$10 million gift will help establish Riney Family Foundation Myeloma Center for Advanced Research Excellence
A $10 million gift from the Paula and Rodger Riney Foundation will help the OSUCCC – James establish the Riney Family Foundation Myeloma Center for Advanced Research Excellence (Myeloma CARE), a center that will focus on accelerating myeloma drug discovery and development projects. The center is a collaboration between the OSUCCC – James Drug Development Institute (DDI) and the Division of Hematology at Ohio State. The Riney gift, provided over two years, will boost drug discovery research designed to explore potential new treatments using specific molecular targets, including some identified by OSUCCC – James scientists. Leading the center is Don Benson, MD, PhD, a professor in the Division of Hematology at Ohio State, director of the Myeloma Program, and member of the Molecular Carcinogenesis and Chemoprevention Program at the OSUCCC – James.
Mangurian Foundation $10 million gift supports six diverse Ohio State areas
A $10 million gift to Ohio State from The Harry T. Mangurian, Jr. Foundation is supporting six diverse areas at the university, including leukemia research and cancer drug development. The Mangurian Foundation was established in 1999 by Harry and Dorothy Mangurian to support medical, educational and environmental organizations nationally and internationally. The gift includes $5 million for construction of the anchor to the university’s new Innovation District, the Interdisciplinary Research Facility, a project that will provide space for the OSUCCC and its Pelotonia Institute for Immuno-Oncology (PIIO). The remaining $5 million will be divided equally among: Drug Discoveries at the OSUCCC – James’ Drug Development Institute (DDI); leukemia research, including clinical trials, developing synthetic microRNAs and purchasing equipment; neurological disease research; the MBA program at the Max M. Fisher College of Business; and student-athlete health and wellness initiatives.
NCI awards $10 million grant to study COVID-19 impact on first responders
Researchers at The Ohio State University College of Medicine and the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center received a five-year, $10 million grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to study the long-term, longitudinal impact of COVID-19 on first responders, health care workers and the general population. The grant will fund the Center for Serological Testing to Improve Outcomes from Pandemic COVID-19 (STOP-COVID) at Ohio State, a new Serological Center of Excellence. With this funding, researchers will learn more about the interactions among exposure risks, transmission, immune responses, disease severity, protection and barriers to testing/vaccination, with the goal of improving population health and clinical outcomes in the face of COVID-19. Lead co-investigator for the study is Eugene Oltz, PhD, chair of the Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity at Ohio State and member of the Cancer Biology Program at the OSUCCC – James.
NCI renews longstanding grant for studying retrovirus models of cancer
The NCI renewed a longstanding Program Project Grant that will enable researchers at Ohio State’s College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM), the OSUCCC – James, and the Washington University CCC in St. Louis to continue studying retrovirus models of cancer. The $9.1 million, five-year grant renewal was awarded to principal investigator , associate director for basic research at the OSUCCC – James and director of the Center for Retrovirus Research in the CVM. The goal of this PPG, which has been operational at Ohio State since 2003 and is the longest-running P01 PPG at the university, is to use a human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) T-cell immortalization model to gain an understanding of the microenvironmental, cellular and viral factors that lead to adult T-cell leukemia.
NCI grant renewal supports cancer drug discovery research based on natural compounds
The OSUCCC – James and the Ohio State College of Pharmacy received a five-year, multidisciplinary, $7 million Program Project Grant (PPG) renewal from the NCI that will allow teams at Ohio State, the University of Illinois – Chicago and University of North Carolina – Greensboro to keep investigating potential anticancer drug leads based on compounds from tropical plants, coastal lichens, cultured cyanobacteria and filamentous fungi. The grant is led by principal investigator A. Douglas Kinghorn, PhD, DSc, professor and Jack L. Beal Chair of the Division of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy at Ohio State’s College of Pharmacy. Since the grant was first funded in 2007, over 180 research and review articles have been published based on findings from the three collaborating institutions.
Ohio State receives $5.5 million grant to study health impact of youth vaping
Ohio State researchers are studying health effects of e-cigarettes and nicotine on youth and helping to develop vaping-cessation programs via a $5.5 million grant awarded by the American Heart Association as part of its End Nicotine Addiction in Children and Teens (ENACT) research initiative. Ohio State’s trans-institutional work is led by scientists in the Center for Tobacco Research at the OSUCCC – James, including: Theodore Wagener, PhD; Loren Wold, PhD; Liz Klein, PhD, MPH; Megan Roberts, PhD; and by Peter Mohler, PhD, chief scientific officer for the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center. Wagener directs the Center for Tobacco Research. The scientists are working with colleagues in the colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Public Health and Engineering on a two-year project called Vaping’s End through Research and Innovation for Youth (VERIFY).
Ohio State patients to benefit from NCI grant renewal for studying experimental therapeutics agents
The NCI awarded a five-year, $5.3 million grant renewal to help a consortium of academic institutions led by the OSUCCC – James continue conducting phase I and II clinical trials involving targeted experimental agents that provide patients with the latest treatments. The consortium is led by principal investigator William Carson, MD, associate director for clinical research at the OSUCCC – James, and is staffed by the Clinical Trials Office. The award, a UM1 grant, will allow the integration of Ohio State’s experimental therapeutics efforts with three sub-site institutions: University of Kentucky, University of Utah and University of North Carolina. The entire grant amount comes to Ohio State; distribution of funds to the subsites is based on accrual of patients to the study.
$5 million NIH award to address disparities in COVID-19 testing among vulnerable
The Ohio State University received a two-year, $5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health RADx-UP program to support projects designed to rapidly implement COVID-19 testing strategies in populations disproportionately affected by the pandemic. Ohio State was among 32 institutions to receive awards to help African Americans, American Indians/Alaskan Natives, Latinos/Latinas, Native Hawaiians, older adults, pregnant women, and people who are homeless or incarcerated. Multiple-principal investigators are Electra Paskett, PhD, MSPH, associate director for population sciences at the OSUCCC – James; and Rebecca Jackson, MD, director of Ohio State’s Center for Clinical and Translational Science.
Researchers awarded federal grant to lead multi-center study of stem cell transplant complication
The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute awarded a five-year, $3.87 million grant to help OSUCCC – James researchers lead a multi-center study of thrombotic microangiopathy, a severe and life-threatening complication in patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplant as treatment for blood cancers. Principal investigator for the study, titled MIDAS: Microangiopathy, Endothelial Damage in Adults Undergoing Stem Cell Transplantation is Sumithira Vasu, MBBS, of the Leukemia Research Program at the OSUCCC – James. Spero Cataland, MD, a professor in the Division of Hematology, is co-investigator.
Grant will help researchers gauge psychosocial risk in young survivors of early onset pediatric cancer
The NCI awarded a five-year, $3.5 million grant to help researchers at the OSUCCC – James and Nationwide Children’s Hospital (NCH) lead a multisite study of psychosocial risk in young survivors of early-onset pediatric cancer. Principal investigator is Cynthia Gerhardt, PhD, a psychologist and director of the Center for Biobehavioral Health at NCH. She and colleagues state in their project abstract that, despite increased survival, over two-thirds of children with cancer experience late effects such as sensorimotor deficits, neurocognitive impairment and psychosocial difficulties.
NCI grant study will test strategy to improve therapy for hypoxic tumors
A five-year, $2.9 million NCI grant will 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 principal investigators Nicholas Denko, MD, PhD, of the Cancer Biology Program at the OSUCCC – James, and Zihai Li, MD, PhD, director of the Pelotonia Institute for Immuno-Oncology (PIIO) at the OSUCCC – James.
NCI grant supports 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 NCI grant to conduct a randomized clinical trial on a novel genetic counseling patient preference (GCPP) intervention that may better suit the needs of women who have an elevated risk of breast cancer. The researchers — led by principal investigators Kevin Sweet, MS, LGC, professor in the Division of Human Genetics, and Mira Katz, MPH, PhD, professor in the College of Public Health — say their study will compare conventional genetic counseling with a GCPP intervention integrated within an electronic health record patient portal for women with elevated risk. They hope to show the efficacy of their approach.
Researchers will use NCI grant to probe mechanics of metastatic progressive thyroid cancer
The NCI awarded a five-year, $2.25 million grant to OSUCCC – James researchers who identified a new pathway that inhibits thyroid cancer metastasis so that therapeutic targets and/or biomarkers can be devised. In previous studies the researchers, led by principal investigator Matthew Ringel, MD, co-leader of the Cancer Biology Program at the OSUCCC – James, identified a gene called RCAN1.4 as a metastasis suppressor. They found that the loss of this gene results in cancer progression by inducing a transcription factor known as Nrf3 that promotes thyroid cancer cell growth and invasion, and is associated with poor prognosis. In their new project abstract, the researchers state that thyroid cancer provides an outstanding model to identify regulators of late-stage cancer progression.
Grant study evaluates approach to abrogating acute graft-versus-host disease in stem cell transplant patients
OSUCCC – James researchers will use a five-year, $2.07 million grant from the NCI to evaluate an innovative approach to abrogating acute graft versus-host disease (aGVHD) in patients who have received allogeneic stem cell transplants (alloSCT) as treatment for hematologic malignancies. The principal investigators are Hannah Choe, MD, (study leader), and Parvathi Ranganathan, PhD, members of the Leukemia Research Program at the OSUCCC – James. In their project abstract, they state that aGVHD, which occurs when donor T cells react against host tissues, is the major cause of non-relapse mortality after alloSCT. They note that 50% of patients don’t respond to front-line corticosteroid therapy and have limited treatment options. This study is designed to improve outcomes for these patients.
NCI grant to help researchers explore biology and targeting of non-coding RNAs in AML
A five-year, $1.95 million NCI grant will help an OSUCCC – James research team study how a certain long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) contributes to a common form of cytogenetically normal acute myeloid leukemia (CN-AML) and determine whether blocking the lncRNA is a viable targeted therapy. Some 45-50% of AML cases are cytogenetically normal, meaning they have no chromosomal abnormalities. However, novel recurrent gene mutations recently have been identified in CN-AML. The most common among those are mutations in the NPM1 gene, and researchers at the OSUCCC – James have discovered that abnormally high levels of a lncRNA called HOXB-AS3 in the leukemic cells of patients with NPM1-mutated AML enables the rapid growth and proliferation of malignant blast cells. Principal investigator Ramiro Garzon, MD, co-leader of the Leukemia Research Program at the OSUCCC – James, and colleagues want to learn how this works and whether they can stop it.
Ohio State to lead national consortium coordinating center to boost junior faculty cancer research careers
OSUCCC – James scientists Claire Verschraegen, MD, and Rebecca Jackson, MD, are playing a lead role in establishing and coordinating a federally funded national consortium that will help junior faculty grant awardees maintain independent academic cancer research careers. The NCI awarded a three-year grant of more than $1.63 million to support an NCI Awardee Skills Development Consortium (NASDC) in a project titled “Enhancing Cancer-Focused Education for Tomorrow’s Workforce – Coordinating Center.” Located at Ohio State, the coordinating center will provide infrastructure enabling four other consortium institutions to offer courses to mentor junior faculty who have received NCI R-series (research) and K-series (career development) grants. The other consortium members are University of Pennsylvania, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, University of Utah and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
BCRP grant to aid study of breast cancer initiation, progress and metastasis
A three-year, $1.56 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program (BCRP) will help OSUCCC – James scientists study a component of the tumor microenvironment that promotes primary breast tumor growth and metastasis. Principal investigator Gina Sizemore, PhD, of the Cancer Biology Program at the OSUCCC – James, says this project could change the way women with breast cancer are screened and treated for their disease.
Researchers gain grant to study prediction of 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 principal investigator Selvendiran Karuppaiyah, PhD, of the Translational Therapeutics Program at the OSUCCC – James. In their project abstract, the researchers cite the need for evaluating cancer biomarkers that help predict which patients will develop chemotherapy resistance so clinicians can devise more targeted treatments.
Grant will assist development of therapy to inhibit gastric cancer progression and spread
The U.S. Department of Defense awarded a three-year, $780,000 grant to help OSUCCC – James researchers study the therapeutic role of dopamine receptor agonists in preventing progression and metastasis of gastric cancer. The study will be led by principal investigator Sujit Basu, MD, PhD, of the Translational Therapeutics Program at the OSUCCC – James. Basu says researchers will explore the ability of dopamine receptor agonist therapy to inhibit gastric cancer progression and lymph node metastasis in preclinical mouse models simulating human patients with the intestinal form of this disease.