A University of Colorado at Boulder researcher has been awarded a prestigious postdoctoral fellowship from The Cancer Fund of the Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell Foundation of New York.
Jeffrey Mandell, a postdoctoral fellow in the chemistry and biochemistry department, was one of only 24 researchers nationwide to be awarded Runyon-Winchell postdoctoral fellowships this year. His sponsor is Distinguished CU Professor Thomas Cech, who recently was named president of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute of Chevy Chase, Md., but retains his university faculty standing and continues to oversee his laboratory at CU-Boulder.
The recipients of the awards are promising young scientists conducting theoretical and experimental research relevant to the study of cancer, including the search for causes, mechanisms, therapies and prevention. Mandell received his doctorate from the University of California, San Diego, in April.
The three-year fellowships are worth about $130,000 each, said Claire Cahill of the Runyon-Winchell Cancer Research Fund. Mandell will carry out his work in Cech聮s lab on campus with a team of students, researchers and faculty from CU-Boulder and the Howard Hughes Medical Foundation.
Mandell will study an enzyme known as telomerase, which is expressed in most types of cancer cells but not in most normal cells, providing a unique opportunity to search for cell-specific cancer therapies. In particular, he will search for proteins associated with telomerase in yeast.
"Yeast cells are easier to study in the laboratory than human cells, and it is hoped that the proteins discovered in yeast will have human counterparts that will help us to fight cancer," Mandell said.
The end portions of chromosomes, called telomeres, contain repeating sequences of DNA that protect the chromosomes from damage. Since portions of the telomeres are lost each time a cell divides, telomere shortening is thought to act as a molecular clock of sorts by signaling the cell to stop dividing after repeated cell divisions.
In 1997, researchers from Cech聮s CU-Boulder lab and scientists at Geron Corp. of Menlo Park, Calif., discovered the human gene for the telomerase enzyme, which lengthens the ends of chromosomes. The telomerase enzyme counteracts telomere shortening by adding DNA back onto the chromosome ends.
Normal cells do not contain telomerase and their telomeres shorten with each cell division until they stop dividing. In cancer cells, however, telomerase is thought to grant the cell immortality by maintaining telomere length.
Several years ago, Cech聮s team cloned telomerase genes in two evolutionarily diverse species -- yeast and humans. The genes were found to be similar, indicating telomerase was first developed by an ancient organism and subsequently inherited by all eukaryotes -- organisms whose cells have a separate nucleus and cytoplasm, including humans.
The discovery indicated that studies on simple organisms like yeast are relevant to important human health issues, said Cech, a CU Nobel laureate.
Of the more than 450 scientists who submit proposals to the Runyon-Winchell Cancer Research Fund annually, only about 60 are awarded postdoctoral fellowships. There currently are 164 Runyan-Winchell Fellows at leading cancer institutions in the United States and other countries.