Rogel Researchers Receive $4M Through Prostate Cancer Foundations Inaugural TACTICAL Awards Program

The University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center researchers received one of the Prostate Cancer Foundation’s four inaugural Class of 2022 TACTICAL (Therapy Acceleration To Intercept Cancer Lethality) Award. This $30 million program will support cross-disciplinary pioneering research toward the goal of developing 21st Century therapies for the most life-threatening form of prostate cancer.

A New Cooperation between EZH2 and p38 Proteins Enhances Metastasis in Triple Negative Breast Cancer

The Celina Kleer lab at the University of Michigan Department of Pathology and Rogel Cancer Center has found a new mechanism that fuels metastasis in triple negative breast cancers. In their new study they show that EZH2, a master regulator of cell type identity, known to function through methylation of histones, has a new, unexpected function in aggressive breast cancers. By adding methyl groups to the p38 protein, EZH2 enhances the ability of breast cancer cells to spread to other tissue throughout the body, a process known as metastasis.

Visual Inventory Management Pilot Takes Off at Microbiology Lab

On Thursday, July 15, Scott Marquette, Associate Chief Operating Officer from Michigan Medicine, visited the Clinical Microbiology laboratory at the Department of Pathology. The purpose of the visit was to learn more about the Visual Inventory Management pilot, a new initiative that is intended to help lab staff better organize their tools, resources and assets within the lab setting.

Kristina Martin Receives ASCLS Scientific-Assembly Laboratory Administration Award

The Department of Pathology's Clinical Operations Director Kristina Martin recently received the Scientific-Assembly Laboratory Administration award from the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science (ASCLS) at the Joint Annual Meeting in Grand Rapids, Michigan last month. The award recognizes outstanding professional achievement of an individual ASCLS member within his or her chosen area of academic, scientific, or vocational interest.

Qualitative Image Analysis Study Shows Excellent Results

A landmark study into quantitative image analysis in ER, PgR, and HER2 in invasive breast carcinoma was recently published in the American Journal of Clinical PathologyDr. Mustafa Yousif, Assistant Professor of Breast Pathology and Informatics, and colleagues conducted a retrospective study of 1,367 invasive breast carcinomas of all histopathology subtypes, for which ER, PgR, and HER2 were analyzed by manual scoring. These were compared to the results obtained using quantitative image analysis (QIA).  QIA uses a form of artificial intelligence (AI) called deep learning to identify specific regions of interest and to interpret that based on programmed algorithms.