Nerd Nite Philly

Nerd Nite #99: Philadelphia Young Professionals of the American Cancer Society at Nerd Nite Philly

This month’s Nerd Nite is Wednesday March 4th. This event is a partnership with the Philadelphia Chapter of the Young Professionals of the American Cancer Society and will highlight some of the research and projects being funded locally.

Here’s the talks planned:

Victoria LeMay, “Health Equity: Eliminating Cancer Disparities by Addressing True Determinants of Health”

Your zip code should not be more important than your genetic code in determining your health. By partnering with communities and other organizations, the American Cancer Society is working toward eliminating health disparities and addressing challenges in the fight against cancer. This talk will outline the root causes of disparity and how ACS and others are working to advance health equity.

BIO: Victoria has worked for the American Cancer Society for eight years and currently holds the position of Senior Manager, Distinguished Partners in Philadelphia.

Jaye Gardiner will discuss pancreatic cancer treatments

BIO: Jaye Gardiner, PhD is a postdoctoral researcher in the Edna Cukierman laboratory at Fox Chase Cancer Center. Jaye is studying ways to identify better treatment options for pancreatic cancer patients. Her project focuses on understanding the signaling that arises from cell-cell interactions in the pancreatic tumor microenvironment. The goals for her project are three-fold. 1) To reveal the driving factor(s) promoting pancreatic cancer’s stroma’s tumor supportive nature. 2) To evaluate the consequences these factor(s) have on tumor development and progression. And 3) to understand the finer details of the underlying biology with the purpose of discovering future druggable targets.

Austin Rennels will discuss tumor treatment methods.

BIO: Austin is a Research Specialist in the June Lab at the Center for Cellular Immunotherapies at the University of Pennsylvania. In the June Lab, they are interested in improving the efficacy of CART cell therapy for cancer, specifically solid tumor indications. They are investigating the role of the tumor microenvironment and T cell exhaustion in CART cell therapy and aim to overcome these obstacles to achieve more effective treatment of solid tumors.

Wednesday March 4th, 7:30pm. $10. Frankford Hall. 1210 Frankford Avenue in Fishtown.