Joe gives a talk to the Boston/Harvard Cell Death Initiative group on the role of NCOA4-mediated ferritinophagy in iron metabolism and ferroptosis.

The lab is excited to welcome Huan Zhang, PhD to the lab! Huan completed her graduate work at the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Her graduate work was focused on evolution of transcriptional regulatory networks of phytopathogenic bacteria and bacterial resistance to osmostress. She identified and co-first authored a manuscript in Nature Communications on: Proteolysis of histidine kinase VgrS sequesters two-component signalling and promotes bacterial resistance to osmostress. We're excited for her to transition to work on pancreatic cancer and leverage her expertise in RNA biology towards new projects in the lab investigating the role of RNA binding proteins in pancreatic cancer.

Joe runs in the 11th annual Damon Runyon 5K at Yankee Stadium on Saturday, May 11, 2019!

Text from Damon Runyon: 
"More than 2,100 runners, walkers, cancer survivors, and their friends and family members gathered at Yankee Stadium to raise funds for cancer research.  One of New York’s most unique fundraising events, the Runyon 5K is the only charitable run/walk that uses the iconic Stadium as its course.  100% of donations raised by Runyon 5K participants will directly support innovative young scientists funded by the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation.  Since inception, the event has raised more than $5.6 million." 
https://www.damonrunyon.org/get-involved/events

Joe attends the 8th Congress of the International BioIron Society held at the EMBL Advanced Training Centre in
Heidelberg, Germany. Joe presents a talk on: ​Ncoa4-mediated ferritinophagy maintains murine erythropoiesis via cell autonomous and non-autonomous mechanisms. The meeting was a great opportunity to catch up with collaborators and hear some exciting new iron metabolism research.

At the closing awards ceremony, Joe is awarded the Best Clinical and Translational Research Award!

Maria Quiles del Rey writes a review evaluating the potential role of NCOA4-mediated ferritin autophagy in modulating neurodegeneration. Given the link between decreased autophagy and increased iron accumulation in the aging brain and especially in patients with neurodegeneration, Maria reviews the available evidence and proposes interesting questions for future study of NCOA4.

Cullen Taniguchi, MD, PhD invites Joe to MD Anderson Cancer Center to present to the Experimental Radiation Oncology Division and the Pancreatic Cancer Research Center. Great chance to catch up with Cullen who is a fellow GI Radiation Oncologist and Pancreatic Cancer researcher. 

Joe presents a Continuing Medical Education (CME) talk to physicians from the New England area based on his clinical expertise in Radiation Oncology, specifically radiation therapy for gastrointestinal cancers (including pancreatic cancer). Title of talk: 'Emerging Approaches to Radiation for GI Malignancies, including SBRT, MRI-guided Therapy, and Radiosensitizers'. Full program here.

The Mancias Lab is awarded an initial grant of $400,000 over two years from the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation for their proposal on identifying how radiation therapy provokes an anti-tumor immune response. Read more about the award here: Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovator Award. Thank you to the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation!