Research Newsletter - Nov 2025

The cancer center has embarked on a new partnership with IU Sports Properties.

Launched this past spring, the IU vs. Cancer campaign started as a donor acquisition campaign geared toward IU alumni. The campaign is now expanding to reach a wider audience to raise awareness about the cancer center’s lifesaving cancer research.

During all home IU men’s and women’s games, LED advertisements for the campaign will appear courtside in iconic Assembly Hall as well as on the basketball post. Spectators in Assembly Hall will see the ads — and so will a national TV audience. IU games are broadcast on the Big Ten Network, CBS Sports, Fox Sports 1, ESPN, and others.

Like our sponsorship of Jackson Lee Racing, our series of ads at Indianapolis International Airport, and our presence at the Indiana State Fair, these ads will continue to build awareness of our impactful cancer research that benefits Hoosiers and others.

Mike Darling, the cancer center’s longest-serving employee, will retire Dec. 31 after a 33-year career here. He’s been the cancer center’s only associate director of administration since the center’s establishment in 1992. For five years prior to that, he served as the first division administrator in the Department of Medicine, initially assigned to gastroenterology, hematology/oncology, and pulmonary, and ultimately just to hematology/oncology.

As the associate director of administration, he’s been responsible for financial management, facility operations, budget preparation, grants administration, and much more.

During his career, Darling saw first-hand the growth of the cancer center from its sole employee to it now boasting more than 250 employees. As the cancer center grew, his supervisory responsibilities also grew, with finance, information technology, and communications currently reporting to him.

Darling successfully managed submission of eight Cancer Center Support Grants to the NCI, with the submission in 2019 earning the NCI’s prestigious comprehensive cancer center designation.

A retirement reception from 3:30 to 5 p.m., Dec. 17, in the Walther Hall Atrium will honor Darling and his decades of dedication to the cancer center. RSVP for the celebration.

The IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center is inviting proposals for pilot/feasibility research projects focused on how demographics, comorbidities and behaviors affect cancer risk, diagnosis, treatment and survivorship.

The pilot funding is for one year, and the budget should not exceed $50,000. The principal investigator must be an affiliate, research track, associate, or full member of the cancer center. The letter of intent must be submitted by 5 p.m. Dec. 1.

Learn more

Artur Plett, PhD, has been named the new lab manager for the Flow Cytometry Core. He succeeds Kim Stoner, who recently retired after many years of great service to the core.

For any Flow Cytometry Core questions, please contact Plett, pplett@iu.edu; Maegan Capitano, PhD, director, malcapit@iu.edu; or Jim Ropa, PhD, assistant director, jropa@iu.edu.