Funds to develop transformative technologies not currently available in Texas
Contact: Steven Lee, 210-450-3823, lees22@uthscsa.edu
Content provided by Jane Alvarez-Hernandez
SAN ANTONIO, June 18, 2025 – The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) is taking the lead in targeting hard-to-treat cancers and boosting vaccination rates for the human papillomavirus (HPV) that leads to cancer with nearly $3.4 million in latest funding from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT).
The state agency, which focuses on funding evidence-based cancer research and prevention efforts, now has awarded $167 million to UT Health San Antonio since 2010.
More than $2.4 million of the latest support will expand core facilities at the university with groundbreaking technology available nowhere else in the state to address drug-resistant cancers, with $975,000 funding a community-based intervention program to increase vaccination rates for HPV among adolescents in Bexar County.
“Our researchers receiving highly competitive awards, such as CPRIT, to improve the lives of Texans, is a testament to the excellence of UT Health San Antonio’s research enterprise and demonstrates the extraordinary science conducted here,” said Jennifer Sharpe Potter, PhD, MPH, UT Health San Antonio senior vice president for research.
“CPRIT is the largest state cancer research investment in the United States and the second-largest cancer research and prevention program in the world,” she said. “This recognition spotlights UT Health San Antonio’s ability to attract top-tier talent, which drives pioneering discoveries and advances health innovation on an international scale.”
Targeting drug-resistant cancers
Daohong Zhou, MD, tenured professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Structural Biology in the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine, at UT Health San Antonio, received CPRIT’s academic research award to expand the university’s core facilities laboratories to increase researchers’ ability to better identify therapeutic targets and develop technologies to target hard-to-treat cancers.
Zhou, who serves as the director of the Target Discovery Core at the Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute and associate director for drug development at the Mays Cancer Center, both at UT Health San Antonio, and director of the institution’s Center for Innovative Drug Discovery, said that while there has been significant progress in treating cancers, there still are big challenges, especially with certain tough-to-treat pediatric and adult cancers like brain tumors, soft tissue sarcomas and those that do not respond well to current therapies.
“The absence of core facilities for target identification and validation (TIV) in Texas has limited the success in discovering and developing new cancer therapeutics because TIV is essential for drug discovery and development,” Zhou said.
“In addition,” he said, “the CPRIT award will allow us to acquire and develop new TIV technologies, including the state-of-the-art arrayed CRISPR knockout screening for TIV and groundbreaking small molecule degrader (SMD) discovery platform for screening SMDs to target undruggable proteins, which are not available in any other core facilities in Texas.”
Community-based intervention
Erika L. Thompson, PhD, MPH, associate professor in the Department of Quantitative and Qualitative Health Sciences at The University of Texas School of Public Health San Antonio at UT Health San Antonio, in collaboration with The University of Texas at San Antonio, received her CPRIT prevention grant for the community-based intervention program of HPV vaccination of adolescents locally. HPV can lead to several different types of cancers in men and women later on. Therefore, improving vaccination rates is an effective way to reduce cancer risk and help prevent HPV-related cancers.
The project will integrate and adapt the “All for Them” vaccination program, an evidence-based, culturally appropriate, bilingual initiative run by Paula Cuccaro, PhD, at UTHealth Houston School of Public Health for the delivery and coordination of the program’s social marketing campaign. UT Health San Antonio’s School of Nursing will deliver the HPV vaccines. The team will collaborate with community organizations and community health workers that work closely with underserved communities to administer communitywide vaccination services, including in after-school programs.
“The project’s focus on reaching underserved populations ensures that it addresses the most pressing barriers to vaccination,” Thompson said. “By increasing community demand for the HPV vaccine, improving access to vaccination services, and building trust in vaccine safety and efficacy, this intervention aims to make meaningful progress toward reducing HPV-related cancer incidences and mortality in Texas.”
”With the UT School of Public Health San Antonio being among the newest schools of public health in Texas, we are proud of Dr. Thompson and team receiving these CPRIT funds to support their ongoing work,” said Tracey Barrnett, PhD, associate professor and chair in the Department of Quantitative and Qualitative Health Sciences. “This project represents public health in action, working with local community organizations to deliver science-based solutions for cancer prevention for all Texans.”
Research impact in Texas and beyond
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is a world-class research university that was recently awarded the prestigious Research 1 (R1) designation by the American Council on Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in their 2025 Carnegie Classifications of Institutions of Higher Education.
This designation firmly establishes UT Health San Antonio among the nation’s elite research universities, ranking it in the top 5% of U.S. institutions and underscores its prominent role in groundbreaking biomedical research and advancing medical education.
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) is one of the country’s leading health science and research universities. With missions of teaching, research and patient care, its schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry, health professions, graduate biomedical sciences and public health have graduated more than 45,000 alumni who are leading change, advancing their fields and renewing hope for patients and their families throughout South Texas and the world. To learn about the many ways “We make lives better®,” visit UTHealthSA.org.
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The Mays Cancer Center at UT Health San Antonio is one of only four National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Centers in Texas. The Mays Cancer Center provides leading-edge cancer care, propels innovative cancer research and educates the next generation of leaders to end cancer in South Texas. In 2017, Mays Cancer Center became one of a select few centers in the nation to partner with MD Anderson Cancer Center, expanding access to cancer treatments that are among the most advanced in the nation–close to home. To learn more, visit https://cancer.uthscsa.edu.
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