Selected Cancer Research Highlights at UIC
Z. Jim Wang, UIC Associate Professor, has received a $2 million federal grant to research chronic pain experienced by patients with sickle cell disease. Dr. Z. Jim Wang will lead the researchers in finding out why sickle cell patients have chronic pain and try to develop medicines to treat the pain. For more information see: UIC gets $2M grant to study sickle cell disease
Andrei Gartel, UIC associate professor of molecular genetics, and his colleagues had previously shown that antibiotics called thiazoles kill cancer cells and inhibit FoxM1. When they went on to investigate whether the antibiotics attacked other proteins involved in cancer, they got a surprising result. "We found that these thiazole antibiotics actually stabilized other cancer-causing proteins," Gartel said. For more information see: Finding May Explain Anti-Cancer Activity of Thiazole Antibiotics
A cancer researcher, John O'Bryan, Assistant Professor of Pharmacology, UIC College of Medicine, has received a $100,000 grant from the St. Baldrick's Foundation to study the basic biology of neuroblastoma, a cancer of immature nerve cells that is the most common cancer of infants. For more information see Grant Helps UIC Researcher Study Most Common Cancer of Infants
Psychology professor Robin Mermelstein, director of UIC's Institute for Health Research and Policy is the principal investigator of the five-year $2.9 Natonal Cancer Institute project to increase demand for evidence-based, internet-based smoking cessation treatment among young adults. Using the Internet to Help Young Smokers Quit
Nissim Hay, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, and his research colleagues have discovered ways to inhibit Akt, a cancer-promoting protein that protects tumor cells from dying and resisting chemotherapy. An Achilles Heel in Cancer Cells
Hayat Onyuksel, Professor of Biopharmaceutical Sciences and Bioengineering, received a national reward for innovative research in the field of nanomedicines, drug delivery systems that can be directed to go only where drug action is needed in the body. UIC Nanomedicine Researcher Receives National Award
Robin Mermelstein, Professor of Psychology and Clinical Professor of Community Health Sciences, was named director of the UIC Institute for Health Research and Policy on September 4, 2008. Her research is focused on tobacco use, adolescent smoking and cancer prevention. UIC Institute for Health Research and Policy Names New Director.
Jimmy Orjala, Assistant Professor of Pharmacognosy and Steve Swanson, Associate Professor in Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy, in collaboration with Ohio State University, received a grant to discover new cancer drugs derived from natural products in pond scum and tropical rainforest plants. Pond Scum Could Be Key to New Cancer Therapies
Luisa DiPietro, Professor and Director of the Center for Wound Repair and Regeneration, received a grant from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) to train researchers in the College of Dentistry in oral and craniofacial sciences, including oral cancer. New Grant to Train Scientists in Oral and Craniofacial Sciences
Tom Driver, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, is developing tools to make the synthesis of drugs a lot easier, including a chemical reaction to alter certain chemotherapy drugs that cancer cells pump out of themselves. New Chemical Reaction Aids Drug Manufacture
Carol Ferrans, Professor and Associate Dean for Research at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Nursing, was presented with the Distinguished Researcher Award by the Oncology Nursing Society for her research on quality of life throughout the timeline of cancer care and her focus on understanding and reducing disparities in cancer outcomes, access and care. Nursing Dean Honored by Oncology Nursing Society
A Team of Researchers from the UIC Center for Population Health and Health Disparities, directed by Richard Warneke, Professor Emeritus, conducted a study showing that women who live in Chicago’s gentrifying neighborhoods are more likely to receive a late diagnosis of breast cancer than women who live in poverty-stricken neighborhoods. Breast Cancer Diagnosis Comes Late for Women in Gentrifying Neighborhoods
Michael Warso, Associate Professor of Surgical Oncology, is leading UIC’s participation in a multi-center clinical trial to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of Allovectin-7, an investigational treatment for advanced melanoma. UIC Studies New Treatment for Advanced Melanoma
Diana Wilkie, Professor and Harriet Werley Endowed Chair for Nursing Research, heads up a new center to study end-of-life transition, including oral health problems in terminally ill cancer patients in hospice care. New UIC Center to Study End-of-Life Transition
Keith Thulborn, Director of UIC’s Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, completes trial on real-time imaging of biological processes in the human brain which may lead to improved radiation therapy based on the real-time response of a brain tumor to treatment. World's Most Powerful MRI Ready to Scan Human Brain
Konstantin Christov, Research Associate Professor of Surgical Oncology, has developed a quick and simple test that identifies drugs that may be effective in the prevention and treatment of breast cancer. New Way to Screen for Promising Anti-Cancer Agents
Stacie Geller, Director of UIC’s National Center of Excellence in Women’s Health, is heading up a collaborative, multidisciplinary effort to advance women’s health research. Joanna Burdette, assistant professor of medicinal chemistry and pharmacognosy, is one of four research scholors who will receive funding. Her research lab focuses on breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and aging. UIC Receives $2.4 Million NIH Grant to Advance Women’s Health Research
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