Since 2000, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and the UC Davis Cancer Center (UCDCC) have collaborated on cancer-related projects of common interest. As a means to continue interactions and to facilitate new partnerships, LLNL and the UCDCC held a one-day retreat at Wente Vineyards on Monday, October 17, 2011. The organizing committee consisted of Kenneth Turteltaub and Amy L. Gryshuk from LLNL, Dennis Matthews from the NSF Center for Biophotonics Science & Technology at UC Davis, and Ralph deVere White, Simon Cherry, Laura Marcu, Joel Kugelmass, and Melanie Bradnam from the UCDCC. The 75 scientists and physicians from LLNL and UCDCC came together with a goal of creating new partnerships to apply unique LLNL capabilities to solve unmet biomedical needs in cancer. The format for the day included morning presentations, a collegial lunch and poster session, followed by an afternoon of breakout discussion sessions in 4 categories: (1) Diagnostic Technologies, (2) Therapeutic Modalities, (3) Inflammation/Immunology, and (4) Systems Biology & Computation. Attendees were pre-assigned to a discussion session as a means to facilitate networking, collaborations, and conversations about potential funding opportunities. By the end of the day several new areas were identified where LLNL may be able to contribute to improving cancer diagnosis and treatment. The intention is that the philanthropic funds donated by Bertha Fitzpatrick, that are designated to help foster LLNL's involvement in cancer research with UC Davis, will be utilized to fund up to three postdoctoral researchers for two-year terms on new LLNL-UCDCC collaborative high-impact projects. Areas of collaboration include high-performance computing, accelerated mass spectrometry, nanolipoprotein technology, and engineering microfluidics capabilities to evaluate biological specimens, to name a few.

Agenda

Introductory remarks and meeting overview

• Ralph deVere White, MD, UCDCC Director
• William Goldstein, PhD, LLNL Associate Director of the Physical & Life Sciences Directorate

Future Directions of the UCDCC (clinical need and BGI)

• Karen Kelly, MD, UCDHS, Professor, Phase I Clinical Director

Unique Resources at UCD and LLNL

• Simon Cherry, PhD, Professor, UCD College of Engineering, Biomedical Engineering
• Dennis Matthews, PhD, Director of NSF Center for Biophotonics/Associate Director for Biomedical Technology of the UCD/LLNL Integrated Cancer Program
• Ken Turteltaub, PhD, LLNL Chief Biomedical Scientist, Physical & Life Sciences Directorate, Biosciences & Biotechnology Division (BBTD) Leader, Biological Detection & Medical Countermeasures Program Leader, Global Security Principle Directorate

Funding Opportunities (Pilot funding, grants, IUCRC, AIR)

• Dennis Matthews, PhD, Director of NSF Center for Biophotonics/Associate Director for Biomedical Technology of the UCD/LLNL Integrated Cancer Program
• Amy Gryshuk, PhD, LLNL, Biosciences Program Development Liaison

Overview presentations from LLNL and UCD (each category 20 min; 10 min for each chairperson)

#1 – Diagnostic Technologies (including, but not limited to: imaging and spectroscopic detection systems (optical, x-ray, radionuclide, acoustic) at all spatial scales (single molecule to whole human), mass spectrometry, biosensors, lab-on-a-chip, contrast agents, "-omic " and screening technologies etc…)

• Ted Laurence, PhD, Staff Scientist, LLNL, Condensed Matter and Materials Division
• Laura Marcu, PhD, Professor, UCD College of Engineering, Biomedical Engineering

#2 – Therapeutic Modalities (including, but not limited to: chemical therapies, cellular therapies, immunotherapies, enhanced and localized drug delivery systems, drug discovery platforms, in vitro and artificial tumor systems for studying therapeutic modalities, pharmacogenomics etc…)

• Paul Hoeprich, PhD, Staff Scientist, LLNL, Biosciences & Biotechnology Division
• Kit S. Lam, MD, PhD, Professor and Chair, UCD Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, Professor, Hematology and Oncology

#3 – Inflammation/Immunology (Immunotherapy has shown increasing success in cancer therapy. Tapping into the immune system to attack cancer also presents challenges with regard to sustainability and potential toxicities. The use of nanotechnology offers a means of delivery that can circumvent these issues by increasing pharmacokinetics and efficacy of immunomodulatory agents allowing for more selective attack on the cancer.)

• Amy Rasley, PhD, Staff Scientist, LLNL, Biosciences & Biotechnology Division
• William J. Murphy, PhD, Professor and Vice Chair of Dermatology at UCD

#4 – Systems Biology & Computation (Computational models, system based approaches to link drugs to target proteins and down stream side-effects, predict metabolic characteristics of cells, predict protein-drug interactions, and design novel therapeutics.)

• Felice Lightstone, PhD, Group Leader, LLNL, Biosciences & Biotechnology Division
• Ian Korf, PhD, Associate Director of Bioinformatics at UCD Genome Center, Associate Professor, UCD Dept. of Molecular and Cellular Biology, College of Biological Science

LLNL/UCD Breakout Sessions – "Solving Translational/Clinical Problems in Cancer Detection, Diagnosis, Prognosis, and Therapy"

• #1 – Diagnostic Technologies Co-chairs: Ted Laurence, PhD and Laura Marcu, PhD
• #2 – Therapeutic Modalities Co-chairs: Paul Hoeprich, PhD and Kit S. Lam, MD, PhD
• #3 – Inflammation/Immunology Co-chairs: Amy Rasley, PhD and William J. Murphy, PhD
• #4 – Systems Biology & Computation (structural determination with computation, etc.) Co-chairs: Felice Lightstone, PhD and Ian Korf, PhD

Hot Topics report from 4 categories – (10 min / category; interactive discussion)

"Where do we go from here" – Summary report from the day:

• Ralph deVere White, MD
• Simon Cherry, PhD and Laura Marcu, PhD
• Ken Turteltaub, PhD
• Dennis Matthews, PhD