{"id":216,"date":"2020-04-21T14:08:40","date_gmt":"2020-04-21T18:08:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/heaphylab\/?page_id=216"},"modified":"2026-04-16T15:18:03","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T19:18:03","slug":"news","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/heaphylab\/news\/","title":{"rendered":"News"},"content":{"rendered":"
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April 2026<\/strong> – Today is the last day in lab for<\/span> Shugo Muratani<\/strong> <\/span>before he returns with his family to Japan. Thanks to him for all the hard work and major contributions to numerous studies in the lab.<\/span><\/p>\n

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February 2026<\/strong> – Congratulations to Dr. Rishi Makkar\u00a0<\/strong>for being selected as Chief Resident at Boston Medical Center for the 2027-2028 Boston University Internal Medicine Residency Program!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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February 2026<\/strong> – Welcome to Anna Southworth<\/strong> <\/span>(MS in Pathology Laboratory Sciences) and Sophie Kempe<\/strong><\/span> (BU undergraduate researcher).<\/span><\/p>\n

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January 2026<\/strong> – Some of our recent work was highlighted by the<\/span> North American Neuroendocrine Tumor Society (NANETS)<\/a><\/span> in<\/span>\u00a0A Year of Momentum: Reflecting on 2025 and Looking Ahead to 2026<\/em><\/span>. Precision Matters: Biology, Biomarkers, and Risk Stratification:<\/span> A major theme of the year was refinement, moving beyond one-size-fits-all approaches toward individualized care. Studies examining BEND2, DLL-3, ATRX\/DAXX, ALT, and metabolic tumor volume on FDG-PET underscored how molecular and imaging biomarkers are reshaping prognostication and treatment sequencing.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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December 2025<\/strong> – Congratulations to Miranda Galvan<\/strong><\/span> for earning her BA in Biology (Pre-Health Pathway) from BU! Thanks to her for all the hard work and contributions to the lab in studying the tumor microenvironment in ALT+ PanNETs.<\/span><\/p>\n

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December 2025<\/strong> – Our latest collaborative work led by the<\/span> Rodriguez Lab at UCLA\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>identified RECQL4 as a potential biomarker and therapeutic target in the CNS tumor landscape – published in The<\/em> Journal of Neuropathology and Experimental Pathology<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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November 2025<\/strong> –<\/span> Dr. Heaph<\/strong>y <\/strong><\/span>presented on Advances in Neuroendocrine Tumors at the monthly American Cancer Society (ACS) Post-Bac Seminar Series.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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August 2025 \u2013 <\/strong>We are excited to welcome<\/span> Dr. Rishi Makkar<\/strong><\/span> and<\/span> Chantelle Tadros<\/span><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0to the lab! Rishi is a 2nd year Internal Medicine resident at Boston Medical Center and Chantelle is a BU undergraduate student.<\/span><\/p>\n

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August 2025<\/strong> – Two new collaborative PanNET studies have been recently published in M<\/em><\/span>odern Pathology<\/em><\/span><\/span> identifying recurrent BEND2 fusion genes as a novel oncogenic mechanism in aggressive disease<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0and in Neuroendocrinology<\/em><\/span> demonstrating that<\/span><\/span>\u00a0DAXX\/ATRX loss drives ischemia resistance, radiation sensitivity, and improved trans-arterial radioembolization response<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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July 2025<\/strong> – Dr. Heaphy<\/strong><\/span> has taken a leadership position as the Director of the<\/span> Translational Research Laboratory and Biospecimen Repository<\/a> <\/span>in the Section of Hematology & Medical Oncology.<\/span><\/p>\n

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May 2025<\/strong> – Our international collaborative review article on the<\/span> management of patients with small pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors<\/a> has just been published in<\/span> Endocrine-Related Cancer<\/em><\/span>. This comprehensive review evaluates current prognostication methods for small PanNETs, highlights emerging biomarkers, and outlines practical strategies for their integration into routine clinical care.<\/span><\/p>\n

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February 2025<\/strong> – Along with<\/span> Dr. Hussein Assi<\/span><\/strong>, a medical oncologist specializing in gastrointestinal malignancies, <\/span>Dr. Heaphy<\/strong><\/span> presented at the Boston Medical Center Department of Medicine Clinical and Research Grand Rounds on Advances in pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors: Novel molecular targets for prognosis and therapy<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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February 2025\u00a0\u2013\u00a0<\/strong>We are excited to welcome\u00a0<\/span>Joshua Choi<\/strong><\/span> to the lab! Joshua is a 1st year medical student at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine.<\/span><\/p>\n

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November 2024<\/strong> –<\/span> Dr. Heaph<\/strong>y <\/strong><\/span>presented collaborative work with the Dries Lab<\/strong><\/span> and Singhi Lab<\/strong><\/span> at the North American Neuroendocrine Tumor Society (NANETS) Multidisciplinary NET Medical Symposium<\/a> in Chicago highlighting our recent advances in the spatial profiling of the PanNET microenvironment.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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November 2024<\/strong> – We are excited that<\/span> Shugo Muratani<\/strong><\/span> is joining the lab. With extensive experience in cell culture, molecular biology, and assay development, Shugo is well positioned to move our research forward.<\/span><\/p>\n

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November 2024<\/strong> – <\/span>New clinical assay to detect ALT in tissue is now published in <\/span>Modern Pathology<\/a>! This is important for pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors and other ALT-positive neoplasms. Outstanding collaboration with <\/span>Singhi Lab<\/strong><\/span> and many others across multiple institutions.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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October 2024<\/strong> – Dr. Heaph<\/strong>y <\/strong><\/span>presented collaborative work with the Dries Lab<\/strong><\/span> and Singhi Lab<\/strong><\/span> at the Neuroendocrine Tumor Research Foundation Annual Research Symposium<\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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October 2024<\/strong> – Congrats to Carlo Lanzo<\/span><\/strong> for presenting his study “Investigating Lamin A\/C Dysregulation as a Driver of Aggressive Prostate Cancer<\/em>” at the 27th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium at Boston University<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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October 2024<\/strong> – The Department of Medicine Evans Day was a success! Carlo Lanzo<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong>presented his poster on “Investigating Lamin A\/C Dysregulation as a Driver of Aggressive Prostate Cancer<\/em>” and Junxiang Xu<\/strong><\/span> (a PhD student with Dr. Ruben Dries<\/strong><\/span>) presented a poster on our collaborative work entitled “Spatial profiling of the pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor microenvironment<\/em>“.<\/span><\/p>\n

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October 2024<\/strong> – Congratulations to<\/span> Carlo Lanzo<\/strong><\/span> for his Fall 2024 Student Research Award from the<\/span> Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP)<\/a> at Boston University!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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September 2024<\/strong> – Our collaborative paper<\/span> (Gradual telomere shortening in the tumorigenesis of pancreatic and hepatic mucinous cystic neoplasms<\/a>) with<\/span> Dr. Seung-Mo Hong <\/span><\/strong>and his team at ASAN Medical Center in South Korea<\/a> has been recently published.<\/span><\/p>\n

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August 2024<\/strong> – We are very excited to have two new BU undergraduate students, Miranda Galvan<\/b><\/span>\u00a0and Jessica Proctor<\/b><\/span>, join our lab this semester. Welcome Miranda and Jessica!<\/span><\/p>\n

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August 2024 –\u00a0<\/strong>Thanks to Koushik Gadhachanda\u00a0<\/strong>for all his hard work and contributions to the lab in studying\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>senescent fibroblasts and the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP), a coordinated production of pro-growth and pro-inflammatory factors.<\/span><\/p>\n

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July 2024 <\/strong>– Today is bittersweet as we say goodbye (for now!) to<\/span> Dr. <\/strong>Joakin <\/strong><\/span>Mori<\/strong>, a talented postdoc in the lab. Joakin’s research focuses on elucidating the molecular mechanisms and environmental factors that underpin prostate cancer disparities. Thanks Joakin for all your hard work!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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July 2024<\/strong> – Boston Medical Center Cancer Center<\/strong><\/span> has been designated as high performing by US News and World Report<\/em>.<\/span>\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

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June 2024<\/strong> – Dr. Heaph<\/strong>y\u00a0<\/strong>has been promoted to Associate Professor<\/a> of Medici<\/span><\/span>ne at Boston University Chobanian &\u00a0Avedisian School of Medicine.<\/span><\/p>\n

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May 2024<\/strong> – Dr. <\/strong>Joakin <\/strong><\/span>Mori\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>participated and served as one of the Instructors for the PAIR-UP Imaging Workshop hosted by the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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May 2024<\/strong> – Dr. Heaph<\/strong>y\u00a0<\/strong>presented at the Department of Pathology & Laboratory Grand Rounds at Boston Medical Center.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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May 2024<\/strong> – Dr. Heaph<\/strong>y\u00a0<\/strong>gave an overview on the NET impact through basic and translational research at the <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>NET IMPACT Research and Thrivership Patient Education Conference<\/a> in Providence.<\/span><\/p>\n

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February 2024<\/span><\/strong> – Congratulations to our collaborative colleagues at the<\/span> Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH)<\/strong><\/span> and<\/span> National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS)<\/span><\/strong> for their published paper in <\/span>Nucleic Acids Research<\/em><\/a>. We are proud to make some contributions to this important work.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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January 2024<\/strong> – Dr. <\/strong>Joakin <\/strong><\/span>Mori <\/strong>was invited to <\/span>participate in the PAIR-UP Advance Imaging Workshop for Black Imaging Scientists @ Zeiss in Dublin, CA.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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January 2024<\/strong> – We are excited that Kenel Dufort<\/strong><\/span> is joining the lab. As a molecular biologist and translational cancer researcher, Kenel brings experience in immunohistochemistry, biomarker validation, and cancer vaccine development. Welcome Kenel!<\/p>\n

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December 2023 <\/strong>– Wonderful way to end the year – a Notice of Award from the NCI on our R21 “Delineating the myeloid-centric immunosuppressive crosstalk as targets for prognosis and therapy in neuroendocrine tumors<\/em><\/a>“. Looking forward to starting this project with the Dries Lab<\/strong><\/span> and Singhi Lab<\/strong><\/span> in the new year!<\/p>\n

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December 2023<\/strong> – Thanks to Dr. Alan Meeker<\/strong><\/span> from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine for visiting the BU\/BMC campus. Along with Dr. <\/strong>Joakin <\/strong><\/span>Mori<\/strong>, he was in town to <\/span><\/span>participate in the American Society for Cell Biology – National Science Foundation<\/span> Faculty Research and Education Development (FRED) Program.<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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December 2023\u00a0\u2013 <\/span><\/strong>We are excited to welcome\u00a0Lin Chen<\/strong><\/span> to the lab! Lin is currently a 2nd year medical student at Boston University School of Medicine.<\/p>\n

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November 2023\u00a0<\/strong>– Busy week for the lab! Dr. <\/strong>Joakin <\/strong><\/span>Mori <\/span><\/strong>participated in the week-long AACR Translational Cancer Research for Basic Scientists Workshop<\/a> and Dr. Heaph<\/strong><\/span>y <\/span><\/strong>presented at the Neuroendocrine Tumor Research Foundation Annual Research Symposium<\/a> on the development of the new ALT-CISH assay (video<\/a>).\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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November 2023<\/strong> – Excited to share our latest article in Nature Reviews Urology<\/em><\/span> on the prognostic and therapeutic potential of senescent stromal fibroblasts in prostate cancer<\/a>, led by Dr. <\/strong>Joakin <\/strong><\/span>Mori<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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November 2023<\/strong> – We are excited to welcome Carlo Lanza <\/strong><\/span>to the lab! Carlo is currently a second-year undergraduate student majoring in Medical Sciences as part of BU\u2019s Seven-Year Liberal Arts\/Medical Education Program.<\/span><\/p>\n

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October 2023<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Dr. <\/strong>Joakin <\/strong><\/span>Mori<\/strong><\/span><\/span> presented his study “Linking stress to cellular senescence in the prostate cancer microenvironment<\/em>” at the 2023 BU Department of Medicine Evans Day.<\/a> BU\u00a0 students, Koushik Gadhachanda <\/strong><\/span>and Natalia Feced Garcia<\/strong><\/span>, contributed to the study.<\/span><\/p>\n

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September 2023<\/strong> – We are proud to be a part of this awesome group – the Section of Hematology and Medical Oncology<\/a> at Boston Medical Center and Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine.<\/p>\n

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September 2023<\/strong> – Thanks to our longtime collaborator and friend, Dr. Seung-Mo Hong<\/span><\/strong>, for visiting us from South Korea! And congrats on becoming the Chair of Pathology at ASAN Medical Center<\/a> in Seoul.\"\"<\/p>\n

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August 2023<\/strong> – Thank you to the Neuroendocrine <\/span>Tumor Research Foundation (NETRF) for highlighting our research and recent success in grant funding.<\/span><\/p>\n

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August 2023<\/strong> – Thankful to <\/span>National Cancer Center<\/span> for funding our MPI R01! Excited to work with Dr. Alan Meeker<\/strong><\/span> and the Hopkins team to continue evaluating our telomere biomarker as a tool to inform decision-making for aggressive salvage therapy in men with rising PSA post prostatectomy<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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August 2023<\/strong> – Dr. <\/strong>Joakin <\/strong><\/span>Mori\u00a0<\/strong>has been selected as a recipient of a collaborative Peer Imaging Clusters (PIC) research grant<\/a> through the The PAIR-UP Imaging Science program for Black imaging scientists. He will be working with colleagues from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Mayo Clinic, and University of Delaware on a project titled “Beyond diffraction limited imaging: Predicting cancer and immune cell phenotype<\/em>“. Congrats Joakin!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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June 2023<\/strong> – Thank you to the Boston Medical Center for awarding our lab the 2023 Cancer Research Innovator Award<\/a>.\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

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May 2023<\/strong> –\u00a0appointed to the Nominating Committee<\/a> for the North American Neuroendocrine Tumor Society (NANETS)<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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May 2023<\/strong> – We are excited to have two BU undergraduate students, <\/span>Natalia Feced Garcia <\/span><\/strong><\/span>and\u00a0<\/span>Koushik Gadhachanda<\/strong><\/span>, join our lab for the summer and upcoming academic year. Welcome!<\/span><\/p>\n

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April 2023<\/strong> – Congratulations to Dr. <\/strong>Joakin <\/strong><\/span>Mori\u00a0<\/strong>who has been invited to participate in the American Society for Cell Biology – National Science Foundation Faculty Research and Education Development (FRED) Program<\/a>! His outside faculty mentor will be Dr. Alan Meeker <\/strong><\/span>from the Department of Pathology at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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April 2023<\/strong> – We are grateful to the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) Rare Cancers Research Program<\/a> for recommending to fund two of our proposals on the same day! We look forward to getting the chance to spatially map PanNETs (Concept Award<\/a>) with the Dries Lab<\/strong><\/span> and uncover genetic vulnerabilities in PanNETs (Idea Development Award<\/a>) with the Flynn Lab<\/span><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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April 2023<\/strong> – Check out our new preprint on bioRxiv<\/a> in collaboration with the De Marzo Lab (Johns Hopkins)<\/strong><\/span> – Chromogenic detection of telomere lengths in situ aids the identification of precancerous lesions in the prostate<\/a>.\u00a0 This novel \u201cTelo-CISH\u201d assay allows simultaneous assessment of histomorphology, identification of specific cell types, and assessment of telomeres. This assay will extend the clinical applicability of tissue-based telomere measurements. Update: Now published in The Prostate<\/em><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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April 2023<\/strong> – Dr. <\/strong>Joakin <\/strong><\/span>Mori\u00a0<\/strong>participated in the PAIR-UP Live Cell Imaging Workshop @ UNC Chapel-Hill<\/a>. The workshop is designed to provide training in advanced microscopy (Nikon Ti2, Zeiss spectral detector and Leica FALCON, and TILT lightsheet and 3X tau-STED).<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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March 2023<\/strong> – Congratulations to our collaborator, \"\"Dr. Wenzel Hackeng<\/strong><\/span> (University Medical Center Utrecht), for winning the prestigious 2023 H\u00e5kan Ahlman Award<\/a> at the Annual European Neuroendocrine Tumor Society (ENETS) Conference in Vienna for our Gut 2022<\/a> paper. Our collaborative publication was identified by ENETS as highly translational and extremely relevant to the NET field.<\/span><\/p>\n

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March 2023<\/strong> – Congratulations to Dr. <\/strong>Joakin <\/strong><\/span>Mori<\/strong><\/span> for receiving a competitive invitation to attend the PAIR-UP Funding Competition Scientific Conference: Hallmarks of Aging and Nutrition<\/a> in Tempe, AZ.<\/p>\n

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February 2023<\/strong> – Congratulations to the Dries Lab<\/strong><\/span><\/a> for receiving the BU-BMC Cancer Center ACS Pilot award<\/a>! We are excited to collaborate and help dissect the spatiotemporal mechanisms underlying breast cancer progression.<\/div>\n
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February 2023<\/strong> – We are grateful to the Neuroendocrine Tumor Research Foundation<\/a> for funding our exciting new project with the Dries Lab <\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span>to perform spatial transcriptomic profiling of the PanNET tumor microenvironment<\/a>.<\/span><\/div>\n
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January 2023<\/strong> – Thank you to the Department of Medicine<\/a> at BU\/BMC for the continued support of our lab as we pursue new experiments characterizing the tumor microenvironment with novel spatial transcriptomic tools.<\/div>\n
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November 2022<\/strong> – Congratulations to Dr. <\/strong>Joakin <\/strong><\/span>Mori<\/strong><\/span> for receiving a competitive invitation to attend the PAIR-UP Advance Imaging Workshop for Black Imaging Scientists<\/a> at Rockefeller University Bio-Imaging Resource Center.<\/div>\n
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October 2022 – <\/strong>Congratulations to Alexis Kiyanda<\/span><\/strong> for presenting her BU STaRS research project and winning the Third Place Award at the Region VII Medical Education Conference (RMEC) Research Symposium<\/a> in CT!<\/p>\n

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October 2022<\/strong> – Wonderful time seeing our friends and collaborators at the 2022 NANETS Multidisciplinary NET Medical Symposium<\/a> in Washington, DC! This year, Dr. Heaphy<\/strong><\/span> was part of the NANETS Symposium Planning Committee Leadership and a co-moderator of the “NIH\/NCI Research Retreat”.<\/em><\/p>\n

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August 2022<\/strong> – Congratulations to Alexis Kiyanda<\/strong><\/span> for successfully presenting her BU STaRS research project “Differential protein expression of lamin A\/C and cytokeratin-19 in Black and White patients with prostate cancer<\/em>“.<\/p>\n

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August 2022<\/strong> – Check out our latest collaborative review articles on PanNET biomarkers: The Diagnostic and Prognostic Utility of Incorporating DAXX, ATRX, and Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres (ALT) to the Evaluation of Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors (PanNETs)<\/a> in Human Pathology<\/em><\/span>; Prognostic and predictive biomarkers for pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors<\/a> in Surgical Pathology Clinics<\/em><\/span>; Clinical implications of cell-of-origin epigenetic characteristics in non-functional pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors<\/a> in Journal of Pathology<\/em><\/span>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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July 2022<\/strong> – Thanks to Marija Stojanova<\/strong><\/span> for all her contributions to the lab and we wish her well in her new position!<\/div>\n
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June 2022<\/strong> – We are excited to have Alexis Kiyanda <\/strong><\/span>join our lab this summer to participate in the Summer Training as Research Scholars Program (STaRS)<\/a>!<\/div>\n
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May 2022<\/strong> – Congratulations to Dr. <\/strong>J<\/span>oakin Mori<\/strong><\/span> for accepting a competitive invitation to attend the PAIR-UP Advance Imaging Workshop for Black Imaging Scientists<\/a> at Vanderbilt University and sponsored by The American Society for Cell Biology<\/a>.<\/div>\n
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May 2022<\/strong> – Congratulations to Elizabeth Nelson<\/strong><\/span> and Griffin Salus<\/strong><\/span> for graduating from BU!<\/div>\n
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May 2022<\/strong> – Congratulations to Griffin Salus<\/strong><\/span> for successfully defending his Master’s thesis titled “Lamin A\/C Downregulation Alters Prostate Cancer Cellular Phenotypes<\/em>” from the Program of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at BU.<\/div>\n
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April 2022<\/strong> – Dr. Heaphy<\/strong><\/span> presented “Clinicopathological and molecular characteristics of ALT-positive cancers<\/em>” virtually at the Telomeres and Cancer Biology International Conference<\/a> hosted by the German Cancer Research Center (DFKZ) and Heidelberg University Hospital.<\/div>\n
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April 2022<\/strong> – Congratulations to<\/span> Elizabeth Nelson<\/strong><\/span> and Griffin Salus\u00a0<\/strong>for presenting posters (in person) at Experimental Biology<\/a>\u00a0in Philadelphia, PA! Elizabeth presented “Investigating the Molecular and Phenotypic Differences in Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumor (PanNET) Cells with Functional Loss of Either\u00a0ATRX\u00a0or\u00a0<\/em>DAXX” <\/i>and Griffin presented “Lamin A\/C Downregulation Alters Prostate Cancer Cellular Phenotypes<\/em>“.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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March 2022<\/strong> – Dr. Heaph<\/strong>y<\/strong><\/span> has joined the Editorial Board of Endocrine-Related Cancer<\/em><\/a>, the official flagship journal of the Society for Endocrinology.<\/div>\n
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February 2022<\/strong> – Dr. Heaph<\/strong>y<\/strong><\/span> has been appointed the Chair of the Scientific Review & Research Committee for the North American Neuroendocrine Tumor Society (NANETS)<\/a>.<\/div>\n
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February 2022<\/strong> – Check out our latest collaborative articles deposited on the preprint servers bioRxiv<\/span><\/em> and medRxiv<\/span><\/em>: Novel plasma exosome biomarkers for prostate cancer progression in co-morbid metabolic disease<\/a> (with Denis Lab at BU<\/span><\/strong>); Therapeutic vulnerability to ATR inhibition in concurrent NF1 and ATRX-deficient high-grade solid tumors<\/a> (with Rodriguez Lab at UCLA<\/span><\/strong>); A high-throughput approach measures cell type-specific telomere lengths in fixed archival tissues from patient cohorts for research on prognosis<\/a> (with Meeker Lab at Johns Hopkins<\/span><\/strong>).<\/div>\n
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February 2022<\/strong> – Latest collaborative work in Ophthalmology<\/a> with investigators at Wills Eye Hospital<\/strong><\/span> and Johns Hopkins Hospital <\/strong><\/span><\/span>confirms frequent mutations in ATRX<\/em>, NF1<\/em>, NRAS<\/em>, and BRAF<\/em> in conjunctival melanoma. Interestingly, loss of ATRX and ALT activation may represent early molecular alterations in conjunctival melanoma development.<\/div>\n
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January 2022<\/strong> – Welcome to Dr. Joakin Mori<\/strong><\/span> – he joins the Heaphy Lab as a postdoctoral fellow. Dr. Mori recently completed his doctoral work in prostate cancer research at Tuskegee University.<\/div>\n
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November 2021<\/strong> – Check out our latest collaborative review article highlighting the “Clinical implications of cell-of-origin epigenetic characterizes in non-functional pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors<\/em>” in the Journal of Pathology<\/a>.<\/div>\n
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October 2021<\/strong> – Congratulations to Marija Stojanova<\/strong><\/span> for successfully presenting her poster at the BU Department of Medicine Evans Day<\/a> that highlighted her research project “Cellular characterization of prostate cancer cells with functional loss of ATRX or DAXX<\/em>“.<\/div>\n
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July 2021<\/strong> – Molecular Minute<\/em> article in Cancer Cytopathology<\/a> written with Dr. Christopher VandenBussche <\/strong><\/span>(Johns Hopkins Hospital) in which we evaluate<\/span> the current prognostic biomarkers in pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors, including ATRX\/DAXX loss and ALT.<\/div>\n
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June 2021<\/strong> – Our latest collaborative work with Dr. Fausto Rodriguez<\/strong><\/span> and colleagues at Johns Hopkins Hospital was published in Modern Pathology<\/a>. We demonstrate that, i<\/span>n addition to ATRX loss, ALT-positive tumors harboring SMARCAL1 alterations are prevalent in giant cell GBM.<\/span><\/div>\n
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June 2021<\/strong> – Along with Dr. Josh Campbell<\/strong><\/span> and Dr. Rachel Flynn<\/strong><\/span>, the Heaphy Lab is honored to receive a BU CTSI Integrated Pilot Grant<\/a>! The overall goal of this pilot project is to identify coding and non-coding genomic alterations in the racially and socioeconomically diverse patient population surgically treated for prostate cancer at Boston Medical Cancer.<\/span><\/div>\n
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April 2021<\/strong> – Wonderful international collaboration with colleagues from the US, The Netherlands, Italy, and Republic of Korea to evaluate biomarkers in non-functional PanNETS. Our manuscript ATRX\/DAXX and alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) are prognostically independent from ARX\/PDX1 expression and tumour size<\/a> was recently published in Gut<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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January 2021<\/strong> – Congratulations to Elizabeth Nelson<\/strong><\/span> for receiving funding for the Spring semester through the Boston University Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP)<\/a>!<\/div>\n
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January 2021<\/strong> – We are excited to have two undergraduate students, Elizabeth Nelson<\/strong><\/span> and\u00a0Griffin Salus<\/strong><\/span>, join our lab. Welcome Elizabeth and Griffin!<\/div>\n
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December 2020<\/strong> – Congratulations to our collaborators at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Elizabeth Platz<\/strong><\/a><\/span> and Dr.<\/strong> Alan Meeker<\/strong><\/a><\/span>, for being awarded an R01 from the National Cancer Institute titled “Stromal senescence in lethal prostate cancer: a novel target for prognosis and therapy<\/em><\/a>“. We are excited to collaborate with them on this important study!<\/div>\n
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November 2020<\/strong> – Congratulations to Elizabeth Nelson<\/strong><\/span> for being awarded a top poster award in Cancer Biology at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS)<\/a>! Her poster described her research from this summer as part of the STaRS program!<\/span><\/div>\n
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September 2020 <\/strong>– We are thankful to be selected for a Shipley Prostate Cancer Pilot Grant<\/a> from the Boston University School of Medicine! We are excited to evaluate telomere length alterations and nuclear lamin dysfunction in the diverse patient population at Boston Medical Center.<\/div>\n
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September 2020<\/strong> – Dr. Heaphy<\/strong><\/span> has been appointed as a member on the Shipley Advisory Committee<\/a> for the Shipley Prostate Cancer Research Center at Boston University<\/a>. It will be exciting to help continue to expand the footprint of prostate cancer research on campus.<\/div>\n
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June 2020<\/strong> – Dr. Heaphy<\/strong><\/span> has been appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine<\/a> at the Boston University School of Medicine. We look forward to establishing collaborations with our clinical and basic science colleagues in the Department.<\/p>\n

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June 2020<\/strong> – We are excited to have two undergraduate students, Elizabeth Nelson<\/strong><\/span> and Rachel Choate<\/strong><\/span>, virtually join our lab this summer to participate in the Summer Training as Research Scholars Program (STaRS)<\/a>. Welcome Elizabeth and Rachel!<\/p>\n

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March 2020<\/strong> – Through collaborative efforts, the Heaphy Lab has contributed to studies in prostate cancer that were published back-to-back this month in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention<\/a><\/strong>! Check out\u00a0High extra-tumoral mast cell counts are associated with a higher risk of adverse prostate cancer outcomes<\/em><\/a> and\u00a0Racial difference in prostate cancer cell telomere lengths in men with higher-grade prostate cancer: a clue to the racial disparity in prostate cancer outcomes<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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February 2020<\/strong> – We are thankful and excited to be selected for a BU-BMC Cancer Center Pilot and Feasibility Program sponsored by ACS! We will be working on\u00a0Modeling Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres (ALT) as a distinct molecular subclass of cancer<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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February 2020\u00a0<\/strong>– Congratulations to our colleague, Dr. Jessica Petrick<\/strong><\/span>, for\u00a0being selected for a BU-BMC Cancer Center Pilot and Feasibility Program sponsored by ACS! We are excited to collaborate with her and her team to evaluate\u00a0Helicobacter Pylori<\/em> and Colorectal Cancer in African American Women<\/a>.<\/span><\/div>\n
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January 2020<\/strong> – We are really excited that Marija Stojanova<\/strong><\/span> has decided to join our lab as a Research Assistant\/Lab Manager. She will be instrumental in getting the Heaphy lab off the ground at BU\/BMC. Welcome, Marija!<\/div>\n
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November\u00a0 2019<\/strong> – Coming this week: the Heaphy Lab<\/strong><\/span> will be at the Boston University School of Medicine\/Boston Medical Center!<\/span><\/div>\n
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October 2019<\/strong> – Today is definitely bittersweet – <\/span>Johns Hopkins has been an outstanding place….we will miss our colleagues and friends, but look forward to future collaborations!<\/span><\/div>\n
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April 2026 – Today is the last day in lab for Shugo Muratani before he returns with his family to Japan. Thanks to him for all the hard work and major contributions to numerous studies in the lab. February 2026 – Congratulations to Dr. Rishi Makkar\u00a0for being selected as Chief Resident at Boston Medical Center […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17342,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/heaphylab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/216"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/heaphylab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/heaphylab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/heaphylab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17342"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/heaphylab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216"}],"version-history":[{"count":51,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/heaphylab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1219,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/heaphylab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/216\/revisions\/1219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/heaphylab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}