August 3, 2007
Four MGH investigators presented their work to colleagues and research
leadership at a July 19 reception at Building 149. The researchers
were the 2006 recipients of the Tosteson fellowships, which are granted
to postdoctoral research fellows working at CNY. The program
is administered by the Executive Committee on Research (ECOR), with
funding support from the Massachusetts Biomedical Research Corporation
(MBRC), which owns the CNY research facilities.
Mee-Ohk Kim, MD, PhD, who works with Jang-Ho Cha, MD, PhD, of MGH Neurology, investigated the role of protein structures called histones in Huntington's disease. Histones help control the expression of genes.
Bunsyo Shiotani, PhD, working with Lee Zou, PhD, in the MGH Cancer Center, studied how inactivation of a molecular signaling pathway called checkpoint, which helps to keep genes stable, can lead to tumor development and progression.Jun-yuan Ji, PhD, from the Cancer Center lab of Nick Dyson, PhD, examined how the interaction of proteins involved in the cell cycle, the process by which cells grow and reproduce, may present targets for therapies blocking tumor growth.
Nadia Godin-Heymann, PhD, of the Cancer Center team of Jeff Settleman, PhD, studied genetic mutations that make certain types of lung cancer resistant to targeted therapy drugs and may independently stimulate tumor growth.
In his introduction to the fellows' presentations, Jerrold Rosenbaum, MD, chief of Psychiatry and chair of ECOR, noted that, for the 2007 Tosteson Fellowships, postdoctoral fellows from across the MGH were eligible to apply. The increased number of outstanding applicants has led the MBRC to approve eight grants for 2007.
