Lungs for Life Postdoctoral Fellowship

The IUCC Lung Cancer Working Group with the generous support from Lung for Life inc. awarded the first "Lungs for Life Postdoctoral Fellowship" to Dr. Yong Luo in the IU Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Dr. Luo works in Dr. Zhong-Yin Zhang's laboratory on a project targeting novel proteins and pathways for treating lung cancer. This is an exciting project pursing basic science research to eventually impact lung cancer treatment a focus for both the LCWG and LfL.

Dr. Yong Luo

Yong Luo is currently a postdoctoral fellow in Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Indiana University. He received his BA and MS degrees from Nankai University, China. He received his Ph.D degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Indiana University in 2005. During his Ph.D, his research focused on NF-Kappa-B, a transcription factor involved in cancer progression and immune response. His current research is on PRL-1, a protein tyrosine phosphatase implicated in lung cancer metastasis. His goal is to define the signaling pathway of PRL-1 in lung cancer and develop PRL-1 small molecule inhibit which may be potential treatment for lung cancer.

Researchers

Dr. Zane Hammoud

Zane Hammoud is an Assistant Professor of Surgery in the Thoracic Surgery Division. He has been on faculty at Indiana University since 2004. He completed his general surgery training at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri and a cardiothoracic surgery fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. His focus is solely on general thoracic surgery, with the majority being thoracic oncology including the surgical treatment of lung cancer. On the research side, he is studying the gender differences in a mouse model of lung cancer, specifically looking at the effects of estrogen on tumor growth and development.

Dr. John Turchi

John Turchi is a Professor of Medicine and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Indiana University School of Medicine. He received his B.S. in Biochemistry from Clemson University and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Missouri. Following postdoctoral training at the University of Rochester Cancer Center, he started his independent lab at the Wright State University School of Medicine in 1993 studying chemotherapy induced DNA damage and repair. Dr. Turchi was recruited to the IU School of Medicine in 2005 and leads the basic science component of the IU Simon Cancer Center Lung Cancer Working Group. Dr. Turchi has presented his research at numerous national and international meetings on chemotherapy induced DNA damage and repair in addition to organizing influential conferences in this area of research. He has published over 50 papers and monographs and his research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense Cancer research programs and other generous foundations. Since joining the IU faculty, Dr. Turchi�s research group has been applying the advances made in his lab over the past decade to the molecular analysis and treatment of lung cancer.

Dr. Nasser Hanna

Nasser Hanna is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Oncology at Indiana University. He received his BA in Biology from St. Louis University and his MD from the University of Missouri. He completed his Internal Medicine residency training at the University of Iowa and his Oncology fellowship training at Indiana University, where he has remained on faulty for the last 6 years. His research focus is in lung cancer. He is the Medical Director for the Thoracic Oncology Program at IU, Thoracic Chairperson for the Hoosier Oncology Group, Clinical leader for the IU Lung Cancer Working Group, and core member of the Easter Cooperative Oncology Group. He is also a member of the International Association for the Study of Lung cancer (IASLC) and the American Society of Clinical oncology (ASCO). His research has been recognized internationally. He is the primary author of a randomized study which led to the FDA approval of Pemetrexed in lung cancer. He has also led several other influential studies in small cell lung cancer and non-small cell lung cancer.