THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, JANUARY 28, 2008
NEWS
CAMPUS
5A
Cancer research recruit finds home at Kansas
Jessie Fetterlina/KANSAN
Blake Peterson has been recently hired by the University as a professor in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry to do cancer research. He is involved in developing drugs to create a cure for cancer.
New researcher does not expect to find cure for cancer in near future
BY FRANCESCA CHAMBERS
fchambers@kansan.com
Blake Peterson said he was a failure. He said knew it, and he was not afraid to admit it. But failure has not stopped Peterson from trying to discover a drug for cancer.
"Research is primarily about failure." Peterson said. "When you run experiments, it's important to keep in mind if you get one out of five right, you are doing pretty well."
Peterson said it would be geoganical to believe he, or any one researcher, could create the cure for cancer. More than 300 types of cancer exist, and each has a potentially different cause. But Peterson said he hoped to develop fundamental principles that would be used in creating a cure.
The University of Kansas recently recruited Peterson from Pennsylvania State University. Peterson was selected as one of two Kansas Bioscience
Authority Eminent Scholars. One of Chancellor Robert Hemenway's top priorities is for the National Cancer Institute to designate the University as a Comprehensive Cancer Center. Hemenway said Peterson's work would help the University receive that designation.
"I don't think you have an 'aha' moment where everything falls in place," Hemenway said. "He will contribute his knowledge and expertise to an all-consuming question: how do we best treat a disease like cancer?"
Hemenway said Peterson was an excellent researcher, but he did not necessarily expect Peterson alone to find the cure for cancer. Like Peterson, Hemenway said he thought the cure would be discovered in small increments.
Peterson said he knew from a young age he wanted to be a scientist. He said as a child he enjoyed tinkering with chemistry sets and exploring nature. He said he chose cancer
"It's pushing the frontiers of knowledge," Peterson said. "It's hard to find someone who has not had a friend or family member with cancer, and it's not going to go away soon. So certainly, there is a real demand for new ways to treat cancer."
Peterson said he came to the University because the chemistry department was more focused on the interface between chemistry and biology than the department at Pennsylvania State was and other universities trying to recruit him. Peterson works in the pharmaceutical chemistry department and said the University having this department was an incentive for him to come.
said his research was beneficial to students because it will be a new opportunity for students to receive lab experience.
Peterson said if he did find a cure for cancer, it would generate a large amount of money for the University because it would own a percentage of the value of that drug. He also
Peterson's wife, Becca, said the University went out of its way to make her family feel welcome, and that was why she wanted to move to Lawrence.
The Petersons have two daughters, Karena, 6, and Callia, 3. The University hired Becca as an executive assistant dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
Rebecca said Blake's best attribute was his fearlessness. She said he loved to do exhalilar activities, including racing his car sometimes.
"He's just fun," she said. "He is a very driven man, but what I love most, is that he is willing to try new things. He'll do anything twice."
Edited by Matt Hirschfeld
BY MARY SORRICK msorick@kansan.com
New lab to aid in cancer research
It's not often that a university builds a newly hired faculty member his own two-story laboratory. But that's exactly what is planned for Blake Peterson.
The University of Kansas has rolled out the red carpet for Peterson, professor of medicinal chemistry, by dedicating $5 million from the Kansas Bioscience
underscored the state's commitment to bloscience and cancer research.
"It will be better than other labs I've worked in."
"There's an expectation that his research will have a commercial application somewhere down the line," Boatright said. "His research will wind up in hospitals and in
BLAKE PETERSON Professor of medicinal chemistry
Authority to the construction of a lab catered to Peterson's research needs.
Peterson, who joined the Department of Medicinal Chemistry this semester after 10 years at Penn State, will conduct research on cancer drugs and drug delivery in the lab. The 8,300-square-foot unit will be added onto the Structural Biology Center on west campus, which houses research related to drug discovery, human and animal health and the development of biomaterials.
"It will be better than other labs I've worked in," Peterson said. "It's more customized and better suited for my research."
Kevin Boatright, director of research communications at the University, said the KBA provided the lab's funding after naming Peterson an "Eminent Scholar", a designation
George Wilson, associate vice provet for research, said Peterson would use the lab to synthesize molecules for cancer drugs.
patients and has an impact on people."
Peterson's
research will also concentrate on drug delivery, or moving the synthesized molecules in cancer drugs to the right spot, Wilson said.
"About half of all drug candidates never make it through the cell membrane," he said. "So the focus of Dr. Peterson's work will be on making the drug effective and making sure the molecules actually get to the cell."
Peterson's lab will include specialized instruments and live animals, such as zebrafish, for testing purposes, Wilson said.
Other specialized research labs in the SBC will be available for Peterson as well, Boatright said.
"His research will wind up in hospitals and in patients and has an impact on people."
Construction on Peterson's lab will complement the $16 million
KEVIN BOATRIGHT Director research communications
the KBA awards to distinguished bioscience researchers working in Kansas.
Boatright said the $5 million from the KBA, which aims to advance biosciences in Kansas.
addition for pharmaceutical research already underway at the SBC. Boatright said that addition would be completed in April and Peterson's lab will be completed by August.
The University plans to have a dedication ceremony for the improved SBC building during homecoming week in October.
- Edited by Daniel Reyes
>> NATURAL DISASTER
Storms torment California
BY JACOB ADELMAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES — Fast-moving thunderstorms brought new waves of rain Sunday to Southern California, following days of drenching weather and heavy mountain snowfall.
Up to 2 inches of rain had fallen by early afternoon in valley and coastal areas since nightfall Saturday, with about double that in the mountains, the National Weather Service said.
Officials said the rain brought a threat of serious slides on hillsides stripped of vegetation by last year's wildfires. Mud and minor rock slides prompted authorities to shut a highway through a San Diego area burned between Ramona and Escondido.
"We're not completely done with this storm yet," forecaster Steve Vanderburg said.
The Los Angeles County and Orange County fire departments
Los Angeles Fire Department's swift water rescue team watches as a crushed car is lifted out of the Arroyo Cree river after rescuing two people from the car after it plunged into the rain swollen river in Los Angeles yesterday. The latest in a series of storms that unleashed deadly avalanches, flooded streets and caused mud and rock slides barricaded into Southern California on Saturday, threatening more problems for the rain-soaked region.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
A highway was closed in the mountains south of San Francisco, and Pacific Gas and Electric said about 2,700 homes and businesses were still blacked out because of earlier storms.
were on standby for possible flash floods and slides. Flash flood watches remained in effect through Sunday night for Los Angeles, Ventura and San Bernardino counties.
In downtown Los Angeles, Sunday's basketball game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Cleveland Cavaliers was delayed 12 minutes after a small leak in the Staples Center roof allowed a steady flow of raindrops to fall on the court.
A series of fierce storms has caused deadly avalanches, flooded streets and set off mud and rock slides in recent days. Some areas have received more moisture in a week than during the entire rainy season last year.
The Santa Anita race track in Arcadia, meanwhile, canceled horse races for the sixth day this month because of wet conditions on the synthetic track.
The storm system also soaked parts of Northern California and the weather service posted winter storm warnings for parts of the Sierra Nevada.
Three skiers were killed Friday by a trio of avalanches that swept through canyons outside the trails of Mountain High ski resort at Wrightwood, northeast of Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Mountains. A fourth man escaped the avalanches.
Avalanches are unusual in the San Gabriel Mountains, but the peaks had been hit by 3 feet or more of new snow this past week, drawing thousands of skiers and boarders.
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