The Arkansas Breast Cancer Research Program (ABCRP), a statewide fund administered by the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, has awarded $400,000 in grants to support research focused on improving prevention, detection, and treatment options to ultimately alleviate the burden of breast cancer.
Established through the Arkansas Breast Cancer Act of 1997, this marks the 29th year of funding innovative research. Each year, the program funds several, two-year $50,000 pilot awards and one, two-year $250,000 investigator award. The program is open to faculty from all institutions of higher learning in Arkansas.
Amit K. Tiwari, PhD, professor of pharmaceutical sciences, associate dean of research and graduate studies, and director of graduate programs with the UAMS College of Pharmacy, has been awarded the two-year Principal Investigator Award of $250,000. A board-certified toxicologist, Tiwari leads the Cancer and Systems Therapeutics program, focusing on clinical strategies for therapy-resistant cancers. This award will help fund his project, entitled “Drp1-Targeted Immunogenic Cell Death to Overcome Chemoresistant TNBC.”
Three additional UAMS researchers were awarded $50,000 pilot awards. They are:
-Donald J. Johann Jr., MD, MSc, professor in the College of Medicine Department of Biomedical Informatics, and scientific director in the UAMS Genomics Facility. Funding will support his project entitled “Approaching Virtual Clinical Trials by Unlocking Archival FFPE Breast Cancer Specimens: Demonstration of Analytical Validity.”
-Zhiqiang Qin, MD, PhD, associate professor in the College of Medicine Department of Pathology. Funding will support his project entitled “Identification of SPG21 as a New Oncogene in Triple Negative Breast Cancer.”
-Shelbie D. Stahr, PhD, MPH, assistant professor in the Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health Department of Environmental Health Sciences. Funding will support her project entitled “Environmental Metal Exposure and Breast Cancer Risk: Integrating Geospatial and Biomarker-Based Assessment in Arkansas Women.”