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Baylor Institute for Immunology Research Scientist Appointed to New Endowed Chair in Cancer Immunology Research; $1 Million Gift Helps Fund Chair

Research Will Support Further Development of Cancer Vaccines

(DALLAS, June 11, 2004) - Anna Karolina Palucka, M.D., Ph.D., investigator at the Baylor Institute for Immunology Research, has been appointed to the newly established Michael A.E. Ramsay Chair for Cancer Immunology Research. The Baylor Health Care System Foundation received a $1 million gift from Louis Beecherl, Jr., and his wife, Julia, for the endowed chair, which honors Michael A.E. Ramsay, M.D., president of Baylor Research Institute and chief of anesthesiology at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas.

"We are grateful for this major gift from Mr. and Mrs. Beecherl to further the study of dendritic cell technology. Their generosity will greatly impact our work in developing vaccines against cancer," Dr. Ramsay said. "Dr. Palucka and her team focus on understanding how the human immune system works and how it may be manipulated to fight cancer. She is an outstanding investigator who has made great contributions to the field, and we are pleased that she has accepted this position."

Baylor Institute for Immunology Research is devoted to devising new strategies to translate laboratory discoveries about the immune system into new therapies for patients. The focus is on dendritic cells, which are often called the "sentinels" of the immune system. Dendritic cells control B lymphocytes, which produce antibodies, and T lymphocytes, which can destroy invading bacteria, viruses or cancer cells. When injected into patients, antigen-loaded dendritic cells are expected to ramp up patients' immune responses against their own tumors and kill the cancer.

"This appointment will enable me to concentrate on the use of dendritic cell vaccines to develop new therapies for patients with cancer. We have had some success to date, and now I hope to develop the program even further," Dr. Palucka said. A lead investigator for numerous active research studies and clinical trials, Dr. Palucka holds several grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that support her work. This $1 million gift will further cancer research already underway with NIH funding.

Dr. Palucka added, "This appointment is an honor, particularly since the chair is named for Dr. Ramsay, who has been fundamental to the success of our institute and the entire dendritic cell research program at Baylor. I also am grateful to Dr. John Fordtran for founding the Baylor Institute for Immunology Research and helping to initiate this research at Baylor."

Dr. Palucka, a medical oncologist from Poland , has authored more than 50 papers, book chapters and reviews. She received her Ph.D. from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm , Sweden , and joined Baylor Institute for Immunology Research in 1998 after completing a post-doctoral fellowship in immunology at Hopital Pitie-Salpetriere in Paris , France . Dr. Palucka joined Baylor for the opportunity to improve clinical outcomes in patients with cancer in a research setting that enables access to large numbers of cancer patients already receiving quality oncology care.

Dr. Palucka, together with Jacques Banchereau, Ph.D., built the Baylor Institute for Immunology Research scientific and laboratory structure, including a cGMP laboratory, devoted to design and testing of novel vaccine strategies. These novel vaccines are tested in Food and Drug Administration-approved clinical trials that are conducted in close collaboration with physicians on the medical staff at Baylor University Medical Center . Through the program, investigators, including Joseph Fay, M.D., are actively enrolling patients in research trials for metastatic melanoma and prostate cancer. The team also is gearing towards vaccines against myeloma, lung and colon cancers.

In September 2001, the Baylor Institute for Immunology Research team, in collaboration with Ralph Steinman's group at Rockefeller University , reported that 16 of 18 patients with advanced melanoma who received injections of dendritic cells loaded with melanoma antigens showed signs in laboratory tests of an enhanced immune response to their cancer. Tumor growth also was slowed in the nine patients who mounted responses against more than two of the antigens.

Opened in 1996, Dallas-based Baylor Institute for Immunology Research is the immunology research component of Baylor Research Institute, an affiliate of Baylor Health Care System.