COLUMBUS, Ohio – The National Cancer Institute has awarded an $8.6 million, five-year grant to The Ohio State University and Indiana University to continue studying genes and changes in patterns of gene activity in breast, ovarian and prostate cancers. Timothy Huang, a cancer geneticist at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute, is the principal investigator of the Center for Cancer Systems Biology, which began in 2004 with an almost $8 million NCI grant. Dr. Kenneth Nephew, a cancer biologist at the IU School of Medicine, co-administers this NCI grant. A major objective of the center is to identify epigenetic biomarkers for predicting resistance to anti-hormone treatments and chemotherapies in cancer patients. The center also has an Education Core to train young scientists to conduct cancer systems biology research. Huang leads the center’s project, “Interrogating Epigenetic Changes in Cancer Genomes.” The project investigates altered patterns of gene activity caused by natural, reversible, chemical modifications called epigenetic changes, which gradually turn genes off. Abnormal epigenetic changes are thought to play an important role in cancer development by silencing genes that normally protect against the disease. The OSU-IU Center for Cancer Systems Biology is one of 11 centers nationally to be funded this year through the NCI’s Integrative Cancer Biology Program, which brings clinical and basic cancer researchers together with researchers from mathematics, physics, information technology, imaging sciences, and computer science to study major questions in cancer biology. The program integrates experimental biology with mathematical modeling to provide new insights into the biology and management of cancer. “This grant will enable us to continue our research into personalized medicine by sequencing the genome and trying to find specific gene expression patterns in breast, ovarian and prostate cancer cells,” says Huang, a member of the Molecular Biology and Cancer Genetics research program at OSUCCC-James. “By deciphering relevant biomarkers for each of these three cancers, we will know where the hotspots are for future study.” The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (cancer.osu.edu) is one of only 40 Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the United States designated by the National Cancer Institute. Ranked by U.S. News & World Report among the top 20 cancer hospitals in the nation, The James is the 180-bed adult patient-care component of the cancer program at The Ohio State University. The OSUCCC-James is one of only seven funded programs in the country approved by the NCI to conduct both Phase I and Phase II clinical trials. # # # Eileen Scahill Medical Center Public Affairs and Media Relations 614-293-3737 Eileen.Scahill@osumc.edu