(AUSTIN) Today the governing body of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) approved 53 grants totaling more than $67 million to state research institutions to advance the state’s fight against cancer. The grants provide funding for a wide array of cancer projects, including CPRIT Scholar recruitment awards, funding for collaborative core facilities, and support for cancer clinical trials.
“The awards approved today represent the depth and diversity of CPRIT funding for cancer research in Texas,” said CPRIT CEO Kristen Doyle. “These grants develop new approaches to preventing, diagnosing, treating, and surviving cancer for all Texans.”
Among the grants the Oversight Committee awarded today are six recruitment grants totaling $16 million to bring outstanding cancer researchers to Texas to work on a broad range of innovative, investigator-initiated research projects including childhood and adolescent cancer, cell biology, and computational oncology and analytic methods.
In one example, Rice University received a $6 million CPRIT Established Investigator award (RR250072) to recruit Pernilla Wittung-Stafshede, Ph.D., from Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden. Dr. Wittung-Stafshede is an accomplished and highly gifted biophysical scientist tackling complicated biological questions regarding the role of metals and metal dysregulation in various diseases. She pioneered a new research field around the role of metal ions in the folding and function of metalloproteins.
The Oversight Committee also approved funding for a wide range of cancer research projects, including a $1.2 million Individual Investigator Research Award for Prevention and Early Detection (RP250182) award to Baylor College of Medicine and Donald (Will) Parsons, M.D., Ph.D., who is working on incorporating new cancer detection methods in routine newborn screenings.
Cancer remains the leading cause of death by disease for children in the United States. Recent studies show that 8-10% of childhood cancer patients have mutations in cancer predisposition genes (CPG). Although identification of these mutations in children increases the opportunity for early cancer detection and more effective treatment, doctors do not routinely perform tests without a family history of cancer. With CPRIT’s funding, Dr. Parson and his research team will develop new testing methods for these mutations and evaluate the testing through a clinical trial. Based on the outcome of the clinical trial, Dr. Parson’s team will create resources and recommendations to guide effective and ethical implementation of statewide CPG screening for newborns. The goal is to reduce the number of pediatric cancer cases and deaths in Texas.
Independent panels of highly distinguished scientists, health professionals, and patient advocates evaluate all CPRIT grants recommended for funding in an objective, merit-based, peer review process before consideration by the Oversight Committee. This process is central to CPRIT’s national reputation for integrity and transparency in funding groundbreaking projects.
Presentations
Laura Indolfi, Ph.D., co-founder and CEO of PanTher Therapeutics, a Product Development Research grantee, appeared in person to provide an update on the company’s recent activities to the board. Dr. Indolfi is leading PanTher’s development of its proprietary Sagittari™ drug-development platform, a revolutionary technology for the administration of cancer therapeutics exclusively to the site of the solid tumor.
Richard Gorlick, M.D., chair, and Will Parsons, M.D., Ph.D., vice chair, presented the annual report for the CPRIT Advisory Committee on Childhood Cancers. Dr. Gorlick is division head and chair in the Department of Pediatrics at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Children’s Cancer Hospital. Dr. Parsons is a professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine and the interim director of Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Center. He also received the aforementioned grant for his work on cancer detection in newborn screenings.
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, representing a $6 billion investment in cancer research and prevention.
To date, the agency has awarded more than $3.7 billion in grants to Texas research institutions and organizations through its academic research, prevention, and product development research programs. CPRIT has also recruited 324 distinguished researchers to Texas, supported the establishment, expansion, or relocation of 74 companies to Texas, and provided10.1 million prevention services reaching all 254 counties in Texas.
Once processed, video of the meeting will be available here: http://meeting.cprit.texas.gov
To learn more about CPRIT, view our 2024 Annual Report here.
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CPRIT GRANTS
*Awarded February 19, 2025
CPRIT AWARDS
FEBRUARY 19, 2025
CPRIT Scholars
RR250061
The University of Texas at Dallas
Ziwen Jiang
Richardson
$2,000,000
Recruitment of First-Time, Tenure-Track Faculty Members
RR250063
The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Tao Zou
Dallas
$2,000,000
Recruitment of First-Time, Tenure-Track Faculty Members
RR250070
The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Rosalie Griffin
Houston
$2,000,000
Recruitment of First-Time, Tenure-Track Faculty Members
RR250071
Baylor College of Medicine
Nipun Verma
Houston
$2,000,000
Recruitment of First-Time, Tenure-Track Faculty Members
RR250072
Rice University
Pernilla Wittung Stafshede
Houston
$6,000,000
Recruitment of Established Investigators
RR250077
Baylor College of Medicine
Xin “Daniel” Gao
Houston
$2,000,000
Recruitment of First-Time, Tenure-Track Faculty Members
Academic Research
RP240537
Baylor Research Institute
Erxi Wu
Temple
$2,999,989
Cancer Agent Target Discovery and Aptamer Development (CATDAD) Core
RP250028
The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Li Ma
Houston
$900,000
MALAT1 protects against osteoporosis and bone metastasis
RP250043
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Xiaobo Zhou
Houston
$899,991
An integrated imaging informatics platform for HCC surveillance
RP250044
The University of Texas at Austin
Amy Brock
Austin
$763,596
Heterogeneity of resistance to endocrine therapy and Cdk inhibition: An integrated systems biology approach to biologically-informed treatment regimens
RP250055
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
Mingjiang Xu
San Antonio
$900,000
TET2 mutations promote myeloid malignancies by dysregulating m5C oxidation of chromatin-associated RNAs
RP250061
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Federica Pisaneschi
Houston
$900,000
Imaging of cranial radiotherapy neuroinflammatory sequelae by Positron Emission Tomography
RP250062
The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Kevin Nead
Houston
$899,885
Clonal hematopoiesis and toxicity from radiation therapy
RP250069
The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Georgios Karras
Houston
$890,201
HSP90 Capacitance: Discovery of a New Mechanism Driving Evolution of Drug Resistance in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma
RP250090
Rice University
Erzsébet Merényi
Houston
$1,049,434
Artificial Intelligence for Early Identification of Androgen-Indifferent, Lethal Prostate Cancer and Therapy Selection
RP250091
The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Srinivas Malladi
Dallas
$900,000
Dissecting the Survival Mechanisms of Latent Brain-Tropic Cancer Cells for Therapeutic Interventions
RP250094
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
David Gius
San Antonio
$1,390,420
A phase 2 clinical trial with Avasopasem, with anti-estrogen therapy (ET) and a CDK4/6 inhibitor in metastatic breast cancer progressing on ET/CDK4/6 therapy.
RP250097
The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Honami Naora
Houston
$899,984
Deciphering and targeting age-related metastatic competence of the omentum
RP250099
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Wenliang Li
Houston
$900,000
Targeting lethal prostate cancers with a clinical-stage inverse agonist for G protein-coupled receptor 6
RP250118
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
Masahiro Morita
San Antonio
$900,000
Ribosome Localization at Mitochondria-ER Contacts in Obesity-Associated Liver Cancer
RP250119
Baylor College of Medicine
Lisa Kahalley
Houston
$1,200,00
Comparison of Symptom Burden, Neurocognitive Change, and Functional Outcomes in Pediatric Brain Tumor Patients treated with Surgery vs. Surgery and Chemotherapy
RP250131
The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Neeraj Saini
Houston
$1,598,410
Randomized Clinical Trial Evaluating Fecal Microbiota Transplant in Chimeric Antigen Receptor Therapy for Reversing Antimicrobial-Associated Dysbiosis
RP250143
The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Yonathan Lissanu
Houston
$899,991
Understanding and Overcoming Resistance of SMARCA4 Mutant Lung Cancers to Immunotherapy
RP250144
Baylor College of Medicine
Benjamin Deneen
Houston
$1,200,000
Decoding how neuronal activity remodels the epigenome in ependymoma
RP250154
The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
David Fuentes
Houston
$899,808
Improving Detection of Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Non-Cirrhotic Metabolic Dysfunction Associated Steatohepatitis (MASLD) Patients
RP250156
The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Jia Wu
Houston
$1,200,000
Serum cell-free DNA methylation and radiomics signatures for the early detection of recurrence after initial treatment in HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancer
RP250164
Baylor College of Medicine
Ketan Ghaghada
Houston
$1,168,013
Prediction of CAR-T Cell Immunotherapy Outcomes in Neuroblastoma using FE-MRI Nano-radiomics
RP250182
Baylor College of Medicine
Donald (Will) Parsons
Houston
$1,187,187
Implementing Newborn Screening for Pediatric Cancer Predisposition Syndromes in Texas: The INSPECT Study
RP250190
The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Maria Swartz
Houston
$1,199,756
Cancer-Related Fatigue and its Biological Contributors in Adolescent and Young Adult Brain Tumor Survivors: Effects of a Tele-Exercise Intervention
RP250191
The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Wen Jiang
Houston
$898,263
Engineering second generation in vivo chimeric antigen receptor macrophages (CARMs) for glioblastoma therapy
RP250201
The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Maura Gillison
Houston
$899,998
Neoadjuvant combination anti-PD-L1 and anti-TIGIT immune checkpoint blockade in oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma
RP250208
The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Joseph M Ready
Dallas
$900,000
RPS23 is a new drug target to activate the integrated stress response and treat leukemia
RP250213
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
John F Hancock
Houston
$900,000
KRAS spatiotemporal dynamics: lipid glycosylation as a novel therapeutic target
RP250220
The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Andrew Wang
Dallas
$900,000
Decellularized tissue matrices to study the “bad soil” in cancer metastasis
RP250222
The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Don Gibbons
Houston
$899,997
KRAS inhibitor-induced adaptive resistance mechanisms and immune suppression in NSCLC
RP250247
The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
James Yao
Houston
$900,000
Innovative in vitro and in vivo patient-derived cancer models to advance precision medicine in G1/G2 GEP-NETs
RP250269
The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Edwin Ostrin
Houston
$1,169,776
Blood based biomarkers to guide clinical decision making with indeterminate pulmonary nodules.
RP250278
The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Samuel McBrayer
Dallas
$1,198,416
Developmental origins of IDH-mutant glioma in adolescents
RP250280
The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Michalis Agathocleous
Dallas
$900,000
The role of glutathione in leukemia development
RP250282
The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Chen Yao
Dallas
$900,000
Harnessing BACH2 to enhance anti-tumor T cell immunity
RP250293
The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Larissa Meyer
Houston
$1,199,542
Development of a shared decision tool to facilitate uptake of the levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system for the primary prevention of endometrial cancer
RP250305
The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Sean Post
Houston
$896,322
Exploiting synthetic lethalities between HNRNPK loss and ribosomal dysfunction in del9q AML
RP250321
The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Jordi Rodon Ahnert
Houston
$1,599,783
Leveraging synthetic and collateral lethality in MTAP loss tumors
RP250322
The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
John V Heymach
Houston
$900,000
Mechanisms of resistance to tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) and antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) in HER2-mutant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)
RP250355
Baylor College of Medicine
Hashem El-Serag
Houston
$3,000,000
The Texas Collaborative Center for Hepatocellular Cancer (TeCH)
RP250374
The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
James Brugarolas
Dallas
$1,196,812
Dissecting TFE3 Mediated tRCC Tumorigenesis
RP250391
The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Kathryn O'Donnell
Dallas
$900,000
Novel PCDH7 monoclonal antibodies that direct immune surveillance and combat drug resistance in lung cancer
RP250398
The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Faye M Johnson
Houston
$899,994
Synthetic lethality of TRIP13 and Aurora A in Rb-deficient cancer
RP250399
The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Natalie Vokes
Houston
$1,049,033
Dissecting mechanisms of resistance to immune checkpoint blockade in NSCLC through the interplay of molecular and spatial architecture
RP250402
The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Maralice Conacci Sorrell
Dallas
$900,000
Exploiting Tryptophan Metabolite Addiction to identify and Inhibit HCC
RP250407
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Yuri Mackeyev
Houston
$900,000
Protecting the GI tract with a C60 fullerene derivative to facilitate dose-escalated abdominopelvic radiotherapy
RP250418
University of Houston
Lorra Garey
Houston
$1,200,000
Approach Bias Retraining to Augment Long-Term Smoking Cessation Among a Diverse Sample
RP250428
The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Stephen Chung
Dallas
$899,025
Studying Hematopoietic Stem Cells to Predict and Understand Mechanisms of Post-transplant Relapse in the Myelodysplastic Syndromes
To search grant information online, visit our grant database on our website.