Pilot grants awarded to Consortium investigators

Eleven Consortium investigators win funds for new, interdisciplinary cancer research collaborations

The Fred Hutchinson/University of Washington Cancer Consortium has announced 11 pilot studies that will be funded at $40,000 each to Consortium investigators. The awards will support cancer-related research in 2009-10.
 
Funding is provided by the Consortium's Cancer Center Support Grant (core grant). The pilot grants are intended to forge new, interdisciplinary cancer research collaborations. For more information on Consortium programs, membership and funding opportunities, visit the Consortium Web site.
 
The Consortium, one of 39 NCI-designated comprehensive cancer centers in the country, is a research collaboration comprised of the Hutchinson Center, the University of Washington, Seattle Children's and the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.
 
Consortium pilot funds are awarded annually and all Consortium members are eligible to apply. The next round of pilot RFA’s will be in early 2010. 
 
Awardees:

• Dr. Sue Biggins, Basic Sciences Division, "Structural Analysis of the Budding Yeast Kinetochore"
• Dr. Bruce Clurman, Clinical Research Division, Using synthetic lethal RNA interference screens to identify drug targets in cancers with Fbw7 mutations
• Dr. Tamir Gonen, UW, Structure and function of the human heme transporter FLVCR
• Dr. Soheil Meshinchi, Clinical Research Division, "Singe Cell Genomic Profiling in Cancer"
• Dr. Susan Parkhurst, Basic Sciences Division, Nuclear Roles for WASH, a new Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome protein subfamily
• Dr. Robert Rostomily, UW, "High Throughput Screening for the Identification of Kinase" – related proteins involved in the enhanced malignancy of aged glioma stem cells
• Dr. Cassian Yee, Clinical Research Division, "Wnt Modulators and Tumor Antigen Expression of Human Melanoma Cells"
• Dr. Patrick Paddison, Human Biology Division, "Identification of Synergistic Combination Therapies for Glioblastoma"
• Dr. George Sandison, UW, "Dynamic Gated Radiotherapy for Moving Tumors in the Lungs"
• Dr. Karen Syrjala, Clinical Research Division, Mechanisms for persistent skeletal muscle dysfunction after cancer treatment in mouse and human models
• Dr. Roland Walter, Clinical Research Division, "Clinical Significance of Adhesion Molecules and Extracellular Matrix Proteins, as Determined by Pathway-Focused Expression Arrays, in Pediatric Acute Myeloid Leukemia"