(AUSTIN) Today, the governing body of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) has approved $98,592,155 million in grants to advance the state’s fight against cancer. The grants are a mix of academic research and prevention projects and represents the largest public state commitment to cancer research by any U.S. state.
“Every Texan should be proud of what CPRIT has done today to further the fight against cancer,” said CEO Wayne Roberts. “CPRIT and our grantees are making an impact unlike any other state and today’s vote is continued confirmation that Texas is a national leader in cancer research and prevention.”
The committee approved 46 academic research grants for a total of nearly $73 million dollars. These grants will fund research on many kinds of cancer, including over $10 million for research on childhood and adolescent cancers. For example, CPRIT awarded Katsumi Kitagawa, Ph.D., and the Greehey Children's Cancer Research Institute at The University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio a $1.4 million grant (RP240237) to advance research into Ewing Sarcoma, the second most common primary malignant bone tumor in children and adolescents. Ewing Sarcoma generally responds poorly to treatment so new therapies are needed. Lauren Ehrlich, Ph.D., and The University of Texas at Austin also received a $1.4 million grant (RP240054) to continue her research into the T cell subtype of acute lymphoblastic leukemia, one of the deadliest childhood cancers. UT Austin recruited Dr. Ehrlich to Texas from Stanford University in 2010 as one of the earliest CPRIT Scholars.
CPRIT awarded seven new CPRIT Scholar recruitment grants today, including a $4 million Rising Star grant (RR240015) to bring Stefan Gloeggler, Ph.D., to The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center from the Max Planck Institute of Multidisciplinary Sciences in Göttingen, Germany. Dr. Gloeggler is an internationally recognized leader in the field of hyperpolarized MRI contrast agents and polarizer technology development, and molecular imaging technologies for cancer imaging. In Texas, he will use a multi-spectral approach to probe multiple aspects of cancer metabolism simultaneously to improve the capabilities of MRIs to detect brain cancer and other kinds of cancer.
The Oversight Committee also approved 12 cancer prevention grants totaling almost $26 million. Jennifer Molokwu, M.D., MPH, FAAFP, at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso, will receive a $2.5 million grant (PP240014) to continue Tiempo De Vacunarte! (Time to get vaccinated!), a prevention program to increase HPV Vaccinations among 9- to 45-year-olds residing in El Paso, Hudspeth, Culberson, Presidio, and Brewster Counties in far west Texas. This is an expansion grant for this program, which received funding in 2014 and 2019.
Grants awarded today will go to institutions across Texas, from El Paso to Galveston. Houston-area institutions received 33 grants totaling $51.9 million, Dallas-area institutions were awarded 12 grants totaling $16.3 million, and San Antonio institutions received $10.4 in grants. Austin, El Paso, Fort Worth, and Galveston institutions were also awarded significant grants.
Two CPRIT Advisory Committees also presented their annual reports to the board. Sarah Williams-Blangero, Ph.D., Director of South Texas Diabetes and Obesity Institute at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, and Rob Kirken, Ph.D., Dean of Science at The University of Texas at El Paso, presented the report of the CPRIT Geographic Diversity Advisory Committee. Richard Gorlick, M.D., Chair of Pediatrics at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and Will Parsons, M.D., Ph.D., Deputy Director of the Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Center at Baylor College of Medicine, presented the report for CPRIT’s Advisory Committee on Childhood Cancer.
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
At Wednesday’s meeting CPRIT CEO Wayne Roberts announced to the board that he will be leaving the agency later this summer. Roberts has led the agency for over a decade.
“When I was recruited to CPRIT in late 2012 as interim director, it was made clear that I was temporary, here for the 83rd Legislature and gone. That interim has lasted longer than expected,” said Roberts. “Now, after over eleven years at CPRIT’s helm, I will step aside at the end of June. I want to thank CPRIT’s Oversight Committee for taking a chance on me then and letting me participate for so long in this historic state initiative.”
“In one capacity or another with six different state offices, I’ve enjoyed 23 Regular and 42 Special Legislative Sessions,” said Roberts. “I’ve been inspired and challenged by countless committed public servants and policy advocates. For five decades it has been my privilege to work alongside them to try to benefit the lives of all Texans.”
"For over a decade, CPRIT has been blessed with the hard work and dedication of Wayne Roberts,” said David Cummings, M.D., Oversight Committee Chair. “His longstanding commitment to the cause of cancer will be felt for generations. During his tenure, CPRIT has become the second largest cancer research funding entity in the United States. Simply put, CPRIT would not be what it is today without the leadership of Wayne Roberts."
ABOUT CPRIT
Created by the Texas Legislature and approved by a statewide vote in 2007, the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) leads the Lone Star State’s fight against cancer. In 2019, Texas voters again voted overwhelmingly to support CPRIT with an additional $3 billion, for a total $6 billion investment in cancer research and prevention.
To date, the agency has awarded more than $3 billion in grants to Texas research institutions and organizations through its academic research, prevention, and product development research programs. CPRIT has also recruited 306 distinguished researchers to Texas, supported the establishment, expansion, or relocation of 62 companies to Texas, and supported 9.4 million prevention services reaching all 254 counties in Texas.
The Governor, the Lieutenant Governor and the Speaker of the House appoint the members of the Oversight Committee. The board meets at least once every quarter to set the priorities for the agency as well as vote on proposed, peer-reviewed cancer research and prevention grants to institutions, organizations, and companies throughout the state.
Once processed, video of the meeting will be available here: http://meeting.cprit.texas.gov
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CPRIT AWARDS
FEBRUARY 21, 2024
PREVENTION AWARDS
PP240005
The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center (Houston) $2,487,822
Preventing Tobacco Related Cancers by Expanding Capacity for Tobacco Use Interventions Within Agencies Serving Women with Behavioral Health Needs
PP240011
The University of Texas at Austin (Austin) $2,000,000
The Advancing Breast Health among uninsured Women in Central Texas (ABH-CTX) 2
PP240012
The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center (Houston) $1,499,400
Integrated Mammography and Genetic Evaluation Services (IMAGES)
PP240014
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center at El Paso (El Paso) $2,500,000
Tiempo De Vacunarte 3
PP240017
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston) $2,499,646
Expanding Access to Cervical Cancer Screening through Primary HR-HPV Testing and Self-Sampling: A Multicomponent Intervention for Safety Net Health Systems
PP240019 The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (Fort Worth) $2,487,342
Increasing Access to Successful Colorectal Cancer Screening, Pairing Patient Education and Outreach with Navigation
PP240021
Baylor College of Medicine (Houston) $2,499,998
Reducing Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Breast Cancer Screening: Expanding a Comprehensive EHR-Based Patient Navigation Program
PP240022
The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (Galveston) $2,494,865
Expansion of a multi-pronged intervention to increase HPV vaccination rates among adolescents from rural and medically underserved areas in Texas
PP240030
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (Houston) $2,499,969
All for Them: A multilevel strategy for HPV-related cancer prevention
PP240040
The University of Texas at Austin (Austin) $2,000,000
Expanding Intensive Smoking Cessation and Lung Cancer Screening in Vulnerable Adult Patients in Central Texas FQHCs
PP240041
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (Houston) $1,496,194
Expansion of the evidence-based Adolescent Vaccination Program (AVP) in a safety net clinic system to increase HPV vaccination rates in underserved populations
PP240042
The Methodist Hospital Research Institute (Houston) $1,437,244
Cancer Prevention and Outreach for Individuals Disproportionately Affected by Cancer in Medically Underserved Regions (C-CUR)
ACADEMIC RESEARCH AWARDS
RP240035
The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (Dallas) $1,050,000
Harnessing the metabolic dependencies of mitochondrial NADK2 as a therapeutic strategy for lung cancer
RP240054
The University of Texas at Austin (Austin) $1,400,000
Myeloid support of refractory and aggressive T-ALL at distinct tumor sites
RP240061
The University of Texas at Austin (Austin) $1,044,608
Deciphering Iron Redox Cycles in Ferroptosis-based Cancer Therapy
RP240068
The University of Texas at San Antonio (San Antonio) $997,770
Understanding the Mechanism of Linker Histone Mutations in Malignancy
RP240072
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston) $1,050,000
Dissection of CAMKK2’s Tumor Cell-intrinsic and -extrinsic Roles in Prostate Cancer
RP240075
The Methodist Hospital Research Institute (Houston) $1,921,388
Combination Therapy Using ATRA and Carfilzomib to Treat Proteasome Inhibitor Refractory Multiple Myeloma
RP240091
The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (Galveston) $1,044,967
High resolution high sensitivity photoacoustic imaging molecular guided brain tumor surgery with pilot clinical deployment
RP240095
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (Houston) $1,049,388
Targeting chitinase-3-like-1 as a novel therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma
RP240104
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (Houston) $1,050,00
Characterization and optimization of novel allosteric KRAS inhibitors
RP240117
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston) $1,049,906
Identify radiopathomics markers to guide immunotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer
RP240119
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (Houston) $1,050,000
Integrating proteolysis-targeting capability into antibodies to augment therapeutic efficacy
RP240120
The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (Dallas) $1,049,997
JMJD6-DGAT1 Signaling Axis Regulates Lipid Droplets and Tumorigenesis in ccRCC
RP240125
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston) $1,049,726
Immune-Related Determinants of HPV-Associated Oropharyngeal Cancer Outcomes
RP240127
The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (Dallas) $1,039,356
Transposon Restriction, Tumor Suppression and p53
RP240131
Baylor College of Medicine (Houston) $1,200,000
Computational Methods for CRISPR-based Lineage Tracing Systems
RP240133
The University of Texas at Dallas (Richardson) $1,050,000
Modulation of blood-spinal cord barrier for tumor treatment
RP240137
Baylor College of Medicine (Houston) $1,200,000
Charting TCR-Tumor Antigen Interactions to Foster Novel Immunotherapeutic Approaches for Triple- Negative Breast Cancer
RP240143
Baylor College of Medicine (Houston) $1,399,382
Leveraging Passport for Care in a telehealth framework to improve equitable access to survivorship services
RP240183
The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (Dallas) $1,049,997
Restoring TREM2-Depedent Efferocytosis to Inhibit Obesity-Induced Liver Inflammation and Cancer Development
RP240184
The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (Dallas) $1,999,993
Maximizing Anti-tumor Immunity through Simultaneous Activation of the Innate and Adaptive Immune System
RP240208
The University of Texas at Austin (Austin) $1,920,007
Unidos contra el VPH: Screening accuracy, preference, and uptake of HPV self-sampling among Latinxs along the US-Mexico border
RP240214
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston) $1,050,000
Immunoprevention of Breast Cancer Brain Metastasis by Special Dendritic Cell-derived Extracellular Vesicles
RP240225
The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (Dallas) $1,049,743
PARP16-mediated Ribosome MARylation and Translation Control in Ovarian Cancer
RP240233
The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (Dallas) $1,999,963
Towards non-operative management of early-stage ER-positive breast cancer
RP240237
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (San Antonio) $1,400,000
The Role of EWSR1-FLI1-CENP-A Signaling in Chemoresistance in Ewing Sarcoma
RP240259
The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center (Houston) $1,049,427
Targeting Cancer-associated Lactobacillus iners to improve response to cancer therapy
RP240263
Baylor College of Medicine (Houston) $1,049,370
Identifying the Biological Determinants of Aggressive Meningioma
RP240272
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston $1,398,788
The epigenetic impact and therapeutic opportunity of AR directed therapy for DSRCT
RP240287
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston) $1,042,256
Investigating the Impact of Interferon Gamma Signaling on Therapeutic Resistance in Acute Myeloid Leukemia
RP240288
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston) $1,043,909
Epigenetic mechanism and targeting during response to BRAFi/anti-EGFR therapy in BRAF-mutant colorectal cancers
RP240289
The University of Texas at Dallas (Richardson) $1,049,806
Real-time, label-free, micro HSI device and transformer-based attention networks for oral cancer imaging
RP240291
Baylor College of Medicine (Houston) $1,050,000
Targeting MYCN disruption of the molecular clock and tumor metabolism in neuroblastoma oncogenesis.
RP240293
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston) $1,199,999
Therapeutic vulnerabilities and predictors of response to chemo(immuno)therapy in patients with high-risk, early-stage triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC)
RP240311
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston) $1,049,859
Treatment planning of ADC therapy for ovarian cancer with molecular photoacoustic-ultrasonic imaging
RP240320
The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (Dallas) $1,049,754
Benzothiazepines as first-in-class inhibitors for the ribogenesis factor NVL and evaluation in preclinical colorectal cancer models
RP240326
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston) $1,050,000
Translation of gut commensal bacteria peptidoglycan remodeling pathway for chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy
RP240380
Baylor College of Medicine (Houston) $1,040,316
Clonal hematopoiesis for improving lung cancer risk assessment
RP240392
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston) $1,050,000
Identifying Tumor Specific Vulnerabilities in Appendiceal Adenocarcinoma: A Systems Approach
RP240401
University of Houston (Houston) $1,400,000
Lead Optimization, Target Engagement and Efficacy Studies of Locally Bioavailable COX-2 inhibitors for Preventing Colon Cancer Progression in FAP Children
RECRUITMENT AWARDS (CPRIT SCHOLARS)
RR240007 Xiling Shen, Ph.D. $6,000,000
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center from Terasaki Institute, Los Angeles
RR240013 Kevin Mark, Ph.D. $2,000,000
The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center from University of California, Berkeley
RR240015 Stephan Gloeggler, Ph.D. $4,000,000
The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center from Max Planck Institute of Multidisciplinary Sciences, Goettingen, Germany
RR240016 Yu Luan, Ph.D. $2,000,000
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio from Northwestern University
RR240019 David Sarlah, Ph.D. $4,000,000
Rice University from University of Illinois
RR240027 Vishnu Dileep, PhD $2,000,000
Baylor College of Medicine from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
RR240030 Anna Malkova, Ph.D. $6,000,000
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio from University of Iowa
To search grant information online, visit our grant database on our website.