Yolanda Sanchez, PhD, CEO and Director of The University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center, has announced that Sabrina Samudio-Ruiz, PhD, will begin her new role as Shared Resources Associate Director on September 16.
The UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center offers its scientists the use of eight shared resources that provide advanced technologies to conduct their research. These technologies, and the service contracts to maintain them, are often too expensive for any single research laboratory to purchase.
And Samudio-Ruiz adds, “Sharing the state-of-the-art equipment stimulates scientific interaction and collaboration.”
The UNM Cancer Center offers machines for next-generation gene sequencing and the data analysis and statistical support to make sense of the huge amounts of data that are generated.
It also offers sophisticated microscopes to study cell and tissue structure, dynamics, function and mechanical force. It offers tools to measure cell characteristics and to sort cells by those characteristics. And it provides resources for preclinical drug testing; a library of biospecimens; tissue analysis services; and support for cancer-focused population science.
As associate director, Samudio-Ruiz will oversee the development of all eight shared resources, set the direction for new technological acquisitions, and help to procure new equipment to carry out UNM Cancer Center research initiatives.
Before taking her current role as the Senior Lab Operations Manager at the UNMCCC Cancer Research Facility, Samudio-Ruiz served as a Research Assistant Professor in the UNM College of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology from the University of Colorado Boulder and a doctorate in Biomedical Sciences from the University of New Mexico. Her research focused on cancer epigenetics, particularly epigenetic alterations associated with the development of platinum resistance in ovarian cancer.
Samudio-Ruiz’s work secured her a prestigious NCI funded career development K01 grant, and she was a full scientific research member of the UNM Cancer Center. She also served as a guest lecturer for Pharmacy students and taught cancer chemotherapy.
As Senior Lab Operations Manager, Samudio-Ruiz oversaw the day-to-day operations of the Cancer Research Facility on UNM’s North Campus. She managed the shared equipment, oversaw shared resource billing, led the centralized purchasing team, coordinated facility issues, and assisted research laboratories within the building in many other efforts.
“Dr. Samudio-Ruiz has a diverse skillset and experience,” says Sanchez. “Her background uniquely positions her for the role of Shared Resources Associate Director at our Center.”
UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center
The University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center is the Official Cancer Center of New Mexico and the only National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center in a 500-mile radius.
Its more than 136 board-certified oncology specialty physicians include cancer surgeons in every specialty (abdominal, thoracic, bone and soft tissue, neurosurgery, genitourinary, gynecology, and head and neck cancers), adult and pediatric hematologists/medical oncologists, gynecologic oncologists, and radiation oncologists. They, along with more than 600 other cancer healthcare professionals (nurses, pharmacists, nutritionists, navigators, psychologists and social workers), provide treatment to 65% of New Mexico’s cancer patients from all across the state and partner with community health systems statewide to provide cancer care closer to home. They treated almost 15,000 patients in more than 100,000 ambulatory clinic visits in addition to in-patient hospitalizations at UNM Hospital.
A total of nearly 1,855 patients participated in cancer clinical trials testing new cancer treatments that include tests of novel cancer prevention strategies and cancer genome sequencing.
The more than 123 cancer research scientists affiliated with the UNMCCC were awarded $38.2 million in federal and private grants and contracts for cancer research projects. Since 2015, they have published nearly 1000 manuscripts, and promoting economic development, they filed 136 new patents and launched 10 new biotechnology start-up companies.
Finally, the physicians, scientists and staff have provided education and training experiences to more than 500 high school, undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral fellowship students in cancer research and cancer health care delivery.