The Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock | Photo courtesy of UAMS
By TESS VRBIN | Arkansas Advocate
The National Institutes of Health awarded the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences a $5.8 million grant to continue its research into the side effects of cancer treatment, the health system has announced.
The five-year grant will fund the third phase of the UAMS Center for Studies of Host Response to Cancer Therapy, according to a UAMS news release. The research initiative, under the federal Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence, is the nation’s first to solely focus on the side effects of cancer treatments like radiation and chemotherapy, the release states.
Research leader and UAMS professor Marjan Boerma said the funding will allow the initiative to expand its studies into immunotherapy, “which can cause significant, but poorly understood, side effects,” according to the release.
“Most cancer patients experience side effects from their treatment, sometimes mild, sometimes severe,” said Boerma, associate director of basic science at the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute. “If we can predict who will develop those side effects, or develop strategies to reduce them, we can make therapies safer, increase patients’ quality of life and even allow doctors to safely deliver higher doses when needed.”
The Center for Studies of Host Response to Cancer Therapy has supported 12 research project leaders and 14 pilot studies in its first two phases, according to the news release. The Radiation Biology Shared Resource within the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute began as part of this initiative.
The funding for the third phase brings the total federal investment in the project above $27 million in the past decade, the release states.
UAMS has spent years working toward National Cancer Institute (NCI) designation, which would bring in more federal funding for research and create hundreds of new UAMS jobs, the health system has stated.
The Rockefeller Cancer Institute plans to submit its NCI application to the National Institutes of Health in January, Arkansas Business reported in August. If successful, UAMS would be home to the first NCI-designated in Arkansas, Mississippi or Louisiana.
President Donald Trump’s administration has proposed a 40% National Institutes of Health budget cut, and the potential impact on the NCI application and designation process is unclear, Arkansas Business reported.
Discover more from
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
