The William and Ella Owens Medical Research Foundation is awarding $1.5 million to UT Health San Antonio to support research projects that address brain cancers, pancreatic cancers, Alzheimer’s disease and childhood cancers.
This year, the foundation will fund eight research projects from UT Health San Antonio investigators. This year’s recipients of the award their projects are as follows:
Nicolas Honnorat, PhD, professor in the Department of Population Health Sciences with a joint appointment at the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases.
Project title: Neuroimaging models of tau and beta-amyloid accumulation in Alzheimer’s Disease
Maria Gaczynska, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Molecular Medicine.
Project title: Novel proteasome-activating compounds for treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease
Myron Ignatius, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Molecular Medicine with a joint appointment at the Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute.
Project title: Targeting SNAI2 resistance mechanisms in pediatric RAS mutant rhabdomyosarcomas
Margaret Flanagan, MD, professor in the Department of Pathology with a joint appointment at the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases.
Project title: Investigating tri-glial dysfunction and TDP43 in Alzheimer’s Disease progression
Feng-Chun Yang, MD, PhD, tenured professor in the Department of Cell Systems and Anatomy and the A.B. Alexander Distinguished Chair in Cancer Research.
Project title: Exploration of a novel therapeutic strategy for pediatric T-acute lymphoblastic leukemia
Manjeet Rao, PhD, professor in the Department of Cell Systems and Anatomy.
Project title: Targeting metabolic vulnerabilities in pediatric brain tumor
Shaun Olsen, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Structural Biology.
Project title: Structure and function of RAD51 paralogs in homologous recombination
Daohong Zhou, MD, professor with tenure in the Department of Biochemistry and Structural Biology, associate director for drug development at the Mays Cancer Center and director of the Center for Innovative Drug Discovery.
Project title: Develop an improved second-line therapy for relapsed and refractory pancreatic cancer