Scientific Presentations Summer 2009 - Dana-Farber/Harvard ...
Scientific Presentations Summer 2009 - Dana-Farber/Harvard ... Scientific Presentations Summer 2009 - Dana-Farber/Harvard ...
The Growth of Malignant Plasma Cells in Zebrafish Embryos Jessica Francois Mentor: Robert I. Handin, MD Scientific Advisor: Nikhil Munshi, MD Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Multiple myeloma is a malignant disorder of plasma cells, which reside in the bone marrow and are the antibody-producing cells of the immune system. Our laboratory uses zebrafish embryos to study the growth of both murine and human myeloma cell lines and primary myeloma cells purified from patient bone marrow aspirates. Our objective was to determine whether zebrafish could be used to study growth characteristics of human myeloma cells. Zebrafish are an increasingly popular animal model as they are easy to breed and manipulate. Zebrafish embryos are transparent and tumor cells grow rapidly after injection. We injected 50 nl fluid containing 1,000-2,000 myeloma cells suspended in matrigel into the pervitelline space of anesthetized, dechorionated zebrafish embryos 48 hours post fertilization. In some cases, unlabelled myeloma cells were injected into Tg(Fli1:GFP) fish, which express GFP in endothelial cells, to assess tumor-induced angiogenesis. The angiogenic response to tumor injection was also assessed by alkaline phosphatase staining of fixed embryos. Twenty four to forty eight hours after injection, myeloma cells induced an angiogenic response in the host with proliferation of vessels from the sub-intestinal venous (SIV) system toward the tumor. Within 2-3 days, visible growth of myeloma cells was observed. In some fish, myeloma cells grew out of the yolk sac and into vertebral bodies. In contrast, plasma cells from normal individuals or individuals with monoclonal gammopathy of uncertain significance (MGUS), a benign precursor to myeloma, did not induce angiogenesis nor form tumors. We conclude that zebrafish can be used to study the growth characteristics of human myeloma cells and may provide a convenient model to identify novel or combinations of drugs that will inhibit myeloma cell growth.
Targeting Communication Disparities with Click to Connect Charline Gay Mentor: Vish Viswanath, PhD Scientific Advisors: Sara Minsky, BA and Emily Zobel Kontos, AB, ScM Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Despite improvements in overall health of Americans, some racial/ethnic minority populations and lower socioeconomic position (SEP) individuals experience health disparities that may be attributed to inequalities in communication. The Internet has emerged as a powerful source of health information with growing penetration. Yet, limited attention has been paid to the utility and usability of websites for low literacy and low SEP individuals. In our approach to improving this communications gap, we developed an intervention (Click to Connect) focused on improving access and ability to use the Internet for low literacy and low SEP individuals. The components of the intervention include a low literacy web portal designed specifically for our audience, computer use/Internet training, and technical support. The goal of my project is to analyze and report the results of the intervention’s process data, which will aid in the assessment of the operation of the program, program strengths and weaknesses, and will allow for mid-course corrections. We hypothesize that participants will increase their usage of the Internet to seek health information over time as they acquire computer and Internet literacy skills. Each participant was asked to complete an online survey once a month to assess their Internet and computer use, their experience with the system, and a training evaluation questionnaire. In this survey, we focused on evaluating the effectiveness of the intervention in terms of the acquisition of computer and Internet literacy skills, and the effectiveness of the training component of the intervention among participants over the course of the intervention period. Qualitative and quantitative analysis was then conducted on the web portal survey results and the training evaluation.
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Targeting Communication Disparities with Click to Connect<br />
Charline Gay<br />
Mentor: Vish Viswanath, PhD<br />
<strong>Scientific</strong> Advisors: Sara Minsky, BA and Emily Zobel Kontos, AB, ScM<br />
<strong>Dana</strong>-<strong>Farber</strong> Cancer Institute<br />
Despite improvements in overall health of Americans, some racial/ethnic minority<br />
populations and lower socioeconomic position (SEP) individuals experience health<br />
disparities that may be attributed to inequalities in communication. The Internet has<br />
emerged as a powerful source of health information with growing penetration. Yet,<br />
limited attention has been paid to the utility and usability of websites for low literacy<br />
and low SEP individuals. In our approach to improving this communications gap,<br />
we developed an intervention (Click to Connect) focused on improving access and<br />
ability to use the Internet for low literacy and low SEP individuals. The components<br />
of the intervention include a low literacy web portal designed specifically for our<br />
audience, computer use/Internet training, and technical support. The goal of my<br />
project is to analyze and report the results of the intervention’s process data, which<br />
will aid in the assessment of the operation of the program, program strengths and<br />
weaknesses, and will allow for mid-course corrections. We hypothesize that participants<br />
will increase their usage of the Internet to seek health information over time<br />
as they acquire computer and Internet literacy skills. Each participant was asked to<br />
complete an online survey once a month to assess their Internet and computer use,<br />
their experience with the system, and a training evaluation questionnaire. In this<br />
survey, we focused on evaluating the effectiveness of the intervention in terms of<br />
the acquisition of computer and Internet literacy skills, and the effectiveness of the<br />
training component of the intervention among participants over the course of the<br />
intervention period. Qualitative and quantitative analysis was then conducted on the<br />
web portal survey results and the training evaluation.
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