We are happy to announce three student travel scholarships for up to $500 for our upcoming short course on the convergence of the sciences in biology and medicine. Students apply with a short essay. Applications are judged and awarded on a rolling basis, so apply today! Details can be found at http://uscpsoc.org/ShortCourse/Support.
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Monday, September 16, 2013
Announcing a Free Short Course: Convergence of the Sciences in Biology and Medicine (Oct. 22, 2013)
We are pleased to announce the 2013 USC PS-OC short course. This year, our topic is the convergence of the sciences in biomedicine, where biologists, engineers, mathematicians, physical scientists, and clinicians work together on tightly-integrated teams to solve biological and medical problems. We will use cancer as a motivating example, and the methods taught apply broadly across biomedicine. This free course (registration required by Oct. 17) will be of broad appeal to a multidisciplinary audience, from the advanced undergraduate level to postdoctoral students and faculty. The course will be taught by established scientists working on a variety of biological and medical problems. Topics will include:
- Multidisciplinary tutorials:
clinical oncology • molecular, cellular, and tissue biology • mathematical and computational modeling in biology • cutting-edge cellular measurements • data mining • pathway-based discovery • impact of stochastic processes in biology - Trends and examples from physical oncology
- National Institutes of Health perspective
- Power lunch: networking with multidisciplinary scientists
- Q&A Panel: Working on multidisciplinary teams
- Poster Competition (prizes for our best posters)
The course is open to advanced undergraduates, graduate students, postdoctoral students, and faculty at USC, in Southern California, and across the US. We will have limited student travel support on a competitive basis.
For full and latest details on the short course, please visit the short course website. We'll see you there!
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Dr. Agus to speak at USC Grand Rounds "Technology in Medicine" series
Please join us on Friday, May 31st, for the final presentation of the 2012-2013 Department of Medicine Medical Grand Rounds Chair’s Series on Technology in Medicine.
Friday, May 31, 2013 at 12:00pm
LAC+USC Inpatient Tower
Conference Room B
Dr. David B. Agus is a Professor of Medicine and Engineering at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine and Viterbi School of Engineering and heads USC’s Westside Cancer Center and the Center for Applied Molecular Medicine. He is one of the world’s leading cancer doctors and an international leader in new technologies and approaches for personalized healthcare. Dr. Agus has received numerous awards, including the 2009 Geoffrey Beene Foundation’s Rockstar of Science Award. Dr. Agus will speak on, "The End of Illness," based on his first book, "The End of Illness," a New York Times #1 best seller and the subject of a PBS series entitled "The End of Illness with Dr David Agus."
Friday, April 26, 2013
20 labs, 95 scientists work together to describe metastatic cancer cells
The USC Physical Sciences in Oncology Center is pleased to announce a major multi-institutional paper (DOI: 10.1038/srep01449) on a broad experimental characterization of metastatic cancer cells, recently published in Nature's Scientific Reports.
The paper demonstrates the power of having a network of physicists, engineers, mathematicians, chemists, computational scientists, and biologists working together. In the work described in the paper, nearly 20 laboratories around the country performed coordinated molecular and biophysical studies of non-malignant and metastatic breast cell lines, in order to learn more about what happens to a cell when it transitions to a metastatic state. While metastasis is generally recognized as a critical step in the progression of cancer, there is an incomplete understanding of the physical biology of this transition. The researchers state that understanding "the physical forces that metastatic cells experience and overcome in their microenvironment may improve our ability to target this key step in tumor progression."
Each laboratory was supplied with identical cell lines and common reagents, and considerable effort was expended to ensure that all the conditions were standardized and documented at regular intervals. This allowed each laboratory to leverage their own expertise and for the results of all the measurements to be integrated across the study.
"The list of techniques utilized for cell characterization is impressive—much more than would be possible in any of the individual labs on their own."
The list of techniques utilized for cell characterization is impressive—much more than would be possible in any of the individual labs on their own. In fact, nearly twenty distinct techniques were used, including atomic force microscopy, ballistic intracellular nanorheology, cell surface receptor expression levels, differential interference contrast microscopy, LCMS/MS proteomics, micro-patterning and extracellular matrix secretion, traction force microscopy and wound healing assay, and viability, pH and oxygen stress. These, in turn, enabled a comprehensive cataloging and comparison of the physical characteristics of the non-malignant and metastatic cells, and the molecular signatures associated with those characteristics. This made it possible to identify unique relationships between observations. As one example, the atomic force microscopy data suggested that metastatic cells are softer than non-malignant cells whereas the traction force microscopy data suggested that metastatic cells exert more force on their substrate. These data perhaps suggest that the high force exertion by metastatic cells may allow them to adhere to, migrate on, and remodel the extracellular matrix while their flexibility may allow them to squeeze and maneuver in tight spaces.
Over 95 graduate students, post-doctoral scholars, and professors participated in the project, as part of the Physical Sciences-Oncology Centers Network, sponsored by and under the auspices of the Office of Physical Sciences-Oncology of the National Cancer Institute.
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Apply now: Junior Investigator for invite-only USC PSOC ThinkTank
As part of our outreach and education component of USC PSOC, we are hosting a ThinkTank meeting at the Banbury Conference Center, Cold Springs Harbor, NY, July 14-16, 2013. The goal of this ThinkTank workshop is to both identify critical challenges in oncology and to evaluate the potential of innovative approaches for solving them. Noting that this area is incredibly new, part of our objective will be to give junior investigators (i.e., assistant professors and post-docs) an opportunity to work with more senior investigators and get direct mentorship on how to overcome the challenges associated with working in this highly interdisciplinary field.
If you are interested this rare opportunity to work with senior investigators in discussing critical challenges in oncology and to evaluate potential innovative approaches for solving these challenges, then submit your application by Monday, April 29, 2013 for consideration.
Depending upon the number of responses received, we may fund between 5-10 junior investigators to attend this workshop. Attendance is by invitation only so be sure to submit your application by close of business (5:00 p.m., PST), on Monday, April 29, 2013 directly to: yvonnes@usc.edu. Selected participants will receive a confirmation e-mail along with additional travel information.
Application guidelines are detailed here. Please feel free to forward this post to anyone you know who meets the criteria and would like to be considered.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
New USC PSOC news blog
Welcome to the new USC Physical Sciences in Oncology Center news blog, as part of our newly released USC Physical Sciences in Oncology website! Over the next few weeks, we will be updating this blog to include the very latest in our PS-OC. Please keep an eye on us for new papers, media mentions, and other exciting news!
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
New USC PSOC Twitter feed
The USC Physical Sciences in Oncology Center opened its official Twitter feed (@USC_PSOC) last year. You can find it at http://twitter.com/USC_PSOC.
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