American Brain Tumor Association names Alexander Ksendzovsky outstanding 2009 medical student

The American Brain Tumor Association has announced that Alexander Ksendzovsky, a third-year medical student at the Chicago Medical School of Rosalind Franklin University in North Chicago, is the 2009 Lucien Rubenstein Award recipient. The work of Ksendzovsky, one of 10 2009 American Brain Tumor Medical Student Summer Fellows, was deemed "outstanding" by ABTA's distinguished Scientific Advisory Council. Ksendzovsky's research focused on a vaccine that may trigger the body's immune system to fight malignant brain tumors.

Ksendzovsky worked under the direction of Dr. Roberta P. Glick at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Chicago. Dr. Glick has been studying the effects of cytokines - small proteins released by cells that can trigger the body's immune system - in the treatment of malignant gliomas, a common and potentially aggressive form of brain tumor. Her laboratory has received encouraging preliminary results in the use of novel "Immuno-Gene" therapy vaccines in treating gliomas. Over the summer, in collaboration with Douglas Feinstein, M.D., professor of anatomy and anesthesiology at the University of Illinois, Ksendzovsky evaluated which cytokines released by gliomas are immunosuppressive, how they are released, and their effects on T-cells and immunity.

"We are proud of the American Brain Tumor Association's historical support of young, talented researchers working to improve brain tumor diagnostics and treatment, said ABTA Executive Director Elizabeth Wilson. "We commend Mr. Ksendzovsky for his outstanding work and look forward to his having a long and distinguished career of significant contributions to brain tumor research."

Provided by American Brain Tumor Association