CCR Grand Rounds March 28: Dr. Philip Beachy, Professor, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Baltimore, Md. "Hedgehog Signaling in Development and Disease." April 4: No lecture. American Association of Cancer Research Meeting April 1-5, Washington, D.C. CCR Grand Rounds are held 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. at the NIH campus in Bethesda, Md., in the Clinical Center's Lipsett Amphitheater.

Science Writers' Seminar to Focus on Cancer Survivorship
The next NCI Science Writers' Seminar will present the latest research on enhancing the quality of life of cancer survivors. It will take place at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University on April 11 from 11:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m, CDT (Noon to 2:30 p.m. EDT).

Scientists from NCI and the Lurie Center will discuss cancer survivorship research and support programs at their respective organizations. Presenters include Dr. Noreen Aziz (NCI); Drs. Charles Bennett, Kim Dilley, Lynne Wagner, and Teresa Woodruff (all from Lurie); and a cancer survivor. The seminar will take place at Northwestern University, 340 East Superior Street, 3rd Floor, Chicago. Directions and maps are online at http://www.cancer.northwestern.edu/Directions/Index.cfm. To register for the seminar, please contact Dorie Hightower or Ann Benner in the NCI Media Relations Branch at 301-496-6641 or at ncipressofficers@mail.nih.gov.

DCEG Newsletter Wins Award
Linkage, the triannual newsletter of NCI's Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, received the highest category of recognition as a Distinguished Technical Communication in the 2005 competition sponsored by the Washington, D.C., chapter of the Society for Technical Communication. The judges cited Linkage's organization and visual appeal, noting that it does an excellent job of presenting complex information in a way that is both understandable and interesting to a wide and diverse scientific and lay audience.

Measurement of Cancer Disparities Monograph Available
Methods for Measuring Cancer Disparities, a monograph by Drs. John Lynch and Sam Harper of the University of Michigan, supported by NCI's Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, addresses the measurement of health disparities, a primary goal of the Healthy People 2010 national health promotion and disease prevention initiative. This monograph provides insights into how health disparities may be measured to shed light on the current status of cancer-related health disparities and most accurately capture trends.

The monograph also provides tools for anyone conducting health disparities research and interested in better understanding issues related to population-based analysis of health disparities. The monograph is available online at http://seer.cancer.gov/publications/disparities/.

caBIG™ Annual Meeting Slated for April
NCI's caBIG™ program will hold its third annual meeting April 9-11 at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, Va. Patients, clinicians, clinical and bench researchers, and industry representatives will speak in plenary and breakout sessions. The meeting will also feature poster sessions, exhibits, and technology demonstrations and a hackathon. For more information, go to https://cabig.nci.nih.gov/2006_Annual_Meeting.

TCGA Cancer Genome Pre-Application Meeting Scheduled
As part of The Cancer Genome Atlas Pilot Project, NCI will establish up to four Cancer Genome Characterization Centers (CGCCs) to analyze biomolecules obtained from a centralized Human Cancer Biospecimen Core Resource. CGCCs will use multiple high-throughput genomic analysis technologies to generate a comprehensive collection of data, which will provide the basis for selecting genomic regions of interest for sequencing.

NCI is soliciting applications from eligible investigators (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-CA-07-014.html) and will be holding a pre-application conference for potential applicants on March 31 from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Please contact Dr. Daniela Gerhard at gerhardd@mail.nih.gov for additional information.