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INDIANAPOLIS - It doesn't happen every day. In fact, it has never happened before. Until Saturday.
In a small room on the campus of the IU Cancer Center in Indianapolis, 20 scientists, doctors and researchers from four different Hoosier campuses - Indiana University-Bloomington, Purdue University, the University of Notre Dame and the IU Cancer Center - gathered for the first time to share information and theories on breast cancer and its treatments and causes.
And they were brought together through the efforts of a Warsaw-based group, the Catherine Peachey Fund's Amelia Project.
"We developed the Amelia Project in honor of our daughters," said Connie Rufenbarger, of Warsaw, in her welcome to the group.
The Catherine Peachey Fund, which is financed through the sales of the "Just Peachey" cookbook and proceeds from an annual concert and celebrity auction, focuses on cancer research and on keeping scientists and researchers in Indiana to help Hoosiers.
The purpose of the Amelia Project, which is named after the 4-year-old daughter of Cindy Zimmerman Stark, of Warsaw, who died of breast cancer last year, is to encourage doctors and scientists to share ideas and research and to "identify some potential partners for collaboration," Rufenbarger said.
And, if Saturday's meeting of the minds was any indication, the project appears to be on its way to becoming a success.
At least two collaborative efforts resulted directly from Saturday's meeting, said Dr. George Sledge Jr., a clinician and researcher at IU's Cancer Center in Indianapolis and the moderator for the seminar. "And I expect another seven or eight to come out of this."
The seminar participants spoke in their own language, dominated by words like "phosphatase," "signal transduction," "oncogenes," "mammary epitheleum" and "angiogenesis." And they used phrases like "the ability to heterodimorize is going to be affected."
But the important thing was that they all knew what they were talking about, and that was all that mattered.
There were M.D.s and Ph.D.s, chemists and clinicians, lab scientists and biologists.
One researcher from Purdue gave a talk on the effects of hormones on breast cancer; another talked about her work with vitamin D. Some have been working with drugs already used to treat breast cancer - taxol and tamoxifen - to increase their effectiveness and decrease adverse reactions.
Most doctors or scientists publish their results after their experiments or trials are done, and other researchers can then read about what else is going on in the field. The value of Saturday's seminar, Sledge said, is that the doctors can talk about their work while they're actually doing it, and others can ask questions or offer input.
"I would eventually read about what people are doing, but I wouldn't have the chance to ask them questions or talk to them like I am today," said David Riese, Ph.D. virologist from Purdue.
For example, Sledge said, one speaker is doing work that could potentially lead to a new nontoxic form of hormone therapy; another is working on how to stop blood flow into a tumor and starve it. Still another is trying to unlock the secrets of what makes cancer cells cancerous.
"The people who are going to be collaborating are at a very early stage of research," Sledge said. "The Peachey Fund is going to actively be pushing that process along."
Another valuable product of the seminar, he said, was that many lab researchers never even meet patients, and it's important for them to work with clinicians who deal directly with cancer patients.
"It's absolutely no good to have something that kills cancer cells in the lab if you can't put it into practice in a clinical setting," Sledge said.
Their interest was evident as they took notes on each other's talks, engaged in lengthy question-and-answer sessions and continued discussing ideas and practices during breaks, lunch and an informal discussion period.
The Amelia Project will have a panel of experts evaluate grant requests and will give grants to worthwhile collaborative projects.
The Catherine Peachey Fund awards small grants that allow scientists to conduct the kind of research necessary to go after big-bucks grants, such as those from the National Cancer Institute or the Department of Defense.
The Amelia Project coordinators hope to hold a similar type of seminar each year and to expand the number of universities included.
