Researchers at the University of Arizona, Tucson recently received a $1.2 million award from the NIH for the Chemoprevention of Skin Cancer Program Project, led by David Alberts, MD. The University of Arizona website says that Alberts has spent his career focusing on translational cancer prevention and treatment research. His main area of expertise is laboratory-based and clinical research investigating the chemoprevention and treatment as such devastating cancers as breast cancer, colon cancer, ovary cancer and skin cancer. He served as the University of Arizona Cancer Center’s director from 2005 to June 2013. The abstract for the project receiving new NIH funding on NIH RePORTER states:
“Skin cancer is the most common malignancy in the world. One out of three new cancers is a skin cancer. More than 1 million cases of non-melanoma skin cancer (basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell cancers) occur annually. While the incidence rates for non-melanoma skin cancers continue to rise, there continues to be a substantial impact on morbidity, health and health care costs. The overall goal of this program project is to employ novel technologies and develop new therapeutic strategies to eradicate intraepithelial neoplasias in the skin (i.e. actinic keratosis, squamous cell carcinoma in situ) and dramatically reduce the risk of squamous cell carcinoma of the skin. Since the key risk factors and signaling pathways in both melanoma and squamous cell skin cancers, appear linked, these strategies will also be tested for efficacy and safety in preclinical melanoma models.”
To achieve the project’s goals, University of Arizona researchers plan to:
- Identify the molecular targets in solar radiation signaling pathways of SCC and melanoma development
- Identify molecular pathways that add to altered terminal differentiation and barrier dysfunction in sun damaged skin
- Select new chemopreventive agents and synthesis of prodrugs that target these molecular targets
- Test the best potential target-specific agents and prodrugs in preclinical pharmacology and toxicology models
- Conduct clinical trials of new IND-registered agents to confirm chemopreventive safety, tolerability and effectiveness
Tucson BioResearch Product Faire™ Event 2012
In addition to this latest NIH grant, the University of Arizona has a great deal of funding available for researchers interested in life science products and lab products. In 2012, the NIH gave the University of Arizona $83.3 million in research funding, while the NSF gave the university $51.5 million in 2012. This money was distributed among various projects in life science disciplines. For a full list of departments and projects receiving NIH and NSF funding at the University of Arizona, Tucson, please visit the NIH website and the NSF website.
If you are a lab supplier working to sell your life science products and lab products and are interested in exhibiting at Arizona life science marketing events, Biotechnology Calendar, Inc. invites you to attend our annual Tucson BioResearch Product Faire™ Event on October 9th, 2013. Last year’s Tucson BioResearch Product Faire™ Event attracted 151 attendees, of which 25 were purchasing agents, professors and post docs, and 25 were lab managers. The attendees came from 23 different research buildings and 41 departments around campus.
Biotechnology Calendar, Inc. is a full-service science research marketing and events-planning company that organizes life science marketing events at top research universities across the country. If you’re interested in marketing your life science products and lab products at life science marketing events closer to home, we encourage you to view our 2013 calendar of events. For more information on the Tucson BioResearch Product Faire™ Event, or for more detailed funding statistics at the University of Arizona, Tucson, click on the button below.
