IU, Purdue team receives $6.5 million to research cancer
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Sonia Rana
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Sonia Rana |
POSTED AT
12:00 AM ON Oct. 13, 2006
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A new chapter has begun in the ever-expanding field of cancer research, a field in which IU plays a role.
A team of scientists from IU, Purdue and the IU School of Medicine at IU-Purdue University at Indianapolis has received a $6.5 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to research proteomics, the large-scale study of proteins, their structures and functions, in order to further the process of diagnosing and treating cancer patients.
The team is one of five to which the National Cancer Institute has awarded grants for the purpose of proteomic research. These five grants total $35.5 million. The grants are a part of the institute's larger initiative regarding clinical proteomic technology, a $104 million national program.
Stephen Williams, director of the IU Cancer Center, said proteomic technology is a new and sophisticated kind of technology that measures minute amounts of protein in blood that can be analyzed and used to diagnose medical conditions.
"In this case, this type of technology will be used to diagnose cancer, and it will allow the opportunity to better follow it in patients," Williams said.
The purpose of this project is to investigate several methods of using this technology in order to find the most efficient way, Williams said.
This project started when a group of scientists, namely Fred Regnier, professor of analytical chemistry at Purdue, and David Clemmer, chairman of the IU Department of Chemistry, became aware of the opportunity to receive a grant from the NCI for this type of research, Williams said.
"The process of applying for the grant was very competitive, and the application was peer-reviewed by a number of disinterested scientists within the field," Williams said. "The application was submitted, and the grant was awarded to the team about six months ago."
Harikrishna Nakshatri, associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the IU School of Medicine, is a co-principal investigator for the IUPUI team.
The goal of the five-year project is to find a standardized way of looking for a signature protein for a particular type of cancer. The standardized method will help to diagnose and treat that cancer, Nakshatri said.
Dean of the IU School of Medicine D. Craig Brater said he found the collaboration among Purdue, the School of Medicine, IUB, the non-profit community and the private sector "striking."
"It is a shining example of a truly multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional collaboration that sets an example that we should try to emulate many times over," Brater said.