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Ann Arbor Michigan
www.michigandaily.com
riday February 2, 2007
Anewhope
for cancer
treatment.
'U'researchers
find stem cells
that cause tumors
By ARIKIA MILLIKAN
Daily StaffReporter
While some stem cells are
known for their potential
to cure cancer, University
researchers have discovered
evidence that a different kind
of stem cell causes cancer.
Understanding them may
revolutionize the way cancer
is treated.
Now researchers at the
University's Comprehensive
Cancer Center say they have
found exactly which cells are
responsible for pancreatic
cancer, which kills the fourth-
most people of any type of
cancer.
The cells of a tumor are like
weeds in a garden. Pulling the
weedswillmakethemgo away
for a while, but unless the root
of the weed is destroyed, they
will keep growing back.
Cancer stem cells may
make up less than 1 percent of
a tumor, but research suggests
they drive the growth of the
entire tumor.
Like other types of stem
cells - such as adult and
embryonic - cancer stem
cells have the abilities to make
exact copies ofthemselves and
differentiate to make many
other kinds of cells. They also
live much longer than ordi-
nary cells.
However, unlike adult and
embryonic stem cells, which
are crucial to development
and the production of healthy
cells, cancer stem cells make
the wrong amount or the
wrong type of cell, resulting
in tumors that impair vital
functions.
FROM THE
EDITORS
It's been quite a ride.
More on that later;
the outgoing 'seniors
will wax nostalgic about
the year that was in the
Daily on pages 7 and 8.
For now, here's what
you need to know.
You're holding - or
reading online - the
last issue of the Daily
under the current class
of editors, If you turn to
the next page, you'll see
the list of the old guard.
That list will change in
Monday's paper.
If you've been on
campus for a while,
you might remember
that for the last decade
or so on the last day
of the outgoing edi-
tors' tenures, the Daily
published a farcical,
sometimes Onion-style
edition in which we had
a little fun. The edition
also included senior
goodbyes.
We've tweaked that
a little this year. The
senior goodbyes are
still there. The rest of
the paper, though, is
just like the one you
read last Friday and the
one you'll read a week
from now, Everything's
factual.
Thanks for reading,
and enjoy.
"We know out of thousands
or millions of cells in a tumor,
there are only a small percent
that cause problems," said
Mark Prince, residency direc-
tor of the University's Depart-
ment of Otolaryngology,
where he researches the stem
cells responsible for head and
neck cancers.
One theory suggests that
cancer stem cells are either a
mutant version of adult stem
cells that replenish all of one's
healthy bodily tissue or are
produced by those cells.
Although the hypothesis
has existed for decades, a
team of University research-
ers discovered the actual can-
cer stem cells in 2001.
They found the first stem
cell in a solid tumor while
studying breast cancer. Over
the past six years, University
researchers have gathered
evidence that points to can-
cer stem cells as the culprit
behind several types of can-
cer, if not all.
So far, cells fitting the bill
have been found in breast,
head and neck, leukemia,
brain, prostate, blood, colon
and melanoma tumors, said
Mix Wicha, director of the
Comprehensive Cancer Cen-
ter.
"I believe that every cancer
has got a stem cell," he said.
Results from a study head-
ed by Diane Simeone, direc-
tor of the Gastrointestinal
Oncology Program at the
Comprehensive Cancer Cen-
ter, were released in the Feb.
1 issue of Cancer Research
magazine. The study identi-
fied markers associated with
the stem cells in pancreatic
cancer.
This research will provide a
starting point for the develop-
ment oftreatments for pancreatic
See CANCER, page 3
GAME SHOW GLORY
Price is
right for
Engin
rosh
By DREW PHILP
Daily StaffReporter
Over Winter Break, Engi
neering freshman Jeremy
Posner won $40 worth of
anti-itch cream. He also won
a ceiling fan, which his dad
said is "too ugly to put in the
house," and $12,500 in cash.
And he got it all by playing
Plinko with Bob Barker.
Posner fulfilled his lifelong
dream by competing on the
CBS game show "The Price is
Right" while in Pasadena over
the break. The episode will air
Feb. 9 at 11 a.m.
Contestants on the 33-year-
old game show compete to win
money and prizes by guessing
the prices of household items
like jelly, golf clubs and micro-
waves.
"This was the highlight of
my life," Posner said. "My dad
told me I have six Months to
get a new goal in life - and
this time it couldn't be stu-
Posner, who confessed to
sometimes faking sick in high
school to watch The Price is
Right, nearly didn't make it
onto the show.
After getting in line at 5:30
a.m. wearing a handwritten
"Bob is Great" t-shirt, he was
told he was the 35th standby.
"I was upset," he said. "The
people in the front of the line
had been sleeping there since
10:30 the night before."
After breakfast and a quick
trip to a nearby farmer's mar-
ket, Posner's luck turned. An
entire tourist group had not
shown up. He was in.
RODRIGO GAYA/Da iy Despite what ii may seem
Engineering freshman Richard Posner in a Bob Barker costume. Posner, a long-time fan of the game show, won $12,500 on "The Price like on television, contestants
is Right" over Winter Break. See PRICE IS RIGHT, page 3A
PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST
Slow-typing alum
sues Law School
I
LSA senior Gia Parker edits a short film titled "Self-portrait" for a film class yesterday in the L SA Media
Square.
'U' students go back to
(elementary) school
B
A
vers
he b
cies
slow
A
clai
grad
slow
dent
wor(
mor
Z
com
cour
ous (
Ii
rias(
are i
skill
the
L
opti
exar
Z
his
suit.
his
just
Grad says structed wrist from a past
injury. It is easier for him to
exam format type, he said.
A Law School spokes-
hurt grades man said he could not com-
ment on the case because it
3y EMILY BARTON is ongoing. In a statement
DailyStaffReporter posted on the Wall Street
Journal's Law Blog, a Law
n alum is suing the Uni- School official said,
ity Law School because "Beyond the typingpolicy
elieves its grading poli- at issue in the lawsuit, every
discriminate against effort is made to ensure
typists. fairness and equitability in'
drian 2-achariasewycz the grading and evaluation
ms the Law School's process."
ing policy is unfair to Zachariasewycz said his
typists because stu- handwritten papers and
ts who can type more multiple-choice examswere
ds per minute can write an accurate reflection of his
e during timed exams. grade - but that his typed
achariasewycz filed the exams lowered his grade
plaint in a Delaware point average significantly.
rt in November. Because of his poor
It's an incredibly obvi- grades, he is unable to find a
claim," he said. job in the legal field, he said.
n the complaint, Zacha- "It was wrecking my life
ewycz says the exams - it still is," he said.
more of a test of typing He claims he was not
s than understandingof aware of the cause of his
material. poor performance on these
aw students have the exams until after gradua-
on to handwrite their tion, when was unable to
MS. find a job.
achariasewycz said in While Zachariasewycz
case this option is not a admits that he has not com-
able alternative because pared his grades with other
handwriting speed is law students, he said he
as slow due to a recon- is confident that the same
discrepancy between typed
exams and handwritten
papers will also be seen in
other students' grades.
The suit says that the
school failed to notify him
that aminimumtypingspeed
was necessary for success,
and that they did not compen-
sate for anyone who might be
deficient in this area.
According the Law
School's student handbook,
the University's Service for
Students with Disabilities
arranges certain accommo-
dations for students with
document disabilities.
Stuart SegaL, the Univer-
sity's coordinator ofservices
for students with disabili-
ties, said the University
makes accommodations for
students with documented
disabilities.
Zachariasewycz said he
didn't approach professors
for special accommodations
because he wasn't aware his
typing was a disadvantage
at the time.
He said he approached
the LawSchoolwith his con-
cerns, but administrators
said they couldn't change
his grades without an expla-
nation and they didn't have
the expertise necessary to
analyze his claim.
By EMILY BARTON
Daily StaffReporter
LSA senior Franco Muzzio
stood in front of a group of
fourth-grade boys last week
with a slip of paper.
"My brother is a weird girl,"
he read from it.
The class erupted in laugh-
ter. Muzzio smiled.
"Girls are weird!" one of
the boys in the class cried
out as another tried to get the
attention of the girls across
the table.
"Guys, don't leave me hang-
ing here," Muzzio said, grin-
ning in spite of his serious
tone. "We're talking among
ourselves.Wekeepthisamong
ourselves."
Muzzio, along with East-
ern Michigan University
sophomore Alex McLean, was
teaching creative writing to a
class of 25 fourth graders at
Martin Luther King Jr. Ele-
mentary School in Ann Arbor.
See TUTORS, page 3
TODAY'S HI: 24
WEATHER LO: 17
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ON MICHIANDAiLY.cOM
Sen. Barack Obama is leading an informal Daily poll
of potential democratc candidates with 35 percent.
INDEXN EWS.......
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DR GOODBYES...............7