Researchers at Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center and Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Center have received nine new grants totaling $11.3 million – a majority focused on advancing research into pediatric cancer – in the latest round of funding awarded by the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas.
The researchers received four new individual investigator research awards for cancer in children and adolescents including the following new projects:
- “Developing new combinatory therapies for pediatric high grade glioma” to Dr. Xiao-Nan Li for $1,945,940. Li is an associate professor of pediatrics – oncology at Baylor and a member of the Texas Children’s Cancer Center.
- “Genetic susceptibility to testicular germ cell tumors” to Dr. Jason Heaney for $1,406,791. Heaney is an assistant professor of molecular and human genetics at Baylor.
- “Drug discovery and mechanistic studies of protein methylation targeting leukemia” to Dr. Yongcheng Song for $1,733,813.
- “Personalized functionalization of pediatric high grade glioma” to Dr. Benjamin Deneen for $1,820,319.
“CPRIT is funding cancer research that is transformational in nature,” said Dr. David Poplack, director of the Texas Children’s Cancer Center. “It is helping us increase our understanding of cancer and is moving us more rapidly to find innovative new therapies.”
In addition five individual investigator awards were given including:
- “Understanding how NCOA6 suppresses endometrial cancer by inhibiting the Wnt/beta-catenin pathway” to Dr. Jianming Xu for $886,524.
- “The role of progesterone receptor in early stage breast cancer” to Dr. Dean Edwards for $864,661.
- “Broad shortening of 3’ UTRs in human cancers: methods, target genes and functional consequences” to Dr. Wei Li for $900,000. Li is an associate professor in the Duncan Cancer Center at Baylor.
- “Effects of hormonal therapy on subclonal evolution of breast tumors with ESR1 mutations” to Dr. Suzanne Fuqua for $899,805.
- SRC-2 driven “Metabolic Switch” in metastatic prostate cancer-prognostic and therapeutic implications to Dr. Arun Sreekumar for $900,000.
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