Investing in the Next Generation of Cancer Fighters: American Cancer Society Recognizes Promising Research Capabilities at the UA Cancer Center

In recognition of the University of Arizona Cancer Center’s promising junior investigators, the American Cancer Society (ACS) has awarded the Center a $360,000 Institutional Research Grant (IRG).

Institutional Research Grants are block grants given to institutions as "seed money" for the initiation of projects by promising junior investigators. The funds are intended to provide support to cancer researchers who are just beginning their careers to help them obtain preliminary data in support of more extensive proposals and funding. This is especially helpful by enabling young investigators who have no national peer-reviewed research grant support to “jump-start” their research programs and establish a research career in a very competitive environment.

“It’s just not very easy for young scientists to secure research funding if they do not have a proven track record,” said UA Cancer Center Director Andrew Kraft, MD. “Funding agencies want to know that they are investing their dollars into research that is going to pay off, and without preliminary data or prior successful projects, it is difficult for these entities to justify investments of hundreds of thousands of dollars in junior investigators.”

However, that level of funding is required to engage in the level of research necessary to be competitive for grants from such funding organizations as the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense and the National Cancer Institute and National Institutes of Health.

“Obtaining research funding is a significant barrier to entry for young researchers,” said Meredith Mullins, JD, MBA, chief administrative officer for the UA Cancer Center. “That’s why the Institutional Research Grant from the American Cancer Society is so important. It opens the door for the young investigator who could one day be responsible for the next ground-breaking discovery in our field.”

There are plenty of examples of success at the UA Cancer Center stemming from pilot funding dollars provided by the ACS IRG.

Greg Rogers, PhD, received $30,000 in ACS IRG funding as an assistant professor in 2010 to study mechanisms that regulate the duplication of centrosomes, which promotes cancer development and progression. Results from that initial study have generated $450,000 in funding from the National Science Foundation, $1.25 million from the National Institutes of Health, $250,000 from the March of Dimes and $135,000 from the Arizona Biomedical Research Commission.

Dr. Rogers’s work revealed new potential therapeutic targets of a tumor-promoting pathway. The research has been published in four peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Cell Biology. Six years after receiving ACS pilot funding as a young investigator, Dr. Rogers is now an associate professor at the University of Arizona with 42 peer-reviewed publications and multiple funding sources for his continued research.

Hong-yu Li, PhD, also received $30,000 in ACS pilot funding that propelled his research forward nearly 100 times over. He was awarded funds to develop new treatments for people afflicted with thyroid cancer. From this research, Dr. Li has received nearly $3 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health and National Cancer Institute and has a patent pending for a novel anti-cancer agent.

Securing funding from the ACS-IRG is a testament to the UA Cancer Center’s strong research programs and ability to provide an infrastructure and environment that cultivates promising young scientists and their research programs.

This is a highly competitive arena. Each year, the American Cancer Society receives about 2,000 funding requests for cancer research and training of health-care professionals. All proposals are subject to multiple levels of rigorous and independent peer review to identify the most meritorious projects for funding.

Areas of special interest to the American Cancer Society include psychosocial and behavioral research, health policy or health services research, cancer in the poor and medically underserved and childhood cancer.

Individuals interested in learning more about the impact of an ACS IRG award can watch the following video: https://youtu.be/Tg5VecfHBcE.

About the University of Arizona Cancer Center

The University of Arizona Cancer Center is the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center headquartered in Arizona. The UACC is supported by NCI Cancer Center Support Grant number CA023074. With primary locations at the University of Arizona in Tucson and at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, the Cancer Center has more than a dozen research and education offices in Phoenix and throughout the state and 300 physician and scientist members work together to prevent and cure cancer. For more information, please go to uacc.arizona.edu.

About the UA Health Sciences

The University of Arizona Health Sciences is the statewide leader in biomedical research and health professions training. The UA Health Sciences includes the UA Colleges of Medicine (Phoenix and Tucson), Nursing, Pharmacy and Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, with main campus locations in Tucson and the growing Phoenix Biomedical Campus in downtown Phoenix. From these vantage points, the UA Health Sciences reaches across the state of Arizona and the greater Southwest to provide cutting-edge health education, research, patient care and community outreach services. A major economic engine, the UA Health Sciences employs almost 5,000 people, has nearly 1,000 faculty members and garners more than $126 million in research grants and contracts annually. For more information: uahs.arizona.edu

 

Release Date: 
07/12/2016 - 7:22am
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