UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute Awarded Five New Grants from National Cancer Institute

By Marty Trieschmann

Researchers at the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) have been awarded five new grants from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in 2024, totaling $4.6 million.

New grants include:

• $3.3 million NCI grant to create a Melanoma Resistance Evolution Atlas, Principal Investigator: Alan Tackett, Ph.D., Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute deputy director

• $421,000 NCI grant to study cancer-evolved resistance mechanism to enhance adoptive T-cells, Principal Investigators: Tackett and Brian Koss, Ph.D., UAMS assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology

• $393,000 NCI grant to study the mechanisms of TH17-DC immunotherapy for ovarian cancer. Principal Investigator: Martin Cannon, Ph.D., UAMS professor of microbiology and immunology

• $393,000 NCI grant to study SR-A as a therapeutic target in breast cancer. Principal Investigators: Steven Post, Ph.D., UAMS professor of pathology, and Behjatolah Karbassi, Ph.D., UAMS associate professor of pathology

• $153,000 NCI grant to study the development of immunocompetent melanoma brain metastases organoids. Principal Investigator: Analiz Rodriguez, M.D., Ph.D., UAMS associate professor of neurosurgery

UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute Awarded Five New Grants from National Cancer Institute

Arkansas to send reserve funds to UAMS for cancer center, redirect medical marijuana tax

KUAR | By Hunter Field / Arkansas Advocate

Arkansas will send $100 million in reserve funds over the next two years to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ pursuit of recognition from the National Cancer Institute, known as NCI designation.

But that doesn’t mean the 4% privilege tax on medical marijuana that had funded the NCI efforts will go away. Instead, state policymakers enacted legislation to extend the tax for at least two more years and dedicate those revenues to food insecurity and public health needs.

State officials hope the $50 million transfers to UAMS in fiscal 2024 and 2025 will further strengthen the institute’s chances for success when it formally requests NCI designation.

https://www.ualrpublicradio.org/local-regional-news/2023-04-13/arkansas-to-send-reserve-funds-to-uams-for-cancer-center-redirect-medical-marijuana-tax

NCI Funds UAMS Study of Possible Links between Gammaherpesvirus Infections and Lymphomas

By Seth Hooker

A possible link between gammaherpesviruses and lymphomas will receive further study at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) with a National Cancer Institute (NCI) grant.

The five-year, $1.25 million grant renewal will mostly support ongoing work to better understand how gammaherpesvirus promotes mutations (chromosomal translocations) that lead to lymphomas. In addition, the grant will allow UAMS’ Craig Forrest, Ph.D., to study the possible link between combined malaria and gammaherpesvirus infections in the development of lymphoma.

The funding will also help further Forrest’s work on earlier discoveries related to the tumor-suppressor protein, p53. The protein, his lab found, is critical for preventing chronic infection from gammaherpesviruses.

https://news.uams.edu/2022/06/22/nci-funds-uams-study-of-possible-links-between-gammaherpesvirus-infections-and-lymphomas/

Craig Forrest, Ph.D., is leading research to better understand how gammaherpesvirus promotes mutations that lead to lymphomas.