MIB Agents OsteoBites and osTEAo

Dr. Fiona Freeman is an Assistant Professor in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at University College Dublin (UCD). She graduated in Biomedical Engineering in 2011 and earned her PhD from the University of Galway in 2016, focusing on developing new strategies for bone tissue regeneration. Afterward, Dr. Freeman was awarded two prestigious postdoctoral fellowships: the Government of Ireland IRC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship and the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Fellowship. These fellowships provided her with opportunities to work as a postdoctoral researcher in renowned labs at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Brigham and Women's Hospital, Johns Hopkins University, and Trinity College Dublin.

In September 2022, Dr. Freeman was appointed as the first Ad Astra fellow in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering. Her current research focuses on using innovative engineering techniques to gain a better understanding of and develop novel therapeutics for treating osteosarcoma, a paediatric bone cancer. As part of her research, Dr. Freeman identified a novel microRNA, miR-29b, as a potential therapeutic target for osteosarcoma. She formulated miR-29b nanoparticles and delivered the miRNA to the tumour site using a hyaluronic-based hydrogel delivery system. The results showed a significant decrease in tumour burden, increased survival rates, and enhanced regeneration of the damaged bone surrounding the tumour.

These findings have the potential to revolutionize osteosarcoma treatment and improve patient outcomes by significantly reducing the primary tumour mass and providing crucial data that will inform the design of future therapies for young patients. Dr. Freeman conducted this work in collaboration with researchers at MIT and Brigham and Women's Hospital. In the coming years, Dr. Freeman is dedicated to building upon this research and advancing this technology toward clinical application.

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What We Do at MIB Agents: PROGRAMS: End-of-Life MISSIONS Gamer Agents Agent Writers Prayer Agents Healing Hearts - Bereaved Parent and Sibling Support Ambassador Agents - Peer Support Warrior Mail Young Adult Survivorship Support Group EDUCATION for physicians, researchers and families: OsteoBites, weekly webinar & podcast with thought leaders and innovators in Osteosarcoma MIB Book: Osteosarcoma: From our Families to Yours RESEARCH: Annual MIB FACTOR Research Conference Funding multiple $100,000 and $50,000 grants annually for OS research MIB Testing & Research Directory The Osteosarcoma Project partner with Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard ... Kids are still dying with 40+ year old treatments. Help us MakeItBetter. https://www.mibagents.org​ Help support MIB Agents, Donate here https://give-usa.keela.co/embed/YAipuSaWxHPJP7RCJ SUBSCRIBE for all the Osteosarcoma Intel

This episode is sponsored is by BTG Pharmaceuticals

Dr. Michael Bishop is an Assistant Member in the Solid Tumor Division of the Department of Oncology at St. Jude Children’s Hospital in Memphis, TN. His clinical practice focuses primarily on the management of children and young adults with bone and soft tissue sarcomas, and his research interests are dedicated to the development of prospective clinical trials for the treatment of osteosarcoma. Dr. Bishop graduated from the University of Arkansas College of Medicine and completed his pediatric residency at Children’s Mercy Kansas City, and fellowship in pediatric hematology and oncology at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Dr. Bishop is a member of the Children’s Oncology Group Bone Tumor Committee and is the Study Chair for AOST2032, a prospective trial assessing the feasibility and efficacy of combining a multi-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor with chemotherapy for newly diagnosed osteosarcoma.

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What We Do at MIB Agents: PROGRAMS: End-of-Life MISSIONS Gamer Agents Agent Writers Prayer Agents Healing Hearts - Bereaved Parent and Sibling Support Ambassador Agents - Peer Support Warrior Mail Young Adult Survivorship Support Group EDUCATION for physicians, researchers and families: OsteoBites, weekly webinar & podcast with thought leaders and innovators in Osteosarcoma MIB Book: Osteosarcoma: From our Families to Yours RESEARCH: Annual MIB FACTOR Research Conference Funding multiple $100,000 and $50,000 grants annually for OS research MIB Testing & Research Directory The Osteosarcoma Project partner with Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard ... Kids are still dying with 40+ year old treatments. Help us MakeItBetter. https://www.mibagents.org​ Help support MIB Agents, Donate here https://give-usa.keela.co/embed/YAipuSaWxHPJP7RCJ SUBSCRIBE for all the Osteosarcoma Intel

This presentation discusses key findings in immunotherapies from the investigator's laboratory as well as those that have shaped the landscape of both human and canine cancers. The information focuses on EGFR and HER2 based immunotherapies, including osteosarcoma, hemangiosarcoma and other cancer types in canine patients. Mechanisms of tumor growth and therapy will also be topics of discussions.

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UCLA (B.A.), Univ Notre Dame (M.S.), University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (Ph.D.), Yale University School of Medicine (Professor of Medicine). Dr. Mamula’s interests are in investigating the early events of inflammatory mediated changes in the proteome that intersect with cellular metabolism and with breaking immune tolerance to self proteins. These studies have been applied to the development of novel immune-therapeutic approaches in for antitumor vaccines in EGFR/HER2 expressing cancers, including breast cancer and colon cancer. In particular, the work has evolved to clinical trials in companion canine populations. Overall, it is the goal of Dr. Mamula’s laboratory to understand the mechanisms that may shift the balance of the cellular proteome toward the initiation of anti-self immune responses. In addition, seminal work from the Mamula lab elucidated the proteomics and biochemical forms of autoantigens capable of breaking immunologic tolerance to intracellular autoantigens in type I diabetes (T1D) and in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Simply put, Dr. Mamula examines post translational protein modifications that alter cellular biology and immunity. Recent studies have identified early protein modifications of pancreatic beta cells that are sentinels of early disease and dysfunction of glucose metabolism and insulin release (Nature Comm. 2022). Finally, studies from the Mamula laboratory first demonstrated the ability of B lymphocytes to present autoantigens in the triggering of T cell autoimmunity and in the phenomenon of epitope spreading in lupus autoimmunity, work that contributed to the rationale of B cell mediated therapeutics (Rituximab and Belumimab) in SLE. Dr. Mamula has 113 publications and has mentored over 30 pre-and postdoctoral students and investigators, many of whom have acquired faculty positions as independent investigators at major medical schools, universities, and pharmaceutical industries.

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What We Do at MIB Agents: PROGRAMS: End-of-Life MISSIONS Gamer Agents Agent Writers Prayer Agents Healing Hearts - Bereaved Parent and Sibling Support Ambassador Agents - Peer Support Warrior Mail Young Adult Survivorship Support Group EDUCATION for physicians, researchers and families: OsteoBites, weekly webinar & podcast with thought leaders and innovators in Osteosarcoma MIB Book: Osteosarcoma: From our Families to Yours RESEARCH: Annual MIB FACTOR Research Conference Funding multiple $100,000 and $50,000 grants annually for OS research MIB Testing & Research Directory The Osteosarcoma Project partner with Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard ... Kids are still dying with 40+ year old treatments. Help us MakeItBetter. https://www.mibagents.org​ Help support MIB Agents, Donate here https://give-usa.keela.co/embed/YAipuSaWxHPJP7RCJ SUBSCRIBE for all the Osteosarcoma Intel

OsteoWarriors Camille and Mia are joined by members of the MIB Agents Junior Advisory Board to discuss questions submitted by patients, caregivers, clinicians, and researchers. This episode was inspired by the tremendous interest and engagement in the patient panel at the MIB Agents FACTOR 2023 osteosarcoma conference.

Camille, Mia, and our Junior Advisory Board discuss many topics including cancer misconceptions, the cringiest things you can say to someone with cancer, what makes them feel supported and seen in their journey by friends and loved ones, making decisions about surgical options, how they cope with scanxiety and preparing for a procedure, and what gets them through their hardest times.

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What We Do at MIB Agents: PROGRAMS: End-of-Life MISSIONS Gamer Agents Agent Writers Prayer Agents Healing Hearts - Bereaved Parent and Sibling Support Ambassador Agents - Peer Support Warrior Mail Young Adult Survivorship Support Group EDUCATION for physicians, researchers and families: OsteoBites, weekly webinar & podcast with thought leaders and innovators in Osteosarcoma MIB Book: Osteosarcoma: From our Families to Yours RESEARCH: Annual MIB FACTOR Research Conference Funding multiple $100,000 and $50,000 grants annually for OS research MIB Testing & Research Directory The Osteosarcoma Project partner with Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard ... Kids are still dying with 40+ year old treatments. Help us MakeItBetter. https://www.mibagents.org​ Help support MIB Agents, Donate here https://give-usa.keela.co/embed/YAipuSaWxHPJP7RCJ SUBSCRIBE for all the Osteosarcoma Intel

Episode sponsored by BTG

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Significant efforts are still necessary to individuate new therapeutic strategies aimed to reduce cancer recurrence and to define new potential adjuvant targets for inhibiting invasion and metastasis, two significant contributors to death among patients. The increasing interest in the employment of nanostructured materials to medicine-related branches is attributable to its unique properties allowing highly efficient drug delivery, molecular sensing applicable in diagnosis, multiplex imaging, or construction of point of care therapeutic devices. This presentation will walk you through our latest developments of functional 3D dual-modality nanostructures for targeted drug delivery of platinum-based complexes.

Václav Ranc received his Ph.D. degree in analytical chemistry in 2009 from the Department of Analytical chemistry, Palacky University in Olomouc, Czech Republic under a supervision of Prof. Karel Lemr. He was then employed at the Department of Analytical chemistry, Palacky University, Olomouc as an assistant professor from 2008 to 2010. In 2011, he joined the team of prof. Rainer at the department of medicine at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland as a research scientist. He worked there from 2011-2012. He has been employed at the Regional center of advanced technologies and materials, Palacký University Olomouc since 2012. He has authored or co-authored 74 scientific publications, H index = 27. He is a co-author of three international patents. His research activities are directed towards development of nano-sensors based on the utilization of Surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy and electrochemistry, and synthesis of functionalized nanomaterials for drug delivery systems.

Osteosarcoma Webinar Series: Scott Okuno, MD - SARC Medical Officer and Ann Graham, Executive Director of MIB Agents join us on OsteoBites to discuss how SARC (Sarcoma Alliance for Research through Collaboration) work together to drive collaboration in the sarcoma community and support sarcoma research.

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Dr. Scott Okuno is Professor of Oncology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He is a recognized expert in sarcoma and clinical research. Dr. Okuno has been the SARC Medical Officer since 2012. In this role, he provides medical oversight to the day-to-day activities of the SARC clinical trials. Dr. Okuno regularly interacts with the SARC Research Project Management team and the study Principal Investigators to ensure proper study conduct, quality data and overall safety for all SARC clinical trials.  Dr. Okuno was appointed SARC Chief Medical Officer in September 2022, and joined SARC Board of Directors October 2022.

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What We Do at MIB Agents: PROGRAMS: End-of-Life MISSIONS Gamer Agents Agent Writers Prayer Agents Healing Hearts - Bereaved Parent and Sibling Support Ambassador Agents - Peer Support Warrior Mail Young Adult Survivorship Support Group EDUCATION for physicians, researchers and families: OsteoBites, weekly webinar & podcast with thought leaders and innovators in Osteosarcoma MIB Book: Osteosarcoma: From our Families to Yours RESEARCH: Annual MIB FACTOR Research Conference Funding multiple $100,000 and $50,000 grants annually for OS research MIB Testing & Research Directory The Osteosarcoma Project partner with Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard ... Kids are still dying with 40+ year old treatments. Help us MakeItBetter. https://www.mibagents.org​ Help support MIB Agents, Donate here https://give-usa.keela.co/embed/YAipuSaWxHPJP7RCJ SUBSCRIBE for all the Osteosarcoma Intel

The Osteosarcoma Institute (OSI) is currently supporting two clinical trials and seven laboratory research projects for osteosarcoma. In this OsteoBites episode, you will meet Lee J. Helman, MD, Director of the OSI and Chand Khanna, DVM, PhD, Chair of the OSI’s Strategic Advisory Board. Dr. Helman and Dr. Khanna will provide an overview of the OSI’s osteosarcoma research portfolio and explain how the OSI identifies promising osteosarcoma research projects.

Lee J. Helman, MD has been studying the biology and caring for pediatric patients with sarcomas for over thirty years. Dr. Helman completed his post-doctoral training at the National Cancer Institute (NCI). He then became Head of the Molecular Oncology Section, Pediatric Oncology Branch, NCI, in 1993. He served as Chief of the Pediatric Oncology Branch from 1997-2007 and served as Scientific Director for Clinical Research in the Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute from 2007 to 2016. He joined Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) and the University of Southern California (USC) in 2017 as the Section Head of Basic and Translational Research within the Cancer and Blood Disease Institute (CBDI) and the Division of Hematology, Oncology and Blood and Marrow Transplantation. He remains an adjunct professor at CHLA. He has also trained many investigators in the field of pediatric sarcomas over the course of his career. He is currently focusing on improving outcomes in osteosarcoma as the Director of the Osteosarcoma Institute.

Chand Khanna, DVM, PhD is Chief Science Officer with Ethos Veterinary Health, and President of Ethos Discovery(501c3), its incubator of scientific innovation. His responsibility at Ethos Discovery is to develop innovations in the form of novel diagnostics and therapeutics for both human and animal patients afflicted with similar complex disease conditions (i.e., osteosarcoma; so called Comparative Oncology). Dr. Khanna is a veterinary oncologist and both osteosarcoma and metastasis biologist, who has worked in this scientific field for over 20 years, most notably as a senior investigator of the Tumor and Metastasis Biology section of the Pediatric Oncology Branch at the National Cancer Institute and founding Director of its Comparative Oncology Program. Dr. Khanna’s research career has focused on improving the understanding of the biology of metastasis in osteosarcoma and the use of a cross species (mouse, dog, human), Comparative and translational approach to develop novel therapeutics for osteosarcoma metastasis. He serves as the Chair of the Osteosarcoma Institute’s Strategic Advisory Board.

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What We Do at MIB Agents: PROGRAMS: End-of-Life MISSIONS Gamer Agents Agent Writers Prayer Agents Healing Hearts - Bereaved Parent and Sibling Support Ambassador Agents - Peer Support Warrior Mail Young Adult Survivorship Support Group EDUCATION for physicians, researchers and families: OsteoBites, weekly webinar & podcast with thought leaders and innovators in Osteosarcoma MIB Book: Osteosarcoma: From our Families to Yours RESEARCH: Annual MIB FACTOR Research Conference Funding multiple $100,000 and $50,000 grants annually for OS research MIB Testing & Research Directory The Osteosarcoma Project partner with Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard ... Kids are still dying with 40+ year old treatments. Help us MakeItBetter. https://www.mibagents.org​ Help support MIB Agents, Donate here https://give-usa.keela.co/embed/YAipuSaWxHPJP7RCJ SUBSCRIBE for all the Osteosarcoma Intel

OsteoWarriors Camille and Gillian are joined by grief coach Lori Krause to discuss what survivor's grief and guilt look like and how to cope and learn to live with these feelings.

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What We Do at MIB Agents: PROGRAMS: End-of-Life MISSIONS Gamer Agents Agent Writers Prayer Agents Healing Hearts - Bereaved Parent and Sibling Support Ambassador Agents - Peer Support Warrior Mail Young Adult Survivorship Support Group EDUCATION for physicians, researchers and families: OsteoBites, weekly webinar & podcast with thought leaders and innovators in Osteosarcoma MIB Book: Osteosarcoma: From our Families to Yours RESEARCH: Annual MIB FACTOR Research Conference Funding multiple $100,000 and $50,000 grants annually for OS research MIB Testing & Research Directory The Osteosarcoma Project partner with Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard ... Kids are still dying with 40+ year old treatments. Help us MakeItBetter. https://www.mibagents.org​ Help support MIB Agents, Donate here https://give-usa.keela.co/embed/YAipuSaWxHPJP7RCJ SUBSCRIBE for all the Osteosarcoma Intel

Dr. Jeffrey Bryan earned his D.V.M. from the University of California - Davis in 1993. He worked as an Associate Veterinarian from 1993-1995 and served as Medical Director from 1995-2002 of the Irving Street Veterinary Hospital in San Francisco, CA. Bryan then completed a medical oncology residency, a Masters of Biomedical Sciences, and a PhD in Pathobiology at the University of Missouri. He received certification by the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine in Oncology 2005. He is the Director of the Tom and Betty Scott Endowed Program in Veterinary Oncology, the Director of PET Imaging Center of the University of Missouri, Associate Department Chair for Research, and the Associate Director of Comparative Oncology for Ellis Fischel Cancer Center. Dr. Bryan’s research focuses on comparative examination of cancers in companion animals to better understand cancers in all species. His particular areas of interest are targeted imaging and therapy, epigenetics, and immunotherapy of cancers. He directs the PET Imaging Center, which seeks to develop novel PET imaging agents for cancer diagnosis, localization, and prognostication. He studies DNA methylation of canine non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He studies immunotherapy in companion dogs including investigating fetal microchimerism.

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What We Do at MIB Agents: PROGRAMS: End-of-Life MISSIONS Gamer Agents Agent Writers Prayer Agents Healing Hearts - Bereaved Parent and Sibling Support Ambassador Agents - Peer Support Warrior Mail Young Adult Survivorship Support Group EDUCATION for physicians, researchers and families: OsteoBites, weekly webinar & podcast with thought leaders and innovators in Osteosarcoma MIB Book: Osteosarcoma: From our Families to Yours RESEARCH: Annual MIB FACTOR Research Conference Funding multiple $100,000 and $50,000 grants annually for OS research MIB Testing & Research Directory The Osteosarcoma Project partner with Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard ... Kids are still dying with 40+ year old treatments. Help us MakeItBetter. https://www.mibagents.org​ Help support MIB Agents, Donate here https://give-usa.keela.co/embed/YAipuSaWxHPJP7RCJ SUBSCRIBE for all the Osteosarcoma Intel

Mia and her special guest Jessie review and discuss cancer memes. Mia shares how these memes resonate with her real-life experiences, and Jessie offers perspective as a friend and partner to a cancer patient. If you are a cancer patient, you will likely laugh along and completely relate to these memes. For clinicians, friends, and family of a cancer patient, you will hear a frank (and funny!) discussion that will provide you insight into the cancer patient experience.

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What We Do at MIB Agents: PROGRAMS: End-of-Life MISSIONS Gamer Agents Agent Writers Prayer Agents Healing Hearts - Bereaved Parent and Sibling Support Ambassador Agents - Peer Support Warrior Mail Young Adult Survivorship Support Group EDUCATION for physicians, researchers and families: OsteoBites, weekly webinar & podcast with thought leaders and innovators in Osteosarcoma MIB Book: Osteosarcoma: From our Families to Yours RESEARCH: Annual MIB FACTOR Research Conference Funding multiple $100,000 and $50,000 grants annually for OS research MIB Testing & Research Directory The Osteosarcoma Project partner with Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard ... Kids are still dying with 40+ year old treatments. Help us MakeItBetter. https://www.mibagents.org​ Help support MIB Agents, Donate here https://give-usa.keela.co/embed/YAipuSaWxHPJP7RCJ SUBSCRIBE for all the Osteosarcoma Intel