^{Volume 18 | February 7, 2024}

We Make It Better with Love

February is a month filled with meaning for us.

We just marked World Cancer Day on February 4th, with a worldwide osteosarcoma incidence rate of 3.4 cases per million people per year.

Rare Disease Day ends the month on February 29th.  With an estimated 1,000 new cases diagnosed in the US each year, about half of which are children and teens, osteosarcoma makes up 2% of childhood cancers.

MIB Agents is a member of the Alliance for Childhood Cancer and Action Days in Washington DC will give voice to patient advocates on February 13-14th.  

Black History Month reminds us to highlight that people of African ancestry have a higher incidence of osteosarcoma, yet are often underrepresented in clinical trials.

February is also a month filled with love which is the bond that connects our community and what drives us to show up and support each other in all the ways that we do. It is the magic ingredient in all our programs and how we Make It Better together. Thank you for the heart and passion you bring to our community.

With hope and ❤️,

Ann

Save The Date

^{Our Community}

We Can't Wait to See You at FACTOR 2024!

We can't wait to see you at FACTOR this year! Save the date - June 20-22 in Cleveland. Registration will open February 14th with a special Early Bird registration rate of $300. A limited number of Family Fund FACTOR Travel Awards are available for medical professionals. The application is open and due March 29th.

Learn More About FACTOR

Use Your Goodies for Good to Make It Better

We are thrilled to announce our OutBidding Osteosarcoma online auction will return in March! Do you have a unique product, a fun service, an unforgettable experience, a beautiful piece of art, or a cozy vacation rental that you’d love to donate to our upcoming auction? If so, use your goodies for good to help us Make It Better! Visit www.mibagents.org/fundraisers to learn more. Email Anita at anita@mibagents.org with any questions!

Donate an Auction Item

Spotlight on the Sweet-Cordero Lab

The Sweet-Cordero Lab at UCSF is focused on identifying novel therapeutic approaches for cancer that target the genetic mutations and altered signaling networks that are specific to cancer cells, with a focus on two primary disease interests: lung cancer and pediatric sarcomas. The lab uses functional genomics applied to mouse and human systems (genetically engineered models, patient derived xenografts) to understand the transcriptional networks that regulate the outcome of specific oncogenic mutations and to identify new approaches for cancer therapy. Their research spans the continuum from basic discovery to clinical application in a dynamic, interactive, and highly collaborative environment.

Read More About the Sweet-Cordero Lab

Career Connections‍

• VHIO- Serrano Lab - Computational Biology & Bioinformatics PhD program
• Alliance Manager - Oncology Collaboration - Count Me In/Broad Institute
• Senior Director, Business Development and Strategy - Count Me In/Broad Institute
• Junior/Assistant Specialist - Leach Lab at UC Davis
• D4CG Project Manager
• Lead Research Technician - Majzner Pediatrics Lab
• Sarcoma Faculty Clinician/Translational Researcher/Physician Scientist at OHSU
• Postdoctoral and staff scientists in the Curtis Lab at Stanford Medicine
• Staff Scientist - Behavioral health, psychosocial research in the Psychosocial Support and Research Program, Pediatric Oncology Branch, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health (NIH)

If you have a job posting and you would like it included here, please email christina@mibagents.org.

^‍

^EDUCATION‍

^{OsteoBites Webinar Series}

‍

Watch Past Episodes and See the Upcoming Schedule

‍

^{Tumor Review Board for Osteosarcoma}

A virtual tumor review board for osteosarcoma, TURBO is open to global clinicians or researchers with an interest in osteosarcoma. Patients and families are welcome to ask their oncologists to present a case on their behalf. Join TURBO to request an invite or submit a case.
‍

Next meeting: March 20th at 5pm ET

‍Join TURBO

Osteosarcoma in the News

• Osteosarcoma cells secrete CXCL14 that activates integrin α11β1 on fibroblasts to form a lung metastatic niche
• RARRES2 is involved in the “lock-and-key” interactions between osteosarcoma stem cells and tumor-associated macrophages‍
• Targeting POLRMT by a first-in-class inhibitor IMT1 inhibits osteosarcoma cell growth in vitro and in vivo‍
• A novel aging-associated lncRNA signature for predicting prognosis in osteosarcoma‍
• A CIC-related-epigenetic factors-based model associated with prediction, the tumor microenvironment and drug sensitivity in osteosarcoma‍
• University Hospitals drug treatment study giving hope to osteosarcoma patients‍
• Engineered Bone Marrow Shows Preclinical Potential in Osteosarcoma‍
• Exosome microRNA-22 inhibiting proliferation, migration and invasion through regulating Twist1/CADM1 axis in osteosarcoma

PROGRAMS

Gamer Agents Tournaments

Calling all Gaming Warriors & Siblings!  Coming soon to a console or PC near you…..MIB’s weekly Gamer Agent Tournaments with great prizes!

For registered members only. Not yet a registered Gamer Agent? Please sign up and our wonderful Lead Gamer Agents will welcome you to the MIB Discord server, where you can game with new and old friends in our OS community.  

Register for Gamer Agents

‍

Sign Up for Warrior Mail

Our Valentine’s Day Warrior Mail has been dispatched! The March edition deadline to enroll your OsteoWarrior to receive monthly boxes of cheer is March 3rd!

Request Warrior Mail

RESEARCH

‍

Find Pediatric Data Resources

The CCDI Data Catalog is a searchable database of pediatric data resources, sharing clinical care and research data generated by the pediatric cancer research community. Resources include childhood cancer repositories, registries, programs, knowledge bases, analytic tools and catalogs that either manage or refer to data. The data catalog is intended to help researchers, clinicians, and citizen scientists learn about existing pediatric data resources to develop new biomedical hypotheses, analyze the data for clinical or therapeutic efficacy, and foster connections within the community to existing pediatric oncology research sites. There are currently 51 resources listed that include osteosarcoma data.

Access the CCDI Data Catalog

If you have a trial that is currently enrolling osteosarcoma patients, please email christina@mibagents.org.

‍

All MIB Agents programs are free of charge, thanks to our generous donors like you who Make it Better.

Please consider a donation to support osteosarcoma patient programs, education, and research.

                  Donate