For
Immediate Release
October 17, 2001
Contact: Terry Sebastian (502) 564-2611
Gov. Paul Patton recognizes UK, U of L lung
cancer researchers
Frankfort, Ky. -- Governor Paul Patton today handed out $3.8 million of Tobacco Settlement money to 20 researchers from the University of Kentucky and University of Louisville for lung cancer research.
The grants are part of the Lung Cancer Research Project that Governor Patton and lawmakers created in the 2000 General Assembly. The project combines the research efforts of UK and U of L and gives the universities the funding needed to become national leaders in lung cancer basic research, early detection, diagnosis and treatment.
“Lung cancer is a significant problem in Kentucky. About 3,000 Kentuckians die each year from it. This type of cancer kills more Kentuckians annually than breast, colon, pancreas and prostate cancers combined,” Patton said. “These figures are staggering and make the mission and importance of our universities’ research even greater.”
The Lung Cancer Research
Project is a 20-year initiative that was designed to receive 20 percent of all
funds in the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement for this collaborative
partnership between the two universities. The project’s nine-member governance
board helped select the 20 grant recipients from a total of 54 initial requests.
Dr. Donald Miller,
director of the James Graham Brown Cancer Center at the University of Louisville,
and Dr. Alfred Cohen, director of the Markey Cancer Center at the University of
Kentucky, will help oversee the direction of the 20 grants, which were funded
for two years at $100,000 per year.
Near
the end of the second year, the governance board will review all research
projects to determine the level of success each researcher is having in
answering the scientific questions posed in each grant. Based on their success
and the availability of funds, a third year will be funded.
“This amount of funding is going to help the researchers change the face of how our universities and medical centers deal with lung cancer and help provide us with critical information,” Governor Patton said.
The researchers who received grants include:
| Name/University | Research |
| Mansoor Ahmed: UK | TGF-beta signaling and radiation response in lung carcinoma |
| Douglas A. Andres: UK | novel ras-related GTPase in lung cancer |
| Paula J. Bates: U of L | Nucleolin: A novel marker and therapeutic target for lung cancer |
| Haribabu Bodduluri: U of L | Role of G-protein coupled receptor mediated motility in lung cancer |
| Stephen A. Brown: UK | Radioprotective agents in NSCLC therapy |
| John W. Eaton: U of L | Pro-inflammatory and clastogenic actions of smoke-borne free fatty acids |
| H. Leighton Grimes: U of L | Involvement of the GF11 oncoprotein in human lung cancer |
| Ramesh C. Gupta: UK | Etiology and prevention of lung cancer: Biomarker development in clinical studies |
| David A. Hein: U of L | Environmental genomics and molecular epidemiology of lung cancer: Functional characterization of N-acetyltransferase-1 and -2 genetic polymorphisms |
| Louis B. Hersh: UK | A gene therapeutic approach for the treatment of lung cancer |
| Edward Hirschowitz,: UK | Therapeutic investigation of dendritic cell vaccines in NSCLC |
| Glenn McGregor: U of L | Mechanisms of BPDE-induced mutagenesis and mutation avoidance |
| Marcos A. Oliveira: UK | A novel chemo-radio sensitizing target: PARP-2 activation domain |
| Stephen C. Peiper: U of L | Role of G-protein coupled receptors in lung cancer biology: Novel approaches to block proliferation and spread |
| Gordon D. Ross,: U of L | Oral adjuvant immunotherapy of lung carcinoma |
| William St. Clair: UK | Novel anticancer agents to promote the efficacy of contemporary or GRID radiation therapy for treatment of lung cancer |
| Sandra Sephton: U of L | Psychosocial effects in lung cancer outcomes |
| Haval Shirwan: U of L | A novel approach to tumor vaccination |
| H. Peter Spielman: UK | Pre-clinical studies of novel ras function inhibitors to treat lung cancer |
| John R. Yannelli: UK | Use of dendritic cells to present non-small cell lung cancer associated antigens |