Captured Sound Meets Cancer

Featuring

  • Dr. Charles Sherr (Cancer, Tumor Suppressors & Uncontrolled Cell Growth)
  • Jasmine Murrell (Sculptor)

Overview

The Sherr lab works on cancer biology and have made numerous contributions to the fields of growth factor receptor signaling, cell cycle control, oncogenes and tumor suppressors, and the etiology of hematopoietic (blood) malignancies. Studies from the lab have helped to elucidate how mammalian cells respond to extracellular cues in starting and stopping their cell division cycle, and how perturbations in these signaling pathways lead to many common forms of cancer

When cell division pathways fail, proteins that normally spur proliferation make the cell divide even more & those that normally put the brakes on division lose their potency. RB & p53 are tumor suppressors, meaning they normally prevent growth of damaged cells. But if the genes that code for RB or p53 become altered, suppression stops, injured cells grow, and a tumor results. has found that three genes that regulate p53 and RB are also vitally important for governing normal cellular growth. The genes—Ink4a, Ink4b, and Arf. Cancer cells often eliminate all three of them at once as a tumor progresses, making the cancer more virulent.

Murrell's art was "inspired by the way living things adapt & transform, so his research in cell division & cancer was most exciting. Cancer, deadly & complex is invariably, and understandably, viewed with trepidation & negativity. Contrarily, there exists the possibility of these complex cells advancing human physiology and evolution to an unknown and perhaps unimagined level. Some of humanity’s greatest innovations have come from the most horrific circumstances.”

“Dr. Chuck explains that cancer is most deadly during metastasis, when cancer cells spread often killing its host. However, the cancer itself is very vulnerable during this period and can easily be killed. This seemingly opposing dichotomy is exactly what makes cancer so incredible to me. I choose to contrast the death of music with the death of the body. Where captured sound meets cancer.”

Bios

Jasmine Murrell

www.jasminemurrell.com

www.jasminemurrell.tumblr.com

Brooklyn /Detroit visual artist; creates sculptures that blur history & mythology.

Dr. Charles Sherr

http://www.stjude.org/sherr

http://www.hhmi.org/scientists/charles-j-sherr

M.D., Ph.D., Investigator Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Herrick Foundation Chair Department of Tumor Cell Biology St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and part-time Visiting Investigator, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Science, the Institute of Medicine, and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.

The Sherr lab works on cancer biology and have made numerous contributions to the fields of growth factor receptor signaling, cell cycle control, oncogenes and tumor suppressors, and the etiology of hematopoietic (blood) malignancies. Studies from the lab have helped to elucidate how mammalian cells respond to extracellular cues in starting and stopping their cell division cycle, and how perturbations in these signaling pathways lead to many common forms of cancer

When cell division pathways fail, proteins that normally spur proliferation make the cell divide even more & those that normally put the brakes on division lose their potency. RB & p53 are tumor suppressors, meaning they normally prevent growth of damaged cells. But if the genes that code for RB or p53 become altered, suppression stops, injured cells grow, and a tumor results. has found that three genes that regulate p53 and RB are also vitally important for governing normal cellular growth. The genes—Ink4a, Ink4b, and Arf. Cancer cells often eliminate all three of them at once as a tumor progresses, making the cancer more virulent.