For Release: July 11, 2013
Contact: Derik Hertel, (603) 650-1211 or Derik.Hertel@Dartmouth.edu
Cancer Researchers at Geisel School of Medicine Receive Waxman Foundation Grant
Hanover, NH—Chromosomal instability (CIN) is a major player in the development of cancerous tumors, including lung cancer, and understanding the mechanisms and contributions of CIN has long been elusive.
But growing evidence in molecular and cellular biology research is revealing those underlying mechanisms along with the biological and clinical significance of chromosome missegregation.
Duane Compton, PhD, professor of biochemistry at Geisel School of Medicine, and Ethan Dmitrovsky, MD, formerly professor of pharmacology and toxicology at Geisel, and a practicing oncologist but now provost and executive vice president at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, received $100,000 from the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation to fund their ongoing collaborative research examining how instability in the cells' genetic material influences tumor growth.
This important collaboration, targeting chromosomal instability in lung cancer, brings together Compton's expertise in cell biology and Dmitrovsky's deep understanding of pharmacology in order to improve our understanding of cancer and its treatment.
"This grant supports our work together to define the pathways that cause genetic instability in cancer as well as to exploit those pathways for therapeutic effect," says Compton.
The Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation is an international organization dedicated to curing and preventing cancer. Since its inception in 1976, the foundation has awarded more than $85 million to support the work of more than 200 researchers worldwide.
To read more about the Waxman Foundation, visit: http://waxmancancer.org.
The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, founded in 1797, strives to improve the lives of the communities it serves through excellence in learning, discovery, and healing. The nation's fourth-oldest medical school, the Geisel School of Medicine has been home to many firsts in medical education, research and practice, including the discovery of the mechanism for how light resets biological clocks, creating the first multispecialty intensive care unit, the first comprehensive examination of U.S. health care variations (The Dartmouth Atlas), and helping establish the first Center for Health Care Delivery Science, which launched in 2010. As one of America's top medical schools, Dartmouth's Geisel School of Medicine is committed to training new generations of diverse health care leaders who will help solve our most vexing challenges in health care.
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