The merger will combine URA's exclusive technology and expertise with Diamond Institute's best fertility specialists to create one of the strongest networks of fertility clinics in northern New Jersey and New York.
HASBROUCK HEIGHTS, N.J., July 11, 2023 (Newswire.com)
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University Reproductive Associates (URA) and Diamond Institute today announced a merger that will create one of the most technologically advanced networks of fertility clinics in northern New Jersey and New York, as well as the most personalized. Both URA and Diamond Institute have built their successes on excellence in care, from initial evaluation to guidance on financial assistance. That care will now be available at six offices in six counties. New Jersey offices: Hasbrouck Heights in Bergen County, Wayne in Passaic County, Millburn in Essex County, Denville in Morris County and Hoboken in Hudson County. New York office: Goshen in Orange County.
According to Peter McGovern, M.D., a founding physician at URA, the merger will result in a new level of fertility care and solutions as more treatment options will be available, delivered with the one-on-one, personal care for which both organizations are known among their patients. URA is already the first and only fertility clinic network in New Jersey to offer the LifeAire in-duct air purification system, leading to a 15%-20% higher chance of successful implantation and pregnancy. URA is also the only network of fertility clinics in New Jersey to offer robotic surgery using the da Vinci® Surgical System.
From Diamond Institute, the merger will bring to URA two leading fertility specialists in New Jersey, Dr. Matan Yemini and Dr. Ndidiamaka Onwubalili. Dr. Yemeni brings 30 years of experience focusing interest, practice and research on the spectrum of issues associated with reproductive endocrinology and infertility treatment. Dr. Yemeni is bilingual, also speaking Hebrew. Dr. Onwubalili, aka "Dr. O," is board-certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive Endocrinology. She is a Fellow of the American Congress of Obstetricians, and her clinical and research focus includes polycystic ovarian syndrome, fertility preservation, uterine fibroids, and minimally invasive surgery.
"There's no doubt that URA provides families-to-be with higher chances than most fertility clinics through technology. Combined with the warm, personal care that's already our standard with each and every couple, I think the merger will create something even better than the sum of its parts," Dr. Onwubalili said.
Contact Information:
Leonard Schwartz
Practice Manager lschwartz@uranj.com
201-288-6330
With $3.5 million in funding from the GI Research Foundation, a team at the MD Anderson Cancer Center explores a one-two punch to combat BRAF-mutated colorectal cancer and its “dismal prognosis.”
CHICAGO, December 13, 2023 (Newswire.com)
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Many cancers caused by the mutation of the BRAF gene respond well to a class of immunotherapies known as BRAF-inhibitors. BRAF-mutated colorectal cancer, however, almost never does. Doctors have known this for years, but they are yet to find a treatment that works well for most patients.
“BRAF-inhibitors provide very different clinical outcomes,” said Dr. Scott Kopetz, a Professor and Associate Vice President for Translational Integration at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. “They work amazingly well in melanoma, for example, but are less effective in colorectal cancer.”
“BRAF [in colorectal cancer] is that odd uncle who doesn’t behave like the rest of the family. The black sheep. Is he even related? The usual rules don’t apply.”
Dr. Kopetz and his team’s most recent studies of this black sheep are now moving from research in mice to clinical trials in humans. These trials were approved by the National Cancer Institute in October and will launch in early 2024.
The GI Research Foundation helped support the work with mice models, along with several other aspects of the team’s BRAF-related research. The $3.5 million grant is part of the foundation’s massive CA CURE initiative.
“Last year, we were able to deliver more than $18 million to researchers across the country to improve diagnostics and develop immunotherapies and personalized vaccines in gastrointestinal cancers through CA CURE,” said Katie Chudnovsky, chair of the GI Research Foundation’s Board of Directors. “Patients need treatments like those being developed by Dr. Kopetz – so very urgently – and we are thrilled to see this team’s work moving to clinical trials so quickly.”
BRAF-mutated colorectal cancer comes with a “dismal prognosis,” according to research in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences, and the median patient survives less than a year.
This new form of treatment for BRAF-mutated colorectal cancer relies on what Kopetz called a “two-hit hypothesis.” That is, these cancers are caused by the combination of mutations in the BRAF gene and epigenetic dysregulation. Epigenetic dysregulation refers to the fact that behaviors and environment can impact how a person’s genes behave.
Here, researchers have found that a mutation to the BRAF gene changes the production of proteins that cause healthy cells to grow into cancerous tumors. Other forms of BRAF-mutated cancer respond well to BRAF-inhibitor immunotherapy that can halt the production of those proteins.
In BRAF-mutated colorectal cancer, however, another piece of DNA is unable to express itself entirely. Those genes typically create natural tumor suppressors that fight early cancer growth. Carbon molecules called methyl groups attach themselves to the DNA and prevent the DNA from building cancer-suppressing proteins. That “methylation” is the epigenetic dysregulation in this case, likely caused by inflammation, diet, or external environmental factors.
If doctors can stop the proteins that cause cancer and stop the bromodomains, they might be able to produce a one-two punch to combat their double hit hypothesis. The treatment would slow BRAF-mutated colorectal cancer growth and encourage natural cancer suppressors.
That idea will be tested in the human trials that were recently approved by the National Cancer Institute. A BRAF-inhibitor, an EGFR-inhibitor, and a bromodomain-inhibitor will be administered to patients. This combined treatment was developed by Kopetz and his colleague Dr. Kunal Rai, an Associate Professor of Genomic Medicine at MD Anderson.
The research moved from the GI Research Foundation-funded mouse models to human trials exceptionally quickly, according to Kopetz.
“It’s rare for the pieces to come together like this,” he said. “Lots of times, this would be two years of work to get the human trials up and running. But we were able to show how clearly this approach worked in multiple mouse models and that really sped things up.”
Other funding from the GI Research Foundation will help speed things up even further. “The new technologies and techniques that Dr. Kopetz and his team are exploring will give them the ability to innovate that much faster. It provides the entire community with the means to gather high-quality data more quickly and get it into trials and ultimately into the clinic,” said Dr. David Rubin. Rubin is the Joseph B. Kirsner Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Section of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition at University of Chicago Medicine. He is also GI Research Foundation’s Senior Scientific Advisor.
“The GI Research Foundation has a legacy of funding high risk-high reward and innovative science, and doing so efficiently and extraordinarily effectively. Kopetz and his colleagues were recipients of a dedicated campaign that we launched in 2022 to tackle the most difficult challenges of colorectal cancer.”
“Support from the GI Research Foundation allows us to accelerate our work and try some out of the box stuff,” Kopetz said. “We have amazing animal models, but there’s no substitute for understanding cancer and treatments with the patients themselves. We want to develop the tools we need so we can learn as much as possible from them and help them as much and as quickly as we can.”
About the GI Research Foundation
The GI Research Foundation was founded in 1961 by grateful patients and friends of the late Dr. Joseph B. Kirsner, a pioneer in gastroenterology who devoted his life to medicine, teaching, and patient care. Today, the University of Chicago Medicine’s Digestive Diseases Center, which is supported by the foundation, is internationally recognized for research-driven medicine and its team of highly specialized physicians. For more information, see: https://giresearchfoundation.org/
About the University of Chicago Digestive Diseases Center
The Digestive Diseases Center at the University of Chicago Medicine is a collaborative, multidisciplinary network of physicians, researchers and affiliated health professionals who share a legacy of innovation and a common purpose: to improve the lives of patients who suffer from digestive diseases. For more information, see: https://www.uchicagomedicine.org/conditions-services/digestive-diseases
Contact Information:
Jackie Casey
Executive Director jcasey@girf.org
312-332-1350