TMHRI Investigators Awarded $3.5 million by the Cancer Prevention and Research Initiative of Texas
HOUSTON (April 05, 2011) -The Methodist Hospital Research Institute congratulates members Drs. Stephen Wong, Paul Webb, Jan-Ake Gustafsson, Margaret Warner and Malcom Brennar on their awards for the most recent round of competitive funding from the Cancer Prevention & Research Initiative of Texas.
Dr. Stephen Wong of Bioinformatics and Bioengineering was awarded $1.9 million in support of the TMHRI Bioinformatics Core as part of a proposal entitled Gulf Coast Consortia CPRIT High Throughput Screening Program. This grant award is for a total of $12.6 million to Drs. Stephen Wong, Peter Davies (University of Texas Health Sciences Center at Houston), Daniel Carson (Rice University), Kevin Dalby (University of Texas at Austin), Clifford Stephan (University of Texas Health Sciences Center at Houston), and Geoffrey Bartholomeusz (MD Anderson Cancer Center).
Dr. Paul Webb of Genomic Medicine was awarded $1.6 million for two proposals, one in support of the TMHRI Genomics Core and one entitled Structural Basis of AR and NR Activation and Repression Mechanisms in Prostate Cancer.
This grant was a multi-investigator initiative totaling $5.1 million. As part of this grant, TMHRI Dean of Biological Sciences Dr. Jan-Ake Gustafsson (University of Houston) received $1.5 million and Senior Affiliate member Dr. Margaret Warner (University of Houston) received $1 million in support of core facilities and research on the roles of hormone receptors in prostate cancer progression. In addition, Dr. Marc Cox of the University of Texas at El Paso received support from this award.
Dr. John Baxter, TMHRI dean of biotechnology, explains that prostate cancer is commonly treated by blocking the function of androgenic hormone receptors (AR). While these therapies are effective in the short term, they often fail after several years.
"This program project brings together a group of outstanding researchers with diverse expertise in hormone action to address this issue. The group will investigate how to manipulate alternative hormone receptors that bind natural products and can delay prostate disease, and look for new ways to block AR action that improve on existing approaches," said Dr. Baxter.
The Research Institute also extends our congratulations to Senior Affiliate Member Dr. Malcolm Brenner (Baylor College of Medicine), who received $1.2 million for a project entitled Novel Therapy for Lung Cancers Using Adult Stem/Progenitor Cells.
For more information on The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, visit www.texascancercouncil.org/.
For more information on The Methodist Hospital Research Institute, see www.methodistresearch.com. For more information on The Methodist Hospital, see www.methodisthealth.com. Follow Methodist on Twitter at twitter.com/MethodistHosp and Facebook at www.facebook.com/methodisthospital.
