Members of the Der, Cox and Campbell labs at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and members of the Wood, Onaitis, and Counter labs at Duke University, the Kashatus Lab at University of Virginia, and the Lim Lab at Washington University St. Louis came together at Emerald Isle for their annual scientific retreat July 26-29.
Monday, July 27
9:00-9:20 Minu Ramanan (Campbell lab) “All the right moves: Characterizing C1 domain role in CalDAG-GEFI localization for Rap1b activation”
9:20-9:40 Peter Winter (Wood lab) “Designing effective apoptosis-inducing combination strategies for KRAS driven cancers”
9:40-10:00 Ashley Ferguson (Kashatus lab) “A role for RalA and RalBP1 in response to nutrient deprivation”
10:00-10:20 Nicole Baker (Der lab) “PAK1 kinase regulates cell growth and promotes macropinocytosis in K-Ras mutant PDAC”
10:20-10:40 Katie Singleton (Wood lab) “MYC: A shared effector of diverse resistance mechanisms in B-Raf mutant melanoma”
11:00-11:20 Campbell Lawson (Der lab) “Driver roles of the ArhGAP11A and RacGAP1 RhoGAPs in basal-like breast cancer”
11:20-11:40 Jessica Sawyer (Fox/Counter labs) “Codon bias in Ras-induced tumors and tissues: A Drosophila Model”
11:40-12:00 Zahra Kabiri (Counter lab) “Developing a strategy to evaluate candidate genes regulating dRas signaling in Drosophila in mammalian cells”
7:00-7:20 Sarbajeet Nagdas (Kashatus lab) “Exploring Drp1 as a therapeutic target in pancreatic cancer using a patient-derived xenograft model”
7:20-7:40 Daniel Nussbaum (Wood lab) “Improving Targeted Therapies for Pancreatic Cancer”
7:40-8:00 Aaron Hobbs (Der lab) “Probing KRAS mutant-specific vulnerabilities at Gly12 for novel pancreatic cancer therapies”
8:00-8:20 Daoxiang Zhang (Lim lab) “IRAK1/4 kinases as novel therapeutic targets in pancreatic cancer”
8:20-8:40 Matt Crowe (Counter lab) “Targeting the requirement of MEK1/2 for Cu in metastatic melanoma”
8:40-9:00 Leanna Gentry (Der lab) “Targeting Ral for pancreatic cancer treatment”
Tuesday, July 28
9:00-9:20 Sam George (Der lab) “Signaling of ubiquitinated Ras”
9:20-9:40 Guowei Yin (Campbell lab) “Acetylation and Monoubiquitination at Lysine 104 modulates the Conformation of K-Ras”
9:40-10:00 Aldo Nascimento (Kashatus lab) “Ras/MAPK regulation of mitochondrial dynamics”
10:00-10:20 Devon Blake (Der lab) “Using CRISPR to understand the differences between KRas mutants”
10:20-10:40 MengMeng Xu (Counter lab) “Evaluating copper chelation as a therapeutic in a mouse model of oncogenic BRAF-driven thyroid cancer”
11:00-11:20 Jamie Weyandt (Counter lab) “Wild type Hras suppresses early Kras-driven cancer”
11:20-11:40 Bingying Zhou (Cox lab) “The role of WT RAS isoforms in NRAS-mutant melanoma”
11:40-12:00 Meagan Ryan (Cox/Der labs) “ERK regulation of PREX1 expression in melanoma”
7:00-7:20 Irem Dagliyan (Der lab) “Differential roles of RAS isoforms and KRAS mutants in lung adenocarcinoma”
7:20-7:40 Samantha Kistler (Campbell lab) “NRas, KRas…. What’s the difference?”
7:40-8:00 Erin Kaltenbrun (Counter Lab) “KRAS, lost in translation”
8:00-8:20 Xia Xu (Onaitis lab) “Sox2 antagonizes K-Ras-induced tumorigenesis in the alveoli”
8:20-8:40 Bjorn Papke (Der lab) “Targeting PDE delta and KRAS membrane association”
Der Lab 
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