FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ON March 25, 2006
Pine Crest Student from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to be Honored for Research in Pediatric Eye Cancer
St. Paul, Minn., -
Shoshana Tell of Pine Crest School, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., will be honored with the Neuroscience Research Prize for her work pediatric eye cancer. Tell will receive the award during the American Academy of Neurology’s 58th Annual Meeting in San Diego, Calif., held April 1 – 8. The Neuroscience Research Prize is sponsored by the American Academy of Neurology, the American Academy of Neurology Foundation, and the Child Neurology Society. The award was established to encourage high school students to explore the world of the brain and nervous system through laboratory research. Tell studied the role of Wnt, a secreted glycoprotein, in the pediatric eye cancer retinoblastoma. The role of Wnt can be either pro- or anti-apoptotic (cell death) depending upon the cell line and tissue and has been implicated in more than 20 types of cancers. Tell’s study demonstrated that activation of the Wnt signaling pathway may slow retinoblastoma tumor progression. The research sheds light on the little-understood Wnt signaling pathway. “I am honored to have been selected for this prestigious award, and I am excited to present my research at the upcoming annual meeting of the Child Neurology Society,” said Tell. “I want to thank my mentor Dr. Abigail Hackam as well as Cheryl Alementi of the American Academy of Neurology for all of their help.” The 58th Annual Meeting takes place in the San Diego Convention Center. It is the world’s largest annual gathering of neurologists.