Medical College of Wisconsin
BNVCF is proud to support Medical College of Wisconsin and Dr. Michael Dwinell’s laboratory. BNVCF is supporting the cost of personnel and equipment needed to find ways to detect a predisposition to cancer in support of our mission of “Making a Difference Through Early Detection.”
Dr. Dwinell’s laboratory has previously demonstrated that members of the enzyme family DNA methyltransferase cooperatively silences expression of the chemokine CXCL12 and therefore sets in motion an increase in metastatic potential of cancer cells.
Our funding supports research in defining the cellular and molecular mechanisms regulating expression and function of these key enzymes. These continued studies will define changes in the enzyme expression and function in order to more clearly detect early changes in the colonic mucosa that may predispose or be suggestive of future cancers.
Additionally, BNVCF purchased a Nanodrop® ND-1000 Spectrophotometer that will be an essential tool for medical genetics research in Dr. Dwinell’s laboratory. This machine will support the research mentioned above on a daily basis and will enable highly accurate analysis of the nucleic acids (DNA and RNA), proteins, fluorescent dyes, and other compound samples with remarkable reproducibility.
This equipment will increase the ability to isolate minute quantities of RNA and DNA from cancer cell lines and tissue biopsy specimens and strengthen our ability to detect small changes in gene expression.