WELCOME Dear CRINA Research Day Attendee: Thank you for joining us at the third annual CRINA Research Day. Last year, at our second event we welcomed over 300 attendees and featured more than 150 posters from many departments and faculties across campus. We are happy to announce that many of those attendees signed up to be members of CRINA, forming the core of our cancer research community. One year later, we continue to build our cancer research community by hosting a cancer-themed Research Day yet again, with Cancer Biobanking as a featured theme. This year, we have continued to provide trainees with an opportunity to organize the program and present their work orally to our cancer research community at the University of Alberta. We hope that you continue to explore what the University of Alberta has to offer in the cancer research sphere and grow your network of collaborators through future CRINA Research Days. CRINA as an institute has a well-established reporting structure with operations committees and advisory boards. At our core, we continue to strengthen connections within our cancer research community by hosting events throughout the year such as seminars and symposia. Our leadership team is working on defining University of Alberta cancer research strengths in terms of research excellence and available infrastructure and platforms, with plans to build on these strengths to accelerate discovery and innovation. CRINA also represents the interests of its members as a unified voice on the provincial stage, working with AHS, AIHS and the ACF. Our ultimate goal is to establish our Institute as a national leader in cancer research and patient care, wherein clinical outcomes are addressed with scientific inquiry and where research drives innovations in cancer prevention, treatment and survivorship. We hope you will enjoy today’s program and find time to strengthen or make new collaborations with the CRINA community. Sincerely, Dr. Lynne-Marie Postovit Dr. David Eisenstat Co-director, Basic Research, Co-director, Applied Cancer Research Institute of Research, Cancer Research Northern Alberta Institute of Northern Alberta MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN Cancers have become the leading cause of premature death in North America, producing more deaths than heart disease, vascular disorders and stroke combined. Almost half of the North American population will develop cancer in their lifetimes. Furthermore, Canada’s new cancer case rates are projected to increase by more than 50 per cent by 2030. In Alberta, cancer occurrences reach an appalling number of more than 16,000 per year, and death rates are more than 6,000 per year. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in both Alberta men and women, and the most common cancers for males and females are prostate cancer, and breast cancer. As an academic community it is our commitment to lead our significant efforts against cancer towards a healthy and productive population by improving cancer diagnosis, primary and secondary cancer prevention, and developing novel treatment approaches that can be rapidly introduced to patients through clinical trials in the academic and community setting. In April 2014, the University of Alberta established the Cancer Research Institute of Northern Alberta (CRINA), gathering talented clinicians and cancer researchers from all affiliated teaching hospitals, departments and faculties. CRINA’s research programs, aligned with adult cancer and malignant blood disorders clinical trials provided at the Cross Cancer Institute and the University of Alberta Hospital, as well as pediatric cancer clinical trials based at the Stollery Children’s Hospital, are setting a new standard for cancer centres across Canada. By leveraging the province’s current research base towards greater competitiveness for major provincial and national awards and grants, we want to place Alberta among the global leaders in cancer research. Richard Fedorak Dean, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry University of Alberta 2 MESSAGE FROM THE VICE PRESIDENT (RESEARCH) An estimated 76,600 Canadians will lose their battles with cancer this year; more than 6,000 of them will be Albertans. To improve outcomes for patients and families with cancer, the University of Alberta created the Cancer Research Institute of Northern Alberta (CRINA), one of the three multidisciplinary Translational Science Institutes (TSIs) dedicated to fostering collaboration between researchers to move the latest discoveries from the laboratory to the clinic. This exciting new initiative continues to demonstrate its tremendous potential—CRINA will redefine the standard of cancer care in Canada by improving our understanding of cancer biology, discovering new therapies and biomarkers to diagnose patients with greater accuracy, and improving relapse rates and prevention. I congratulate the life sciences faculties on this important interdisciplinary initiative. Lorne A. Babiuk Vice-president (Research) University of Alberta 3 PROGRAM 8:00 AM – 8:20 AM BREAKFAST & REGISTRATION CCIS PCL Lounge 8:20 AM – 8:30 AM WELCOME ADDRESS CCIS 1-440 Dr. David Evans, FoMD Vice-Dean Research On behalf of Dean Fedorak SESSION I: BIOBANKING AND NEURO-ONCOLOGY CCIS 1-440 Chair: Dr. Shairaz Baksh, Co-Chair: Zack Breckenridge 8:30 AM – 9:00 AM Keynote Address, Dr. Jennifer Chan Associate Professor, Departments of Pathology, Oncology, and Clinical Neurosciences Deputy Director, Charbonneau Cancer Institute Kids Cancer Care Foundation Chair in Pediatric Oncology Research University of Calgary Oligodendroglioma: from pattern recognition to molecular mechanisms 9:00 AM – 9:15 AM Dr. Ralf Schirrmacher, Associate Professor Oncologic Imaging, Medical Isotope Cyclotron Facility Silicon-based 18F-radiochemistry for imaging tumors of neuroendocrine origin with positron emission tomography 4 9:15 AM – 9:30 AM Dr. David Eisenstat, Professor and Co-Director, CRINA Muriel & Ada Hole Kids with Cancer Society Chair in Pediatric Oncology Departments of Pediatrics, Medical Genetics, and Oncology Characterization of Ganglioglioma as a Neurodevelopmental Disorder: A Case of Arrested Development? 9:30 AM – 9:45 AM Saket Jain, PhD Student Department of Oncology Title: Role of Transcription factor AP-2 in Glioblastoma Pathogenesis 9:45 AM – 11:00 AM POSTER SESSION 1/SNACKS CCIS PCL Lounge ODD NUMBERED POSTERS SESSION II: CANCER BIOLOGY CCIS 1-440 Chair: Dr. Basil Hubbard, Co-Chair: Gareth Armanious 11:00 AM – 11:15 AM Dr. Todd McMullen, Associate Professor Division of General Surgery, Department of Medicine Division Director of Surgical Oncology, Cross Cancer Institute PDGFRα regulates follicular cell differentiation driving treatment resistance and disease recurrence in papillary thyroid cancer 11:15 AM – 11:30 AM Dr. Ismail Hassan Ismail, Assistant Professor Department of Oncology Cross Cancer Institute Targeting DNA Repair Pathways for Myeloma Treatment 5 11:30 AM – 11:45 AM Dr. Kristi Baker, Assistant Professor Department of Oncology Control of anti-tumor immunity by DNA repair defects in colorectal cancer 11:45 AM – 12:00 PM Dr. Anahita Mojiri, Postdoctoral Fellow Department of Medicine Functional assessment of Von Willebrand factor (VWF) expression by cancer cells of non-endothelial origin 12:00 PM – 12:40 PM LUNCH /NETWORKING CCIS PCL Lounge SESSION III: PREVENTION, CCIS 1-440 LIFESTYLE, AND SURVIORSHIP Chair: Dr. Vincent Biron, Co-Chair: Dr. Fawaz Makki 12:40 PM – 12:55 PM Dr. Catherine Field, Professor Department of Agriculture and Nutrition Harnessing fatty acids to improve breast cancer treatment 12:55 PM – 1:10 PM Dr. Kerry Courneya, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Physical Activity and Cancer Department of Physical Education and Recreation Exercise and cancer outcomes: From observational studies to randomized trials 6 1:10 PM – 1:25 PM Dr. Serena Rix, Pharm D. Department of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences Filing the gaps: Identification of Educational Needs in Palliative Care 1:25 PM – 1:40 PM Dr. Priva Sivarajah, Resident Department of Surgery Depression as a predictor of postoperative functional performance status (PFPS) and treatment adherence in head and neck cancer patients: a prospective study 1:40 PM – 1:50 PM SHORT BREAK CCIS 1-440 SESSION IV: NOVEL THERAPEUTICS CCIS 1-440 AND BIOMARKERS Chair: Dr. Thomas Simmen, Co-Chair: Mohamed Salla 1:50 PM – 2:05 PM Dr. Michael Oveduin, Professor Department of Biochemistry Structure and function of novel cancer targets 2:05 PM – 2:20 PM Dr. Richard Fahlman, Professor Department of Biochemistry Insights into Tumor Cell Death and Biomarker Identification by Proteome Profile 7 2:20 PM – 2:35 PM Dr. Michael Chu, Assistant Professor Medical Oncology Cross Cancer Institute Radiographic myosteatosis is prognostic and predictive of ipilimumab outcomes in melanoma 2:35 AM – 2:50 PM Hashem Etayash, PhD Student Department of Pharmacy Nanomechanical Sandwich Assay for multiple Cancer Biomarkers in Breast Cancer Cell-derived Exosomes 2:50 PM – 4:05 PM POSTER SESSION 2/SNACKS CCIS PCL Lounge EVEN NUMBERED POSTERS SESSION V: THE NEXT GENERATION CCIS 1-440 Chair: Dr. Khaled Barakat, Co-Chair: Jihane Mriouah 4:05 PM – 4:20 PM Dr. Olena Bilyk, Postdoctoral Fellow Department of Oncology Nodal, an embryonic morphogen, promotes cellular plasticity and resistance to therapy in ovarian cancer cells 4:20 PM – 4:35 PM Ashlee Matkin, Medical Student Department of Surgery Enhancing the Accuracy of Thyroid Fine Needle Aspirate Biopsies Using Droplet Digital PCR 8 4:35 PM – 4:45 PM CLOSING REMARKS AND AWARDS CCIS 1-440 4:45