Cancer Center at Illinois announces 2022 cancer research grant recipients | Cancer Center at Illinois – University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

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September 24, 2022

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS URBANA-CHAMPAIGNCancer Centerat IllinoisGIVESep 1, 2022 | Cancer Center NewsTop, from left to right: Martin Burke, Christopher Gaulke, and Catherine Murphy.Bottom, from left to right: Joaquín Rodríguez López, Emad Tajkhorshid, and Kai Zhang.The Cancer Center at Illinois is proud to announce the selection of nine interdisciplinary cancer research projects designed by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty to be funded by Cancer Center at Illinois (CCIL) developmental grant awards. CCIL grants provide support to Illinois scientists to drive cancer research collaborations on campus and encourage engineering, technology, and science-based researchers to engage with clinical collaborators.“Cancer Center at Illinois Seed, Planning, Bridge, and other grant awards support novel collaborations that lead to transformative advances in cancer research. Over the past five years, these CCIL funding opportunities have produced new cancer focused research grants, earned significant external funding, and launched translational clinical partnerships that will change the cancer care landscape for years to come,” said Rohit Bhargava, CCIL Director.Six of the cancer research projects received CCIL Seed Grant awards – designed to enhance team-based science to pursue innovative discovery and translational directions that lead to major external funding opportunities. The Seed Grant recipients include:Project Title: A Molecular Lego Kit for Kinase InhibitorsPrincipal Investigator: Martin Burke, Professor, ChemistryResearch Team: Emad Tajkhorshid, Professor, BiochemistryProject Title: Targeting the Bidirectional Crosstalk Between Gut Microbial Metabolism and Bile Acids to Alleviate Intestinal and Liver TumorigenesisPrincipal Investigator: Christopher Gaulke, Assistant Professor, PathobiologyResearch Team: Sayeepriyadarshini Anakk, Associate Professor, Molecular & Integrative Physiology; Collin Kieffer, Assistant Professor, Microbiology; Bo Wang, Assistant Professor, Comparative BiosciencesProject Title: Engineering Mechanical and Chemical Gradients to Control Cancer Cell MetastasisPrincipal Investigator: Catherine Murphy, Professor, ChemistryResearch Team: Taher Saif, Professor, Mechanical Sciences and EngineeringProject Title: Versatile Redox Detection of a-Glycosylated Proteins in Blood, A Potential Universal Biomarker for Robust Cancer DetectionPrincipal Investigator: Joaquín Rodríguez López, Associate Professor, ChemistryResearch Team: Brian Cunningham, Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering; Zeynep Madak-Erdogan, Associate Professor, Food Science and Human NutritionProject Title: Molecular Dynamics Modeling of Target Recycling Amplification for Ultrasensitive Detection of RNA-based Cancer BiomarkersPrincipal Investigator: Emad Tajkhorshid, Professor, BiochemistryResearch Team: Brian Cunningham, Professor, Electrical and Computer EngineeringProject Title: Optogenetic Modulation of the Tumor Microenvironment to Improve Cancer ImmunotherapyPrincipal Investigator: Kai Zhang, Associate Professor, BiochemistryResearch Team: Erik Nelson, Associate Professor, Molecular and Integrative Physiology  From left to right: Zeynep Madak Erdogan, Angad Mehta, and Hua Wang.Three of the cancer research projects received CCIL Planning and Bridge Awards. CCIL Planning Grants are one-time awards to individuals or teams to develop research concepts, take advantage of a unique research opportunity, stimulate a high-priority research area, or initiate a potentially impactful, but risky project. CCIL Bridge grants aid cancer-focused research grant proposals at the R01 or multi-project level in overcoming funding barriers. The grant recipients include:Project Title: Delineating and Targeting Metabolic Adaptations in the Breast Cancer-Metastatic Niche Nexus to Improve Therapy EfficacyPrincipal Investigator: Zeynep Madak-Erdogan, Associate Professor, Food Science and Human NutritionProject Title: Using Enzyme/Small-molecule Pairs to Engineer Selectively in Targeting CancerPrincipal Investigator: Angad Mehta, Assistant Professor, Chemistry Research Team: Wenyan Mei, Assistant Professor, Comparative BiosciencesProject Title: Metabolic Tagging of Tumor Exosomes for Developing Enhanced Exosome VaccinesPrincipal Investigator: Hua Wang, Assistant Professor, Materials Science and EngineeringResearch Team: Erik Nelson, Associate Professor, Molecular and Integrative Physiology“This cohort of CCIL grant recipients is truly representative of the University’s leadership in engineering, technology, and basic sciences. These multidisciplinary teams are leading innovative discoveries in high-priority research areas with the long-term goal of providing cancer solutions with improved quality and accessibility, lower costs, and personalized to meet the individual needs of cancer patients,” said Paul Hergenrother, CCIL Deputy Director. Click here to learn more about the grant and funding initiatives led by the CCIL. Written by: Jordan Goebig, CCIL Communications Manager405 N. Mathews Ave.Urbana, IL 61801-2325 (M/C 251)Email: cancercenter@illinois.eduPhone: 217-300-6100Designed by Clanin Marketing | Solution By UniSyn

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