Lectures and seminars Pediatric Oncology seminar 4 May

Speaker

Phillip Newton, PhD, Principal Researcher, Dept of Women’s and Children’s Health (Newton group) 

Title

"Use of in vivo mouse models to study radiation-induced skeletal late-complications"

Summary

Radiation damage to growing bones during childhood causes growth impairments that gradually lead to skeletal late-complications, such as leg length-differences and spinal curvature (scoliosis/kyphosis). In vivo models are perhaps the most relevant to study skeletal late-complications because they enable us to examine the skeleton whilst it grows, taking into account extrinsic factors including mechanical loading, endocrine effectors and inflammation, whilst genetically modified mouse tools allow us to address specific questions. Here, I will present our progress with devising clinically-relevant radiation protocols to study the development and prevention of radiation-induced skeletal late-complications. 

Speaker

Yuwei Lin, Master student, Dept of Women’s and Children’s Health (Shahrzad Shirazi Fard  - Herold group) 

Title

"Mapping Clonal Heterogeneity in Neuroblastoma using Spatial Multiplex FISH labeling"

Summary

Neuroblastoma is responsible for 15% of pediatric cancer deaths and it remains the most common solid extra cranial cancer form among infants in Sweden. Highly multiplexed imaging methods using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) labeling can help to understand the underlying clonal variations of neuroblastoma tumorigenesis. Yet, there is still an unmet need for accurate image analysis of multiplex images due to limited spatial resolution and time-consuming, labor-intensive manual spot scoring by eye. We developed an image processing pipeline for enrichment the multiplex FISH signals and a semi-automated signal detection and quantification in a spatial context. By using this pipeline, we aim to study the neuroblastoma clonal heterogeneity and link it to distinct tumor subpopulations and their microenvironments. 

Moderator

Shahrzad Shirazi Fard