Prestigious ‘MERIT Award’ will boost study of DNA break repair mechanisms
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) issued a 10-year, $4.7 million MERIT Award to help Ohio State researchers continue their study of repair mechanisms for DNA double-strand breaks in lymphocytes (immune cells in the blood and lymph tissue). Faulty repair of these breaks can lead to genomic aberrations that cause cancer, especially leukemia and lymphoma. Principal investigator (PI) is Eugene Oltz, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity at Ohio State and a member of the Cancer Biology Program at the OSUCCC – James. The MERIT (Method to Extend Research in Time) Award goes to investigators with a stellar research record in immunology and infectious disease. The award allows for significant freedoms and advances in research.
NCI grant will support study of physical & neurocognitive late effects in young survivors of pediatric cancer
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) awarded a five-year, $3.5 million grant to help researchers at the OSUCCC – James and Nationwide Children’s Hospital lead a multi-site study of psychosocial risk in young survivors of early-onset pediatric cancer. PI is Cynthia Gerhardt, PhD, professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Ohio State and member of the Cancer Control Program at the OSUCCC – James. Gerhardt, director of the Center for Biobehavioral Health at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and colleagues state that, despite increased survival, over two-thirds of children with cancer experience late effects such as sensorimotor deficits, neurocognitive impairment and psychosocial difficulties. The researchers cite a need to characterize psychosocial risk in children treated for early-onset cancer and to evaluate a model they have devised for more effective targeted interventions.
Grant-funded study will test strategy to improve therapy for hypoxic tumors
The NCI awarded a five-year, $2.9 million grant to help a team of OSUCCC – James researchers test a strategy for overcoming low levels of oxygen in tumors – a condition called hypoxia that reduces the effectiveness of anticancer treatment with radiotherapy, some chemotherapy and immune checkpoint blockade therapy. The study is led by PIs Nicholas Denko, MD, PhD (left), professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Ohio State and member of the Cancer Biology Program at the OSUCCC – James, and Zihai Li, MD, PhD (right), founding director of the Pelotonia Institute for Immuno-Oncology (PIIO) at the OSUCCC – James
NCI grant will help researchers target molecular pathway for cancer immunotherapy
A five-year, $2.82 million grant from the NCI will enable OSUCCC – James investigators to study how a chaperone molecule called GRP94 controls cancer and to determine the best strategy to target this molecule for cancer immunotherapy. The PI is Zihai Li, MD, PhD, founding director of the Pelotonia Institute for Immuno-Oncology (PIIO) at the OSUCCC – James. In the project abstract, Li states that his lab team has demonstrated that GRP94 “is a strategically important target for cancer, because it controls multiple key molecular pathways in cell growth, migration, immune tolerance and differentiation.”
NCI grant will support study of novel genetic counseling approach for high-risk breast cancer patients
An interdisciplinary team of OSUCCC – James researchers will use a five-year, $2.8 million grant from the NCI to conduct a randomized clinical trial on a novel genetic counseling patient preference (GCPP) intervention that may better suit the needs of women with an elevated risk of breast cancer. The researchers – led by PIs Kevin Sweet, MS, LGC (left), professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Human Genetics, and Mira Katz, MPH, PhD (right), a member of the Cancer Control Program at the OSUCCC – James and professor in the College of Public Health – state that their study will compare conventional genetic counseling with a GCPP intervention integrated within an electronic health record patient portal for women with elevated breast cancer risk.
Researchers gain grant to study innate immune dysfunction in patients with AML
OSUCCC – James researchers will use a five-year, $2.54 million grant from the NCI to study a mechanism of innate immune dysfunction in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and to explore a therapeutic combination that may repair this defect and improve immune cell responses in patients with cancer. The NCI awarded the grant, titled “Dysregulation of Lymphoid Immunity in Acute Myeloid Leukemia,” to PIs Bethany Mundy-Bosse, PhD (left), and Christopher Oakes, PhD (right), both of whom are assistant professors in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology at Ohio State and members of the Leukemia Research Program at the OSUCCC – James.
NIH grants to aid bioinformatics studies with applications to developmental and stem cell biology
The National Human Genome Research Institute of the NIH has awarded a four-year, $2.4 million grant to help Ohio State researchers produce the first bioinformatics platform for comprehensively studying repetitive genes and gene isoforms in a complex biomedical context. Also, the National Institute of General Medical Sciences at the NIH has awarded an associated four-year grant of $1.79 million for a project that will use another set of bioinformatics and an innovative epigenome assay called MeSMLRseq that the researchers developed by using nanopore sequencing. The PI for both grants is Kin Fai Au, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Informatics and member of the Translational Therapeutics Program at the OSUCCC – James. Au says the grants will be applied to developmental and stem cell biology; the methods and results could extend to cancer research.
Researchers awarded NCI grant to study regulation of tumor-infiltrating T cells by macrophages
A five-year, $2.2 million grant from the NCI will help investigators at the OSUCCC – James study how tumor-associated macrophages, or TAMs, disrupt immune cells (particularly CD8 T cells) and contribute to cancer development and progression. PIs Yiping Yang, MD, PhD (left), and Xiaopei Huang, PhD (right), both of the OSUCCC – James Leukemia Research Program, hope their study will lead to therapeutic strategies that target TAMs for treating cancer. Yang is a professor and director of the Division of Hematology in the Department of Internal Medicine, at Ohio State; Huang is an associate professor in the division. Both are in the Leukemia Research Program at the OSUCCC – James.
Scientists will examine approaches to treating acute GVHD with aid of NCI grant
OSUCCC – James researchers will use a five-year, $2.07 million NCI grant to evaluate an innovative approach to abrogating acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) in patients who have received allogeneic (from a donor) stem cell transplants (alloSCT) as treatment for hematologic malignancies. The PIs are Hannah Choe, MD (study leader, left), and Parvathi Ranganathan, PhD (right), assistant professors in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology at Ohio State and members of the Leukemia Research Program at the OSUCCC – James. Stating that aGVHD, which occurs when donor T cells react against host tissues, is the major cause of non-relapse mortality after alloSCT, the researchers note that 50% of patients don’t respond to front-line corticosteroid therapy and have limited treatment options.
NIH grant-funded study may shed light on defective cellular processes that lead to cancer and other diseases
Researchers at Ohio State received a $1.89 million, five-year grant from the NIH to study the structure and function of nonmuscle myosin motors and how defects in the natural processes of these motor proteins can lead to a variety of human diseases, including cancer. PI for the grant, awarded by the NIH’s National Institute of General Medicine Sciences, is Krishna Chinthalapudi, PhD, MSc, assistant professor in the Department of Physiology and Cell Biology at Ohio State and a member of the Translational Therapeutics Program at the OSUCCC – James.
Federal grant will support study of hematologic regeneration after chemotherapy or stem cell transplantation
The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) awarded OSUCCC – James researchers a five-year, $1.26 million grant for a study of hematopoiesis (blood cell production) that could lead to therapies to improve this process in leukemia patients following chemotherapy or stem cell transplantation. Led by PI Bradley Blaser, MD, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology at Ohio State and member of the Leukemia Research Program at the OSUCCC – James, the basic-research study will explore the biological mechanisms involved with epigenetic control of vascular niche capacity to support hematopoiesis.
Ohio State scientists land NIH high-risk, high-reward research grants
Two scientists in Ohio State’s cancer program landed large grants from the NIH Common Fund’s High-Risk, High-Reward Research Program, which supports scientists pursuing innovative research with the potential for broad impact in biomedical, behavioral or social sciences within the NIH mission. Kenneth Pitter, MD, PhD (left), assistant professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology, received a five-year, $1.25 million Early Independence Award, and Maria Mihaylova, PhD (right), assistant professor in the Department of Biological Chemistry and Pharmacology, received a five-year, $1.5 million New Innovator Award. Mihaylova also is in the Molecular Carcinogenesis and Chemoprevention Program at the OSUCCC – James.
Grant-funded study will help scientists build informatics bridge over ‘valley of death’
The NCI awarded a three-year, $1.16 million grant to help Ohio State investigators create a translational drug interaction knowledge base (TDCKB) that will provide an informatics bridge over the “valley of death” for multi-drug cancer therapies. Lang Li, PhD, chair of the Department of Biomedical Informatics at Ohio State and member of the Cancer Biology Program at the OSUCCC – James, is PI for the project. Li says the new TDCKB will integrate multi-drug exposure and toxicity data from various data sources.
Grant will aid study of using exosomes to predict chemoresistance in ovarian cancer
A two-year, $1 million federal grant will support an OSUCCC – James study that could lead to improved detection of chemotherapy resistance and allow for more targeted treatments in patients with high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma (HGSOC). The U.S. Department of Defense awarded the grant to a team led by PI Selvendiran Karuppaiyah, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Gynecologic Oncology at Ohio State and member of the Translational Therapeutics Program at the OSUCCC – James. The researchers stress the need for evaluating cancer biomarkers that can predict which patients will develop chemotherapy resistance so doctors can devise targeted treatments.