June Cancer Survivorship Conference
Cutting-edge survivorship research will be featured at the Second Biennial Cancer Survivorship research conference, "Pathways to Health After Treatment," June 16-18, 2004 in Washington, D.C. The conference, co-sponsored by NCI and the American Cancer Society, will highlight new findings about the long-term and late effects of cancer and its treatment, as well as behavior change interventions for survivors. Also on the agenda are presentations concerning the Institute of Medicine reports on policy implications of cancer survivorship, and the recently released National Action Plan for Cancer Survivorship from the Lance Armstrong Foundation and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In addition, the latest President's Cancer Panel report will be discussed, which focuses on the challenges of living beyond diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

Besides showcasing the most up-to-date science in cancer survivorship, the conference includes a grant application training workshop for junior researchers, and a survivor-researcher mentor program for cancer survivors and advocates. See the full conference description and registration information at http://www.blsmeetings.net/2010/.

Additional FY '04 Funding Provided for SPOREs
NCI has provided additional funding for the Specialized Programs of Research Excellence (SPOREs) for FY 2004. This will allow NCI to raise the pay line from 185 to 195. The added funds will support additional SPOREs for research into gastrointestinal cancer, brain tumors, and ovarian cancer, as well as convert a pancreatic cancer planning grant to a fully funded SPORE. More specific information about the awards is forthcoming.

Updated Nausea and Vomiting Guidelines Released
Both patients and physicians now have updated guidelines on how to prevent and treat nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy or radiation therapy. Approximately 50 percent of cancer patients experience these two symptoms when treated for cancer.

Developed by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network and the American Cancer Society (ACS), with assistance from the University of Nebraska Medical Center, the guidelines address nausea and vomiting related to chemotherapy and radiation therapy. The guidelines include decision trees for choosing therapies to relieve nausea and vomiting, the potential for various cancer therapies to cause nausea and vomiting, and types of antinausea drugs and other suggestions for self-care.

"Cancer patients and their families now have the reliable, specific, and easy-to-understand information they need to make timely and well-informed decisions about this critical health care issue," said Dr. Ralph Nance, ACS national volunteer president. The updated guidelines can be found on the ACS Web site at http://www.cancer.org.

New Spanish-language Publications Available
Two publications in NCI's popular "What You Need to Know About…" series are now available in Spanish: Lo que usted necesita saber sobre el cáncer de próstata (What You Need To Know About Prostate Cancer) and Lo que usted necesita saber sobre el cáncer de seno (What You Need To Know About Breast Cancer). To order copies, go to http://cancer.gov/publications or call the NCI's Cancer Information Service at 1-800-4-CANCER.

Wickner Elected to National Academy of Sciences
On April 20, Dr. Sue Wickner of NCI's Laboratory of Molecular Biology was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. Election to membership in the academy is one of the highest honors bestowed to U.S. scientists or engineers and signifies their distinguished and continued contributions to original research.

Dr. Wickner received her Ph.D. from Albert Einstein College of Medicine and was a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Martin Gellert in the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases before moving to NCI.

Dr. Wickner has done classic work on the biochemical mechanisms of multicomponent energy-dependent cellular machines essential for DNA replication, protein remodeling, and proteolysis. Her earlier work was at the forefront of the characterization of proteins and complexes required for DNA replication. Her work on ATP-dependent molecular chaperones demonstrated a direct role of co-chaperones in substrate targeting and protein remodeling. Her more recent work demonstrated that a family of ATPases, Clps or Hsp100s, represents a new class of molecular chaperones and that chaperones act directly in ATP-dependent proteolysis.

Dr. Wickner was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2002 and elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2001.