White House Science Official Comes to CU Anschutz for Cancer Briefing, Moonshot Updates

Arati Prabhakar, PhD, and a panel of elected officials and CU leaders shared information on the fight against cancer.

Dr. Sabrina Spencer, a CU 麻豆影院 Biochemistry Professor and CU Cancer Center member, recently presented her lab's cancer research to White House Cabinet member and Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, Arati Prabhakar, PhD. The Biden Cancer Moonshot event took place at CU Anschutz on July 17, 2024. Also in attendance were CU President Todd Saliman, CU Anschutz Chancellor Don Elliman, Lieutenant Governor of Colorado Dianne Primavera, Congresswoman Diana DeGette, Cancer Center Deputy Director James DeGregori, and several other Anschutz faculty and staff. Dr. Spencer described her work using fluorescent sensors and time-lapse imaging to film and track cancer cells over many days. As an example of the discoveries her CU 麻豆影院 lab has made, she described the identification of rare cancer cells that can rewire in just 3 days to escape from cancer drugs meant to block proliferation. 鈥淲e detect these rogue cells across multiple cancer types and multiple drugs, and think they are a general seed population for resistance mutations months to years later. We are therefore working to limit this cancer cell plasticity in the hopes of reducing cancer relapse in patients."

Photo (left - right): Sabrina Spencer, PhD, Professor, CU 麻豆影院 Andi Dwyer, Director, Colorado Cancer Screening Center Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, Arati Prabhakar Sarah Reynolds, Nurse Navigator in GI Oncology, UCHealth.

Photos Courtesy: University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

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From the Chroma Technology Website:

This year, Chroma Technology is happy to present the Anne Heidenthal Prize for Fluorescence Research award to Prof. Sabrina Spencer from the 麻豆影院. This annual international prize is awarded to a young scientist who has performed extraordinary research in the field of fluorescence imaging. Dr. Spencer was selected by the committee for her work on the regulation of cell-cycle progression and cell-cycle withdrawal, enabled by single-cell, time-lapse imaging and computational tracking of novel live-cell sensors, in particular her sensor for CDK2 activity. In her prize lecture, she described her latest discoveries on the mechanisms by which cells rapidly adapt to to the new class of CDK2 inhibitors, allowing completion of the cell-cycle. CDK2 is hyperactive in many cancers, and Dr. Spencer's imaging of the dynamics of CDK2 activity suggests how to best apply these therapeutics, which are now in clinical trials for several types of cancer. 

鈥淲e trust the committee year after year to select a scientist worthy of supporting, and we couldn鈥檛 be happier with this year鈥檚 choice,鈥� said Georg Draude, General Manager of the Chroma GmbH German branch and presenter of the Anne Heidentah Prize, 鈥淲e look forward to following Dr. Spencer鈥檚 future work.鈥�

The was established in 2014 to honor the memory of Anne Heidenthal (1968-2010). Anne Heidenthal was an accomplished researcher with a Ph.D. in Cardiovascular research who played a very important role in Chroma鈥檚 history. Anne led the opening of Chroma鈥檚 first international sales office in Germany in 2006. In preparation, she spent two years in Vermont working at Chroma鈥檚 main facility in Bellows Falls to learn the business and become deeply knowledgeable about our products and operations. Her commitment and energy laid the foundation for our future success.

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Sabrina L. Spencer, assistant professor of biochemistry and member of the BioFrontiers Institute at the 麻豆影院, is one of five new winners of a 2021 Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovation Award, the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation . She is also one of seven new winners of the  from the Mark Foundation for Cancer Research.

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From the Provost鈥檚 Letter:

鈥淚n selecting you for this award, the faculty committee pointed to the importance of your article published in the high-impact journal Science: Temporal integration of mitogen history in mother cells controls proliferation of daughter cells, which overturns the longstanding conventional paradigm of cell growth and more specifically, provides new insight into the proliferation-quiescence decision in mammalian cells. Members of the committee were deeply impressed by the rigor and attention to detail shown in your research, and noted it would be difficult to ask for better scholarship. This work has profound and far-reaching implications not only for revising our general understanding of cell biology, but also of cancer biomarkers and drug therapy.鈥�

Congrats Sabrina! 

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When do cells decide to divide? For 40 years, the textbook answer has been that this decision occurs in the first phase of a cell鈥檚 existence 鈥� right after a mother cell divides to become daughter cells. But researchers at CU 麻豆影院 have found that it鈥檚 actually the mother cell that determines if its daughter cells will divide

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CU 麻豆影院 research attracted a record $631 million in funding in fiscal year 2019 for groundbreaking studies that investigate a changing environment, explore new opportunities in space, mitigate the effects of natural hazards, advance biomedical research and seek cleaner, more sustainable energy solutions.

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NIH鈥檚 High-Risk, High-Reward Research program to fund Sabrina Spencer鈥檚 CU 麻豆影院 research that could shed light on cancer treatment

Scientists do not fully understand how cells choose between proliferation and quiescence (a state of non-proliferation) but a 麻豆影院 biochemist鈥檚 novel proposal to study the issue has won the support of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Sabrina Spencer, CU 麻豆影院 assistant professor of biochemistry, is one of . Those awards, announced today, are part of the , which supports 鈥渆xtraordinarily creative scientists proposing highly innovative research to address major challenges in biomedical research.鈥� Zoe Donaldson, an assistant professor of behavioral neuroscience at CU 麻豆影院, also won a Director's New Innovator Award. (Read more about Donaldson's research.)

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