Ihde Memorial Lecture Slated for June 3
The first annual Daniel C. Ihde Memorial Lecture will take place on June 3 at 12:00 p.m. in the Clark Auditorium at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. Dr. John Minna, director of the Hamon Center for Therapeutic Oncology Research at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, will discuss "Molecular Pathogenesis of Lung Cancer with Translation to the Clinic."

Dr. Ihde's career at NCI spanned 21 years; he served as NCI deputy director from 1991-1994. He died on Dec. 9, 2004. Dr. Minna, past chief of the NCI/Navy Medical Oncology Branch, worked with Dr. Ihde to bring the NCI branch to the National Naval Medical Center in 1981. For more information about the lecture, contact Joyce Stocker at 301-435-5399.

Nanotechnology Report Cites NCI Plan
On May 18, the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) released the report, "The National Nanotechnology Initiative at Five Years: Assessment and Recommendations of the National Nanotechnology Advisory Panel." The report is PCAST's first assessment of the federal government's nanotechnology research efforts.

The report cites NCI's Cancer Nanotechnology Plan as a good example of an individual federal agency identifying performance-based targets for its nanotechnology funding initiatives. The report also cited the development of quantum dots as imaging agents for metastases as an example of nanotechnology being applied in a novel manner to solve a pressing medical need.

To view the full report, go to www.ostp.gov/pcast/pcast.html.

EDRN Awards Grants
On May 12, NCI's Early Detection Research Network (EDRN) awarded 13 grants totaling $11 million to complete funding for the next 5 years of research. EDRN brings together dozens of institutions to help accelerate the translation of biomarker information into clinical application and to evaluate new ways of testing for cancer risk and cancer in its earliest stages. Grants were awarded to eight clinical epidemiology and validation centers, which conduct the early phases of clinical and epidemiological research on the application of biomarkers; four biomarker reference laboratories, which work to validate the biomarker tests; and one data management and coordinating center/informatics center, which provides logistical, informatics, and statistical development and support.

Spring Research Festival at NCI-Frederick
The ninth annual NCI-Frederick/Ft. Detrick Spring Research Festival took place on May 18 and 19 at the NCI at Frederick Campus. The festival is held each spring as a forum for scientists from the agencies represented at Fort Detrick: NCI's CCR, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, and the Department of Homeland Security. This year's festival showcased displays of individual researchers' work, local nonprofit organizations, and new biomedical equipment and supplies. The festival's keynote address was delivered by Nobel laureate J. Michael Bishop, Chancellor of the University of California, San Francisco, who spoke on the use of mouse models in human cancer research. The festival also sponsored a screening and discussion of the 1987 film, The Race for the Double Helix, as part of the NCI-Frederick Scientific Library's "Science in the Cinema" program. The film dramatized the work of scientists Watson, Crick, and others as they worked to unravel the structure of DNA; the screening was followed by a discussion led by Dr. Mary Carrington, a principal investigator at NCI-Frederick.

Each year the festival selects a mascot whose properties have shown potential for fighting or preventing disease. This year's emblem was Claude the African Clawed Frog, or Xenopus laevis. Originally found only in Africa, these frogs have achieved scientific notoriety through their production of magainin, a substance found on their skin that has, among other properties, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, angiogenic, and wound-healing properties.

For additional information on the festival, go to http://web.ncifcrf.gov/events/springfest/geninfo.asp.