UA News

UA physicians Christina Laukaitis and Joanne Jeter will discuss the link between DNA and cancer risk.

Estimates are that half a million Americans will die from cancer this year. An additional 1.3 million will be diagnosed with some form of the disease. Cancer is the leading cause of death among people under the age of 85.

While the numbers are alarming, there is tremendous progress being made in detecting and preventing cancer.

At the next Science Café, Drs. Christina M. Laukaitis and Joanne Jeter will discuss what DNA is and how it affects cancer risk. They will review the main genetic cancer syndromes and what individuals can do to influence their own personal risk of cancer.

Their Science Café presentation, "Live Smarter: Cancer Genetics and You," is Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the Cushing Street Bar and Restaurant, 198 W. Cushing St.

The Science Café is a casual forum for people to meet and discuss a specific science topic with a University of Arizona scientist in the relaxed atmosphere of a local restaurant. Science Café is sponsored by Flandrau: The Science Center.

Since April is national breast cancer awareness month and the annual Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure is scheduled for April 19, this Science Café topic is not only important to many people living in the Tucson community and southern Arizona, but timely as well.

Laukaitis, an assistant professor of clinical medicine at the UA, has a graduate degree in cell and structural biology and a medical degree from the University of Illinois, Chicago. She completed a fellowship in medical genetics at the University of Washington, Seattle, where her research covered repeated sequences in subtelomeric regions near the ends of chromosomes. Her current research interests includes gene duplication and the functional consequences of having different gene numbers. She has received a number of teaching and research awards during her career.

Jeter, assistant professor of clinical medicine at the Arizona Cancer Center, has a medical degree from the University of Texas Health Sciences Center and was a resident in internal medicine at the University of Alabama School of Medicine. She completed a fellowship in medical oncology with a subspecialty in cancer genetics at the University of Michigan Hospitals. Jeter's clinical work is in the treatment of breast cancer, melanoma and other skin cancers. She also directs a clinic dedicated to assessment and management of genetic risk of cancer. Her research is in the prevention of skin cancer and is supported by the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the National Institutes of Health.

 

Seating is limited and is on a first-come-first-served basis. Food and beverages are available for purchase at the Cushing Street Bar and Restaurant, which is located downtown just south of the Tucson Convention Center. Free, lighted, on-site parking is available on the east side of the restaurant.

More information about Flandrau: The UA Science Center and the Science Café is online at http://www.gotUAsciencecenter.org