Lozano, Luis G. Carvajal-Carmona; Multiregional Sequencing Analysis Reveals Extensive Genetic Heterogeneity in Gastric Tumors from Latinos. Cancer Research Communications 2 November 2022; 2 (11): 1487–1496. https://doi.org/10.1158/2767-9764.CRC-22-0149

Michelle Wong, an undergraduate researcher, in the Carvajal-Carmona Lab was awarded 1 of 10 Scientist.com STEM Research NIL Award Grants of $5,000. She joined the lab in September 2022 as an undergraduate bioinformatics researcher where she has been assisting the bioinformatics team in researching early-onset gastric cancer in Latinos.

Please see https://www.info.scientist.com/nil-award-winners for more information about Michelle and the other awardees