Ranjan Perera

Joining forces with the International Prostate Cancer Foundation to develop better tests

by Patrick Bartosch on May 17, 2013 at 6:01 am | 0 Comments

Drs. Perera (left) and Patel during the "A Celebration of Collaboration" ceremony on May 10

During a ceremony at Sanford-Burnham at Lake Nona on May 10, the International Prostate Cancer Foundation (IPCF) awarded Ranjan Perera, Ph.D., scientific director of analytical genomics and bioinformatics at our Lake Nona campus, $60,000 to fund a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Perera’s lab.

“Sanford-Burnham can really make an impact in the field,” said Vipul Patel, M.D., FACS, founder of the IPCF and internationally renowned prostate cancer surgeon at Florida Hospital’s Global Robotics Institute, as he acknowledged Dr. Perera’s work to identify molecular markers for prostate cancer. Given IPCF and Sanford-Burnham’s shared goal to develop better diagnoses and treatments, this postdoc grant will hopefully only be a first step in a long and mutually beneficial partnership.

And the Cancer Center Pilot Project Program grants go to…

by Patrick Bartosch on May 10, 2012 at 9:40 am | 0 Comments

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Two research teams, including Dr. Ranjan Perera (left) and Dr. Steven Smith (right), were awarded Pilot Project Program grants from Sanford-Burnham's NCI-designated Cancer Center

As part of its Pilot Project Program, Sanford-Burnham’s National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Cancer Center received and reviewed 10 applications for funding this year. Applications for these grants, designed to kick-start new collaborative projects, were submitted by scientists from all of the Institute’s research centers and they were reviewed by a panel of senior faculty members, including adjunct faculty, scientific advisory board (SAB) members, and external experts.

More than 20 researchers and experts participated in this year’s peer-review process to select the winners of the grants. The applications and the respective reviews were then discussed by a panel, which ranked the grants and determined the winners.

On May 1, the two grants of $75,000 each were awarded to:

Melanoma: more than just the genetics

by Ana Miletic Sedy on March 22, 2012 at 7:31 am | 0 Comments

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Ranjan Perera, Ph.D.

Melanoma is a type of skin cancer in which melanocytes, the pigment-producing cells in the skin, keep growing even when they shouldn’t. More than 100,000 new cases of melanoma are diagnosed each year in the U.S. and almost 80 percent of melanoma patients die from their disease, making melanoma the most deadly type of cancer. Because melanoma can spread very quickly, early detection and treatment give patients the best chance for survival.

The development of melanoma involves a complex interplay between environmental factors and alterations in gene expression (the way genes are turned on or off). While exposure to UV radiation is a key risk factor for melanoma development, it’s unclear how UV radiation influences which genes are turned on or off in skin cells—a process known as gene expression. This is exactly the question that interests Ranjan J. Perera, Ph.D., scientific director of Analytical Genomics and Bioinformatics and associate professor in the Diabetes and Obesity Research Center at Sanford-Burnham in Lake Nona, Orlando.

A medical revolution

by Josh Baxt on May 18, 2011 at 8:04 am | 1 comment

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Nanoparticles, like this micelle, may be the future of medicine. (Image by Peter Allen, UC Santa Barbara College of Engineering)

A syndicated article that recently appeared in the Orlando Sentinel, the Los Angeles Times and other outlets described several revolutionary technologies that will change medicine in the coming decade.

In particular, the piece highlighted how new genomic technologies can personalize treatment to individual patients; how robotic surgery will help surgeons perform complex procedures on people thousands of miles away; and how new classes of diagnostic tests will allow physicians to discover diseases earlier, when they are most treatable.

The article included insights from Dr. Ranjan Perera, associate professor at Sanford-Burnham’s Lake Nona campus, and Dr. Jamey Marth, who directs the U.C. Santa Barbara–Sanford-Burnham Center for Nanomedicine. Dr. Marth is particularly excited about nanomedicine’s potential to enhance both diagnosis and treatment:

“Today’s scientists work at the molecular and atomic level with nanoparticles, to harness these biomachines that detect and bind to diseased cells. The nanoparticle then fuses with that sick cell and delivers its cargo — drugs or imaging agents.”

Read ‘Revolution is at hand’ for breakthroughs in medicine.

One cell’s junk is another’s treasure

by Heather Buschman, Ph.D. on May 10, 2011 at 10:02 am | 0 Comments

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Melanoma cells, with nuclei in blue and SPRY4-IT1 in green. (Image courtesy of the Perera lab)

Melanoma cells, with nuclei in blue and the lncRNA SPRY4-IT1 in green. (Image courtesy of the Perera lab)

Scientists used to think RNA was mostly just a messenger molecule that carries protein-making instructions from a cell’s nucleus to the cytoplasm. But scientists now estimate that 97 percent of human RNA doesn’t actually code for proteins at all. A flurry of research in the past decade has revealed that some types of non-coding RNAs switch genes on and off and influence protein function.

The best studied non-coding RNAs are the microRNAs, but Dr. Ranjan Perera and his collaborators are discovering that levels of a relatively understudied group of RNAs – long, non-coding RNA (lncRNA) – are altered in human melanoma. Their study, published online May 10 by the journal Cancer Research, shows that one lncRNA called SPRY4-IT1is elevated in melanoma cells, where it promotes cellular survival and invasion.

“Non-coding RNA used to be considered cellular junk. But we and others have been asking the question – if it doesn’t code for proteins, what does it do in the cell?” said Dr. Perera, associate professor at Sanford-Burnham’s Lake Nona campus in Orlando, Fla. “We’re especially interested in determining what roles microRNAs and lncRNAs play in the genesis and development of human melanomas.”

Melanoma is one of the rarest forms of skin cancer, but it is also the most deadly.

Reining in melanoma with MicroRNA

by Heather Buschman, Ph.D. on November 1, 2010 at 2:12 pm | 2 Comments

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Dr. Ranjan Perera (left) with post-doctoral researcher Dr. Joseph Mazar

Dr. Ranjan Perera with post-doctoral researcher Dr. Joseph Mazar

Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United States. Melanoma is one of the rarest forms of skin cancer, but it is also the most deadly. At Sanford-Burnham’s Lake Nona campus, Dr. Ranjan Perera’s lab is studying what causes melanocytes (pigment-producing skin cells) to divide abnormally, ultimately forming melanoma. In a study published today in the journal PLoS ONE, a team led by Dr. Perera and post-doctoral researcher Dr. Joseph Mazar show that melanocyte growth and the cancer’s ability to invade other tissue is at least partially controlled by abnormal expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) – small strands of genetic material that may play a major role in numerous diseases by interfering with proteinproduction.“We’ve identified one specific miRNA, called miR-211, that could be used not only as a novel diagnostic marker for early melanoma detection, but also as a therapeutic target,” explains Dr. Perera, associate professor in Sanford-Burnham’s RNA Biology Program and senior author of the study.

Joining forces with the International Prostate Cancer Foundation to develop better tests

And the Cancer Center Pilot Project Program grants go to…

Melanoma: more than just the genetics

A medical revolution

One cell’s junk is another’s treasure

Reining in melanoma with MicroRNA

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Joining forces with the International Prostate Cancer Foundation to develop better tests

And the Cancer Center Pilot Project Program grants go to…

Melanoma: more than just the genetics

A medical revolution

One cell’s junk is another’s treasure

Reining in melanoma with MicroRNA

Search

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Please take a quick survey

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