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MSTP student lauded for cancer research  by Cindy Abole Public Relations Fifth-year Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) student Ron Feldman was among 19 students nationally recognized for their research work in breast cancer and will receive a $30,000 grant award from the Susan G. Komen Foundation.     Feldman is the first MUSC student and perhaps the only South Carolinian to receive a Komen Dissertation Research Award.    A Charleston native, the 27-year old Feldman was recognized for his doctoral research being conducted in the Hollings Cancer Center laboratory of Dennis Watson, Ph.D. The title of his thesis is: “The role of an epithelial specific ets transcription factor in breast development and cancer.”    The human ets family of transcription factors is composed of 25 highly conserved DNA-binding proteins. While it is known that some ets factors are present at increased levels in breast cancer, Feldman has already helped to characterize a new ets family protein (an ets suppressor factor or esf) that may be linked to suppressing cancer growth in both human and mouse breast tissue. Feldman’s work is designed to understand the role of esf in detail and why loss of esf contributes to cancer development.     “The role of ets factors in breast cancer has not been adequately characterized,” said Feldman. “In addition to understanding the normal function of ets factors, analysis of their involvement with breast cancer is clearly important. We hope to begin to understand how specific transcription factors regulate cancer growth.”         Feldman will focus on three research goals with the Komen grant: First, to continue the evaluation of esf expression levels in human breast cancer tissue; second, to use mouse breast cancer models to determine when esf expression is lost; third, to further test his theory by generation of an animal mouse model in which esf is removed.          Feldman will also work closely with other members of the Laboratory of Cancer Genomics, including Demetri Spyropoulos, Ph.D., and Ioanna Maroulakou, Ph.D. His work with “knock-out” mouse facility director Spyropoulos will allow him to generate his mice lacking esf, and Maroulakou will provide additional expertise in breast cancer models and ets factors in mice development.    Feldman’s work will add a significant understanding to esf function in normal cell development by studying changes in expression.Ultimately, this research may lead to a more effective gene-therapy approach in the treatment of breast cancer.     The Komen Foundation is a non-profit organization established in 1982 dedicated to fighting breast cancer as a life-threatening disease. It provides support by advancing research, education, screening and treatment.    “The ability for Ron to obtain this highly competitive award is a credit to his articulation of his thesis research,” said Watson. “While the size of the award is not large, it is a significant award, being highly prestigious. Besides validating the importance of the research, this award sets Ron apart as unique in the MUSC student community.”    Feldman has been working on his thesis in breast cancer research since 1999 and is currently a fifth-year student in the MSTP.     Following the two-year award period, he will have completed the graduate portion of the program and will return to the medical doctorate program to complete his third and fourth years of medical school. He is the past recipient of the Hollings Cancer Center Abney Foundation Award and the Cato Corporation Scholarship.     Feldman began his undergraduate studies in biochemistry at the University of Georgia before graduating from the College of Charleston in 1996. He also served a year-long pre-intramural research training award (pre-IRTA) position at the NIH before entering MUSC.    “I was very excited to receive the news about this award,” said Feldman.  “The grant gives me the freedom to conduct more studies where I didn’t have the funding to do it. It’s definitely an added bonus. The award will be very helpful in allowing me to continue with this work.”