This Project Grant award of $656,304 from the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) Cancer Biology Research program (CFDA 93.396) supports comprehensive research at Weill Medical College of Cornell University to better understand the fundamental biological mechanisms underlying cancer development, progression, and potential interventions. The research aims to: (i) determine how nuclear accumulation of GSK3, upon suppression of mTORC1 signaling, regulates chromatin remodeling and DNA damage repair;...
This federal Project Grant award from the National Cancer Institute (CFDA 93.398 - Cancer Research Manpower) provides $105,189 to the Regents of the University of Minnesota to advance research on inhibiting the structural dynamics of the APOBEC3A (A3A) and APOBEC3B (A3B) enzymes. The key objectives are to: Elucidate the structures of A3A and A3B when bound to viral inhibitors, such as ribonucleotide reductases from Macacine G-herpesvirus 11 and Kaposi Sarcoma-associated Herpesvirus, using...
This Project Grant award from the National Cancer Institute (CFDA 93.398 Cancer Research Manpower) provides $145,656.00 to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to investigate the mutagenic effects of the APOBEC3A and APOBEC3B enzymes in urothelial carcinoma, a common and deadly form of bladder cancer. The project aims to elucidate the driver of APOBEC-induced mutagenesis, compare the promotion of intratumoral heterogeneity by the two enzymes, and determine their influence on...
This Project Grant award of $514,582, provided by the National Cancer Institute (CFDA 93.393 - Cancer Cause and Prevention Research) to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, supports research on the role of APOBEC3 enzymes in bladder cancer initiation, progression, and treatment resistance. The research aims to gain a better understanding of how APOBEC3 promotes squamous differentiation in bladder tumors and explore whether co-inhibition of the IL1A pathway can be leveraged to reverse...
This Project Grant award from the National Cancer Institute (CFDA 93.396 - Cancer Biology Research) provides $160,330 to the University of Illinois to develop novel lung adenocarcinoma models that better capture the initiation, progression, and composition of primary human lung tumors. The researchers aim to introduce oncogenic mutations into primary human lung stem and progenitor cells, and then culture them as tumor organoids or xenograft them into immunodeficient mice. This work seeks to...
This Project Grant award from the National Cancer Institute (CFDA 93.398 - Cancer Research Manpower) provides $162,486 to Weill Medical College of Cornell University to conduct research on the functional consequences of mutations in the ZFP36L2 gene on tumor progression and the tumor immune microenvironment in colorectal cancer. The research aims to delineate how ZFP36L2 regulates the inflammatory secretome of colorectal cancer and assess the impact of ZFP36L2 mutations on the composition and...
This Project Grant award of $108,512 from the National Cancer Institute's Cancer Research Manpower (CFDA 93.398) program supports research at Weill Medical College of Cornell University to investigate the chromatin landscape of alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) in cancer cells. The award, effective March 1, 2025 through February 28, 2029, will enable the researcher to: 1) use a base editing screen to identify ATRX domains and functions that suppress ALT, and 2) study the effect of...
This Project Grant award from the National Cancer Institute (CFDA 93.398 - Cancer Research Manpower) provides $160,642 to Weill Medical College of Cornell University to characterize the role of oncogenic NRAS mutations in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) mutations. The project aims to understand how NRAS mutations impact the biology and therapeutic response of IDH-mutant AML, with a focus on evaluating the mechanism by which NRAS mitigates the differentiation...
This Project Grant award from the National Cancer Institute (CFDA 93.395 - Cancer Treatment Research) provides $557,418 to The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York to conduct research on targeting SMARCA2 in SMARCA4-deficient lung cancers. The research aims to assess the effects of SMARCA2 degradation on SMARCA4-deficient lung cancer progression, elucidate the mechanisms underlying the relationship between SMARCA2 and SMARCA4, and develop effective combinatorial approaches...
This $703,410 Project Grant, awarded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) under the Cancer Treatment Research program (CFDA 93.395), supports research at New York University (NYU) School of Medicine to investigate molecular mechanisms underlying the transition from lung adenocarcinoma to squamous cell carcinoma, which can contribute to resistance to KRAS inhibitor therapies. The research aims to identify chromatin regulators that drive this lineage transition, and systematically decouple the...
This Project Grant award of $148,050, provided by the National Cancer Institute (CFDA 93.398 Cancer Research Manpower program), supports research to study the role of the APOBEC3 (A3) family of enzymes in driving genomic instability and mutagenesis in lung cancer. The primary objectives are to: 1) Identify the specific A3 family members responsible for lung cancer mutagenesis, 2) Evaluate potential surrogate measures of A3 mutagenesis, and 3) Investigate how A3 enzymes regulate endogenous retroelements to protect genomic integrity in lung cancer cells. The award was granted to Weill Medical College of Cornell University, a leading academic medical research institution, and the project is planned for completion by April 2027.