Whitley H35: Used in the Fight against Pancreatic Cancer

Widely regarded as the best cancer hospital in the USA, The MD Anderson Cancer Centre at the University of Texas currently uses a Whitley H35 Hypoxystation to contribute to their work focused on pancreatic cancer.

Dr. Rafal Zielinski had this to say about their workstation:

“The hypoxia station we have purchased is being used for studies on STAT and HIF oncogenic transcription factors in tumours with major focus on pancreatic cancer. It is well-established that these tumours are highly hypoxic therefore experiments performed in oxygen-limited conditions better recapitulates the natural environment of the cancer, allows better understanding of the physiologic role of STATs and HIFs and enables more accurate evaluation of experimental therapeutic strategies. We also use chronic hypoxia to study metabolism of the cancer cells and to design optimal therapeutic approaches using new inhibitors of glycolysis.”

Article shared from www.dwscientific.co.uk

For more information about Whitley H35 Hypoxystations in New Zealand, contact Anna

Don Whitley Hypoxystation Used in Lung Cancer Research

An article from the latest Don Whitley Newsletter

Originally posted here on June 25 by Deborah Robinson

Lung cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in the world with an approximate figure of 1.6 million new cases diagnosed in 2008, 80% of which are comprised of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Poor prognostic markers and delay in diagnosis account for a large segment of lung cancer cases to be past successful cure. Survival rates for this form of the disease are very low, with a 5-year survival rate of <9% (2010) of cases and <5.3% over 10-years (CRUK, public data). Lipid metabolism has been correlated to malignant progression and poor clinical outcome in NSCLC and has been suggested as a hallmark of cancer proliferation and a discriminating factor in treatment planning.

Dr Rosy Favicchio

Dr Rosy Favicchio, at Imperial College London’s Comprehensive Cancer Imaging Centre, is researching the impact of lipid metabolism in cancer growth and is part of a team developing new diagnostic imaging technology that will help identify cancers based on their metabolic profile.

“We are directing precision medicine strategies by developing new diagnostic, prognostic and predictive biomarkers for patient stratification and early assessment to therapeutic response. If we are to use lipid metabolism as a reporter system for tumour metabolism and synthesize drugs that target the pathways regulating this particular aspect of tumour physiology, we need to generate data that accurately reproduce the tumour microenvironment. The ability to vary the hypoxic load in our model is fundamental for understanding the relationship driving lipid metabolic reprogramming. Our experiments using the Don Whitley Hypoxystation are designed to further our understanding of the role played by lipid metabolism under hypoxic conditions and evaluate its use as an effective biomarker and druggable driver of NSCLC malignant growth”.

For more information about the Don Whitley Hypoxystations click here: Don Whitley

To receive direct assistance about Don Whitley Hypoxystations in New Zealand Contact Anna

Visit Don Whitley Scientific at Oxygen 2013

Following the success of the HypoxiaNet meeting in Essen last year, Don Whitley Scientific will be attending the next event – 8 to 12 June 2013 – in Oulu, Finland. With a host of international speakers lined up, the subject of this year’s meeting is ‘Dealing with hypoxia: regulatory aspects in cells, tissues and organisms‘ -

“Hypoxia can be life threatening – for cells and the organism. To adequately respond to the shortage of oxygen cells have to sense changes in their ambient oxygen concentration. How are changes in a physical parameter, i.e. the pO2, translated into a biological response such as modulation of gene expression?”

The aim of the meeting is to highlight and discuss the latest developments in the broad field of hypoxia response.  This is the second international congress arranged by the network following the Oxygen 2011 meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

The program of the 2013 meeting will include keynote lectures, short talks selected from submitted abstracts and a training school session.

Don Whitley Scientific will have a Hypoxystation at the meeting and our representatives: Fergus Murray (Product Engineering Manager), Sally Shelton (Export Manager) and Alun Kitsell (Export Sales) will be on hand to answer questions about the workstation.

For further details on the meeting or to book a place, please visit the event website.