Goal #7:  Training and career support programs for translational scientists

The <a href="https://www.uth.edu/implementation-science/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">UTHealth Houston Institute for Implementation Science</a> and <a href="https://sph.uth.edu/research/centers/chppr/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Center for Health Promotion and Prevention Research</a> are offering three short courses this spring in Dissemination &amp; Implementation (D&amp;I) Science. These continuing education courses are designed for students, researchers, and health professionals interested in D&amp;I research. Each course is hybrid, available online or in-person at our Houston, TX campus.&nbsp;&nbsp;<ul><li>Health Promotion Planning: An Intervention Mapping Approach<ul><li>April 22-25, 2025</li><li>Instructors: María E. Fernández, Ph.D., Serena Rodriguez, Ph.D., and Eunyoung Kang, Ph.D.</li><li>Fee:&nbsp;$1250</li></ul></li><li>Implementation Mapping: Using Intervention Mapping to Plan Implementation Strategies<ul><li>April 28-30, 2025</li><li>Instructors: María E. Fernández, Ph.D., Serena Rodriguez, Ph.D., and Eunyoung Kang, Ph.D.</li><li>Fee: $750</li></ul></li><li>Adapting Evidence-based Interventions<ul><li>May 1-2, 2025</li><li>Instructors: Jacob Szeszulski, Ph.D., Patricia Dolan Mullen, Dr.P.H., and Eunyoung Kang, Ph.D.</li><li>Fee:&nbsp;$500</li></ul></li></ul>&nbsp;Learn more about the courses and register <a href="https://www.uth.edu/implementation-science/training/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>.

University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences

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The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

UTHealth Houston Institute for Implementation Science Training Courses Now Open for Enrollment

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CCOS is pleased to announce a new series of hub highlights featuring the innovative clinical and translational science coming out of the CTSA Program. We plan to feature groundbreaking work from each hub in the CTSA program over the coming months, selected at random. Our first hub under the metaphorical microscope is Weill Cornell Medicine (WMC) Clinical and Translational Science Center (CTSC) spearheaded by its founding director, Dr. Julianna Imperato-McGinley.&nbsp;Knowing the signs of a metastatic cancer before it colonizes another part of the body could be a life saver for patients with pancreatic cancers. Spurred on by previous research showing that pancreatic cancers prime a location in the body, most often the liver, before colonizing that location, Weill Cornell Medicine researcher and CTSC Pilot Awardee Dr. David Lyden, in collaboration with Dr. Linda Bojmar, set out to find molecular indicators of liver colonization. The multi-institutional team identified an anomaly in liver biopsies from patients with quickly metastasizing pancreatic cancer — an increased presence of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs). NETs are normally deployed by the immune system to thwart invading pathogens but are also implicated in tissue damage and metastasis. The presence of NETs can allow clinicians to identify aggressive pancreatic cancers that are preparing to spread, giving clinicians an opportunity to start treatment before metastasis. The NETs themselves could become a therapeutic target, with researchers already working on ways to destroy them once released.&nbsp;&nbsp;Weill Cornell Medicine researcher Dr. Bishoy M. Faltas, an oncologist who specializes in urothelial cancers at WCM, is also exploring the early stages and development of bladder cancer, paving the way for more potential therapies. With support from a CTSC Pilot Award, <a href="https://weillcornell.org/bmfaltas" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Dr. Faltas</a> has shown that a different antimicrobial defense, APOBEC3 enzymes, which protect the host by mutating the DNA of invading retroviruses, can also play a role in initiating bladder cancer by altering the host’s own DNA. Unfortunately, standard bladder cancer chemotherapy can also lead to more cancer-causing mutations, worsening the disease. Adding even more complexity to this cancer is the presence of abnormal DNA structures within tumor cells that contain overactive genes, which can impart resistance to therapy. These three discoveries highlight the need to adapt how clinicians treat bladder cancers, and also shed light on new therapeutic targets and strategies that Weill Cornell researchers are planning to explore.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The cancer therapeutic innovation doesn’t stop there. CTSC KL2 Scholar alumnus Geoffrey Markowitz, Ph.D., with his mentorship team, Dr. Vivek Mittal and Dr. Nasser Altorki at Weill Cornell Medicine and Dr. Andrea Schietinger at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, has focused on reprogramming the body’s immune system. In the case of an overactive immune system, T cells can secrete compounds like PD-1 to bring the immune response back under control and prevent tissue damage. Though only successful in a minority of patients, some anticancer therapies known as checkpoint inhibitor therapies block this immune suppression to kill cancerous cells. The Mittal Lab has found a way to increase the effectivity of this therapy by increasing the number of T cell precursors, providing a potential army of cytotoxic T cells ready to be called upon when a tumor is detected. T cells could even be manipulated in the lab and administered to the patient as a more effective form of cell-transfer anticancer therapy.&nbsp;&nbsp;These three research endeavors exemplify the mission and vision put forth in the new <a href="https://ncats.nih.gov/about/ncats-overview/strategic-plan" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">NCATS Strategic Plan.</a> These insights provide ways to detect and target various types of cancers before they progress, increasing the likelihood of patient survival and decreasing the need for more invasive treatments later in the disease’s progression. Barriers have been broken and the efficiency of cancer treatment can be boosted via these discoveries.&nbsp;&nbsp;Of note, all of these endeavors involved multi-institutional collaboration, bringing new research backgrounds and ideologies together from within and outside of Weill Cornell Medicine to tackle challenges in cancer treatment. Institutions like the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center, the New York Genome Center, and the Linköping University in Sweden all had a hand in these discoveries, which can enhance current cancer therapies and spark new innovations.&nbsp;

Weill Cornell Medicine Clinical and Translational Science Center

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Weill Cornell Medicine - Cornell University

Hub Spotlight: Clinical & Translational Science Center at Weill Cornell Medicine

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Goal #1: Advance clinical and translational science

<a href="https://medicine.osu.edu/find-faculty/clinical/internal-medicine/julie-johnson-pharmd" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Dr. Johnson’s</a> appointment to <a href="https://www.nationalacademies.org/hmd/health-and-medicine-division" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The National Academies Forum on Drug Discovery, Development, and Translation</a> will run through December 31, 2027. The forum is part of the <a href="https://www.nationalacademies.org/hmd/health-and-medicine-division" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Health and Medicine Division</a> of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.&nbsp;This forum will hold public workshops, action collaboratives and meetings that are neutral venues where varying experiences can be shared and built upon. Members of the forum will also work together to spur cross-sector collaboration to develop practical approaches for advancing a clinical trials enterprise that is more efficient, effective and patient-centered and also integrated into the health delivery system…&nbsp;Read the full article <a href="https://ctsi.osu.edu/news/julie-johnson-pharmd-begins-three-year-appointment-national-academies-drug-discovery-and" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>.

Ohio State University Clinical and Translational Science Institute

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Ohio State University

Julie Johnson, Pharm.D., Begins Three-year Appointment to National Academies Drug Discovery and Development and Translation Forum

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UTHealth Houston Institute for Implementation Science Training Courses Now Open for Enrollment