Holcomb wins AACR-WICR Brigid Leventhal scholarship award

lona Holcomb, a graduate research assistant in the Trask Lab, Human Biology Division, has won a 2006 Brigid G. Leventhal Scholar Award in Cancer Research from the American Association for Cancer Research-Women In Cancer Research (AACR-WICR).

The AACR is a scientific society with researchers working in all subfields of basic, clinical and translational cancer research. A membership body within the AACR, the WICR fosters the professional developments and achievements of women in the field of cancer research through programs and services within the larger society. The Brigid G. Leventhal scholarship is awarded to select AACR-WICR members who are scientists-in-training and presenters of meritorious scientific papers at AACR Annual Meetings and Special Conferences.

Holcomb received the award based on a letter of recommendation from Dr. Peggy Porter and Holcomb's research on genomic changes in cells that have presumably escaped the primary tumors of prostate-cancer patients. Holcomb uses array comparative genomic hybridization, with a few as 10 of these disseminated cells — isolated from the bone marrow of patients — to analyze loss and gain of DNA.

Holcomb's $1,000 scholarship award will defray the costs of participation in the 97th AACR Annual Meeting, which takes place April 1-6 in Washington, D.C.