Susan G. Komen for the Cure recently announced it has awarded grant funding of more than $1.4 million to five researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine and a one-of-a-kind tissue bank. The grants will be part of the $42 million Komen will award in 2013 for cancer research.
Grants Focus on Biology/Recurrence of Breast Cancer
The 2013 research grants to Indiana University School of Medicine faculty and researchers at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center will focus on breast cancer biology and recurrence. The grants include:
- $225,000 to Komen Scholar Sunil Badve, MD, Professor of Pathology and laboratory medicine, to develop genetic tests that can more accurately predict the likelihood of recurrence and long-term prognosis for people with estrogen receptor positive tumors.
- $225,000 to Komen Scholar Theresa Guise, MD, Jerry W. and Peggy S. Throgmartin Professor of Oncology and Professor of Medicine, to focus on identifying the mechanisms causing breast cancer-associated muscle dysfunction and how they relate to decreases in muscle mass, commonly labeled as “wasting.”
- $175,000 to Komen Scholar Kathy Miller, MD, Ballve Lantero Scholar in Oncology and Associate Professor of Medicine, for a clinical trial to investigate novel therapies that could prevent recurrence of triple-negative breast cancer after a woman’s initial treatment for the disease.
- $225,000 to Komen Scholar Harikrishna Nakshatri, PhD, Marian J. Morrison Professor of Breast Cancer Research and Professor of Surgery and Biochemistry, to study a class of proteins knows as “dependence receptors” in estrogen-positive tumors that, when paired with specific partner proteins, aid in the proliferation of cancer cells.
- $62,500 to Komen Scholar Bryan Schneider, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine and of Medical and Molecular Genetics, for continuing work to identify genetic markers that will help doctors identify patients who will have adverse reactions to taxane therapies for breast cancer.
- $500,000 to the Susan G. Komen Tissue Bank at the IU Simon Cancer Center to fund the collection of normal breast tissue from women in Kenya to help understand the underlying biology and genetic issues that lead to more aggressive forms of breast cancer, and higher mortality rates from breast cancer, in women of African descent. ■
