News and Events

2024

  • November 2024:  The National Cancer Institute (NCI), via the Children’s Oncology Group (COG), awarded to Dr C Patrick Reynolds (PI), Dr. Min Kang, and Dr. Nighat Noureen a 5 year, $1,589,814 grant entitled “Quantifying Tumor Cell GD2 Expression for Patients on ANBL2131”.  This grant supports analyzing the binding of dinutuximab, an antibody used to treat the childhood cancer neuroblastoma to tumor cells from patients enrolled on the COG national phase III clinical trial ANBL2131.  Loss of binding of the antibody may be a mechanism of resistance to immunotherapy used in ANBL2131.  The assay used for this study was developed by Dr. Michelle Keyel, who is leading the work analyzing the patient samples.  As a result of this grant award the TTUHSC investigators were invited to be part of the NCI Pediatric Immunotherapy Network. 

2023

  • November 2023. Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF) awarded a renewal grant to continue to support the ALSF/Children’s Oncology Group Childhood Cancer Repository directed by C Patrick Reynolds MD PhD.
  • August 2023. In its latest funding cycle, the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) awarded grants to four researchers from the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC). Combined, the grants will provide nearly $2.3 million that TTUHSC will use to conduct a pair of two-year pilot studies, acquire a state-of-the-art piece of laboratory equipment known as a cell sorter, and administer a colorectal cancer screening and prevention program.

    Three of the recipients are from the TTUHSC School of Medicine, including Hongjun (Henry) Liang, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Cell Physiology and Molecular Biophysics; Min Kang, Pharm.D., a professor in the TTUHSC Department of Pediatrics; and Komaraiah Palle, Ph.D., a professor in  Department of Cell Biology and Biochemistry. The remaining grant was awarded to Julie St. John, Dr.P.H., an associate professor for the TTUHSC Julia Jones Matthews School of Population and Public Health.

    Liang, who received $200,000 to conduct a two-year pilot study (“Click” Assembled Colloidal Molecules with Tunable Plasmon Bands as Novel Agents for Photothermal Tumor Therapy), will investigate photothermal tumor therapy (PTT), a relatively new treatment option widely viewed as a promising alternative to chemotherapy.

    Palle, who also received a $200,000 grant for a two-year pilot study (“The Role of Renal Lipotoxicity in Carcinogenesis”), will investigate clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC), the most common and deadliest subtype of kidney cancer. 

    Kang, who also serves as the Associate Director of  the School of Medicine Cancer Center, received two-year, $901,225 grant (“Fluorescence-Activated Cell Sorting: FACSAria Fusion”) to purchase an instrument known as a cell sorter.

    St. John, who also manages TTUHSC's public health degree program in Abilene, received a three-year, $997,266 grant (“ACTION for Big Country”) to address the dearth of colorectal cancer (CRC) screening services available in the Big Country area around Abilene.  
  • August 2023.  The TTUHSC SOM Cancer Center is pleased that Balakrishna Koneru, PhD has joined the Cancer Center and the TTUHSC SOM faculty as an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics.  Dr. Koneru completed his postdoctoral training at TTUHSC. He works on studying molecular mechanisms and potential novel therapies for cancers with the alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) phenotype. Dr. Koneru will focus his research efforts on studying ALT in osteogenic sarcoma.
  • May 2023.  Investigators from the TTUHSC SOM Cancer Center presented research papers at the Advances in Neuroblastoma Research meeting in Amsterdam, Netherlands.  This meeting gathers reserachers working on the childhood cancer neuroblastoma every 2 years (www.ANRmeeting.org).  Dr. Kang presented her work on defining gene expression signatures associated with chemotherapy resistance in neuroblastoma.  Dr. Reynolds presented the study of telomere maintenance mechanisms in patients enrolled on the most recently completed Children’s Oncology Group phase III clinical trial for high-risk neuroblastoma.  Dr. Keyel presented her work on the association of loss of GD2 antigen expression with resistance to dinutuximab, and antibody used to treat neuroblastoma.  Dr. Keyel was awarded one of the three prizes given for best presentation at the meeting, the only such award received by any investigator from the USA.
  • May 2023.  Dr. Yangzom Bhutia, a Cancer Center member in the Cell Biology and Biochemistry Department received a 5 year National Cancer Institute RO1 grant. Dr Bhutia’s research and the recently awarded grant focuses on targeting amino acid transporters as potential therapies for pancreatic cancer. Dr. Bhutia is one of the initial junior faculty supported by the Texas Regional Excellence in Cancer (TREC) grant from CPRIT and the first “graduate” of the TREC to secure NCI RO1 funding.
  • February 2023.   The Cancer Center is pleased that Nighat Noureen, PhD has joined the Cancer Center and joined the TTUHSC SOM faculty as an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics. Dr. Noureen completed her postdoctoral fellowship training at UTHSC San Antonio. Dr. Noureen is an expert in bioinformatics and will direct the Cancer Center Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Core.

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