Memphis, Tenn. (Oct. 23, 2012) – Glioblastoma, the most common type of malignant brain tumor, is a real killer. Most people die within the first two years of diagnosis regardless of the treatments used. With the help of a grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), a component of the National Institutes of Health, Terreia Jones, PharmD, is researching how drugs used to treat glioblastoma change the tumor cells, in hopes of understanding treatment resistance. There are several different cell types that make up these tumors, and all contribute to drug therapy response.
The $500,000 grant to the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) supports Dr. Jones’ efforts to understand how the drugs used against this disease effect the different cell types that make up the glioblastoma tumors. This work will pave the way to identify new drug targets and treatment approaches for glioblastoma.
The NCI grant will be distributed during a four-year period, and is a major milestone for Dr. Jones’ brain cancer research program because unlike her past grant awards, this is the first NCI-funded grant she has received. Dr. Jones is an assistant professor at the UTHSC College of Pharmacy and collaborates with brain cancer scientists across the country. “I’m very excited about moving this project forward. We believe that this work will lead to important advances in how brain cancer patients are treated in the future,” she said.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH), the nation’s medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
[Research reported was supported by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) under award No. K08CA 163765. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of NIH.]
As the flagship statewide academic health system, the mission of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) is to bring the benefits of the health sciences to the achievement and maintenance of human health, with a focus on the citizens of Tennessee and the region, by pursuing an integrated program of education, research, clinical care, and public service. Offering a broad range of postgraduate and selected baccalaureate training opportunities, the main UTHSC campus is located in Memphis and includes six colleges: Allied Health Sciences, Dentistry, Graduate Health Sciences, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy. UTHSC also educates and trains cohorts of medicine, pharmacy and/or allied health students — in addition to medical residents and fellows — at its major sites in Knoxville, Chattanooga and Nashville. Founded in 1911, during its more than 100 years, UT Health Science Center has educated and trained more than 53,000 health care professionals in academic settings and health care facilities across the state. For more information, visit www.uthsc.edu.