The most recent grant, awarded earlier this year and totaling $795,000 for four years, went to Dr. Xiaodong Cheng for his research in genetics and breast cancer. UTMB officials also received a $120,000 institutional research grant from the society in 1999 to encourage promising cancer researchers in various scientific fields.

Only the top 10 percent of researchers applying for ACS grants receive funding, according to the society.

A scientist at the Sealy Center for Structural Biology and an assistant professor of pharmacology, Cheng will use the grant to fund his study of special proteins called protein kinase A (PKA), which act as molecular signals that control cellular function. One type of PKA is found in various kinds of cancer and apparently plays a role in the cancers’ resistance to chemotherapy treatment. Still another kind of PKA has no link with cancer. Cheng said his research will identify and compare the functions and structures of the two PKA types, which may potentially lead to the development of new anti-cancer treatments.

“Researchers funded by ACS have made outstanding contributions to our understanding and treatment of cancer,” Cheng said. “It is a privilege and honor to receive an ACS Research Scholar grant. With the ACS funding, we will be able to develop some novel approaches to address important biological questions related to cancer.”

Other cancer studies at UTMB are funded by the $120,000 institutional research grant, which has been divided into eight $15,000 grants and awarded to researchers who are just beginning their independent research careers. Applicants receive the start-up grants based on their research viability and individual potential. The researchers use the financial support of the grants to develop preliminary project results that allow them to compete for larger national research grants. Cheng, in fact, benefited from an institutional research start-up grant earlier in his career.

Dr. Alan P. Fields, director of the Sealy Center for Cancer Cell Biology and principal investigator of the ACS institutional research grant at UTMB, said the funding has greatly aided cancer research at the academic health science center. “It has allowed us to fund junior investigators at the critical early stages of their independent cancer research careers. These funds provide the support needed for these young investigators to develop their ideas to the point where they can successfully compete for funding at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and national ACS level. And the program really works; the majority of our awardees have obtained NIH and ACS funding as a result of this program.”

Both Cheng and Fields were highlighted in a recent ACS publication about Houston-Galveston area cancer researchers who receive funding from the organization.