BCM receives more than $11.4 million from CPRIT
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Researchers at the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center at Baylor College of Medicine have been awarded more than $11.4 million in grants by the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) to support innovative cancer research, prevention and survivorship care. CPRIT awarded nearly $100 million in grants to institutions across Texas to advance the fight against cancer, including eight grants to Baylor.
“We are thrilled to receive this support from CPRIT. This funding will help our investigators take chances and explore bold ideas to make innovative discoveries,” said Dr. Pavan Reddy, a CPRIT Scholar and professor and director of the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center at Baylor.
Awards to Baylor include:
Dr. Luis Rustveld, assistant professor of family and community medicine, received a cancer screening and early detection award for $2,499,998 for research titled, “Reducing racial/ethnic disparities in breast cancer screening: expanding a comprehensive EHR-based patient navigation program.”
Dr. Zhandong Liu, associate professor of pediatrics – neurology, received an individual investigator research award for computation systems biology of cancer. He will be awarded $1,200,000 for research titled, “Computational methods for CRISPR-based lineage tracing systems.”
Dr. Bing Zhang, professor in the Lester and Sue Smith Breast Center and the Department of Molecular and Human Genetics and a McNair Scholar, received an individual investigator research award for computational systems biology of cancer. Dr. Valentina Hoyos, assistant professor in the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, will serve as co-principal investigator. They will be awarded $1,200,000 for research titled, “Charting TCR-tumor antigen interactions to foster novel immunotherapeutic approaches for triple negative breast cancer.”
Dr. Monica Gramatges, professor of pediatrics – oncology at Baylor and co-director of the Long-Term Survivor Program at Texas Children’s Cancer Center, received an individual investigator research award for cancer in children and adolescents. She will be awarded $1,399,382 for research titled, “Leveraging Passport for Care in a telehealth framework to improve equitable access to survivorship services.”
Dr. Akash Patel, associate professor of neurosurgery and otolaryngology – head and neck surgery, received an individual investigator award for $1,049,370 for research titled, “Identifying the biological determinants of aggressive meningioma.”
Dr. Eveline Barbieri, associate professor of pediatrics – hematology and oncology, received an individual investigator award for $1,050,000 for research titled, “Targeting MYCN disruption of the molecular clock and tumor metabolism in neuroblastoma oncogenesis.”
Dr. Chao Cheng, associate professor of medicine – epidemiology and population science, received an individual investigator award for $1,040,316 for research titled, “Clonal hematopoiesis for improving lung cancer risk assessment.”
Baylor also received a $2 million recruitment of first-time, tenure-track award for CPRIT Scholar Dr. Vishnu Dileep from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
To date, CPRIT has awarded more than $3 billion in grants to Texas research institutions and organizations through its academic research, prevention and product development programs. Read more about the most recent round of CPRIT funding here.