Laurence Kolonel , MD , PhD
World-renowned scholar honored with UH Cancer Center emeritus professorship
Laurence Kolonel , MD , PhD , was honored with an emeritus professorship at the UH Cancer Center in 2018 . He has also held an emeritus professorship in the Office of Public Health Studies since 2013 .
Kolonel served for 30 years as director of the cancer epidemiology program at the Cancer Center . He is a world-renowned scholar in the fields of epidemiology and prostate cancer , and has published more than 500 articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals .
Kolonel was honored with an R-37 MERIT award from the National Institutes of Health for his research on diet and cancer . In 2013 , he received the prestigious American Cancer Society Award for Research Excellence in Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention from the American Association for Cancer Research . He is also the co-founder of the Multiethnic Cohort Study , which follows more than 215,000 participants in Hawai ‘ i and California .
New researcher joins UH Cancer Center faculty
The UH Cancer Center ’ s Cancer Biology Program welcomed Muller Fabbri , MD , PhD , as an associate researcher in June . “ I was drawn to Hawai ‘ i because of its ethnic diversity and the abundance of natural products that fuels my research interests ,” said Fabbri .
Fabbri ’ s research focuses on trying to understand the relationship between cancer cells and the cells that surround them . These other cells include immune cells , cells that form blood vessel walls , and fibroblast cells that form collagen in the tumor environment . Recently it has been found that the tumor microenvironment contributes to the growth of cancer cells .
In 2012 , Fabbri discovered that cancer cells secrete microRNAs inside of exosomes . He showed that exosomes can shuttle microRNAs from cancer cells to surrounding immune cells that carry a protein called TLR8 . As a consequence of the interaction , a specific subtype of immune cells stops fighting the growth of cancer cells and starts secreting other proteins and other microRNAs that promote cancer cell growth , dissemination and resistance to therapy .
Fabbri ’ s research goal is to develop strategies to interrupt this communication between cancer cells and the tumor microenvironment in order to inhibit cancer growth and the development of resistance to treatment .
Muller Fabbri , MD , PhD
2018 Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Cancer Conference
The UH Cancer Center and The Queen ’ s Medical Center sponsored the 2018 Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Cancer Conference held at the UH Cancer Cancer in April . The conference had experts within the field present an in-depth look at treating and understanding hepatopancreaticobiliary ( HPB ) cancers , which includes liver , pancreas , gall bladder , ampullary and bile duct cancers .
HPB and pancreatic cancers are frequently detected in advanced stages and the five-year survival rate is often less than 20 percent . Because Hawai ‘ i has a disproportionate number of hepatobiliary and pancreatic cancers , active research is underway to investigate underlying causes .
The conference highlighted local HPB research and provided an exchange of ideas with national and international experts . Hawai ‘ i-based researchers and clinicians heard talks on current research and up-to-date treatments .
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