ATLANTAOctober 6, 2010 The American Cancer Society, the largest non-government, not-for-profit funding source of cancer research in the United States, has awarded 93 national research and training grants totaling $46,633,000 to 70 institutions nationwide in the first of two grants cycles for 2011. The grants go into effect beginning January 1, 2011. Among the grants are two American Cancer Society Research Professors: Iswar K. Hariharan, MD, PhD, of Duke University Medical Center and Helen Piwnica-Worms, PhD, of Washington University, St. Louis. In addition, one special funded Research Professorship in the area of thyroid cancer was awarded to Herbert Chen, MD, of University of Wisconsin, Madison.
For more than 60 years, the American Cancer Society has funded research and training of health professionals to investigate the causes, prevention, and early detection of cancer, as well as new treatments, cancer survivorship, and end of life support for patients and their families. Since its founding in 1946, the American Cancer Society's extramural research grants program has devoted more than $3.5 billion to cancer research and has funded 44 researchers who have gone on to win the Nobel Prize.
Below are highlights of new grants.
Cancer Causes
Iswar Hariharan, University of California, Berkeley, will use fruit flies to identify and characterize the genes that regulate growth, including regeneration. They plan to use a genetic approach to devise ways by which excessive tissue growth can be curtailed by manipulating cell metabolism.
Michael Feigin, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, will build upon the clinical observation that premalignant lesions display drastic changes in cell shape and tissue architecture, and investigate the molecular mechanisms by which these shape changes are induced. By the end of the fellowship period he anticipates discovering novel avenues for therapeutic intervention into early stage breast
'/>"/>
| Contact: David Sampson david.sampson@cancer.org American Cancer Society Source:Eurekalert |