September News:

CHORI Scientist Honored at American Chemistry Society Fall Meeting
The American Chemistry Society (ACS) is the largest scientific organization in the world, and their biannual meetings provide a unique opportunity for the translation of basic research to the clinical world by bringing together chemists from industry and academia to interact and exchange ideas. This August, the Inorganic chemistry Division of ACS will be hosting a special symposium entitled “Metals in Biochemistry” in order to honor the seminal research of CHORI Senior Scientist, Elizabeth Theil, PhD.

“I’m really happy about the work I’m doing, and the work I’ve done, and I’m thrilled that it is being recognized in this way, and excited about what’s going to come next,” says Dr. Theil, who received the Garvan-Olin Medal Award from the ACS earlier this year.

Read More!

CHORI Scientist Selected for NIH Complimentary & Alternative Medicine Report
The National Institutes of Health (NIH)’s Office of Complimentary & Alternative Medicine (CAM), which funds scientific research and training in CAM and supports dissemination and integration of proven CAM therapies, has highlighted the research of CHORI scientist Julie Saba, MD, PhD, for inclusion in the National Cancer Institute’s 2007 Annual Report on CAM for Cancer.

“Diet has a big impact on our risk of cancer and other diseases, which makes sense since our body’s exposure to the external environment is greatest at the food/gut interface,” Dr. Saba says. “High quality complementary medicine research focuses on understanding the molecular explanation for how dietary factors influence cancer development and how we can use that information to prevent cancer.”

Read More!

CHORI Lab Identifies for the First Time a Unique Helical Structure for Apolipoprotein A-V
Although CHORI is a free-standing research institute not affiliated with any university, CHORI and its researchers are committed to educating the next generation of scientists, as Robert Ryan, PhD, of CHORI’s Center for the Prevention of Obesity, Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease, has been doing for the past 5 years in his capacity as Adjunct Professor in the Department of Nutritional Science and Toxicology at the University of California, Berkeley.

Dr. Ryan’s latest protégé, Kasuen Wong, has just had her 3rd publication come out in the August issue of Biochemistry, in which, along with Dr. Ryan and their colleagues, Ms. Wong reveals that the N-terminus of apolipoprotein A-V (apoA-V) adopts a helix bundle motif. This is the first time a helix bundle structure has been reported for apoA-V and provides new insight into the potential mechanism by which apoA-V could transition from a hydrophilic soluble conformation to an extended open conformation appropriate for lipid binding.

Read More!

CHORI Launches New Community Art Project
By partnering with community artists, local organizations and the hospital branch of Children’s Hospital Research Center Oakland, CHORI is launching a new, community-based art project to create and establish permanent art exhibits inside the CHORI building. Called Health and Science for Children Art Project of the Eastbay, or HandSCAPES, the CHORI project is the brainchild of Julie Saba, MD, PhD, a principal investigator for CHORI’s Center for Cancer.

“I think it can be really hard sometimes for people to understand that the research we do here everyday at CHORI is connected to the larger community, to helping people, to finding cures for kids. I’d really like to make what we do at CHORI and why we do it palpable the moment you come through the door,” says Dr. Saba.

Read More!