A large portion of funds that have been received have been used to create, expand, and enhance shared resource facilities at the Moffitt Cancer Center. Shared Resources house specialized equipment and employ trained scientific staff in a specific scientific discipline. These facilities are shared by all investigators, minimizing the costs of equipment outlay for individual researchers and maximizing efficiency and reproducibility.
Once the ability to perform state-of-the-art genomics studies was ensured through the NFGC's funding of the shared resources, it became clear that a mechanism was needed to encourage the use of these facilities and to promote genomics research being conducted at Moffitt. This was necessary in order to fulfill one of the basic tenets of the establishment of the NFGC: to provide the framework for translational research that results in the rapid development of diagnostic tests and new drug therapies. It was decided that the best way to encourage translational research was to provide “seed” money to individual investigators to establish research projects for pilot research projects on the functional genomics of cancer, particularly as they related to molecular diagnostics and prognostics, predicting response to therapy, and development of new therapeutic modalities.
The call for project proposals was extended to all Moffitt faculty at the rank of Assistant Professor or above. A Working Group of ten Moffitt faculty with expertise in various aspects of genomics research was convened to evaluate the proposals. Proposals were selected based on three main criteria:
After the NFGC received its first year funds, 21 pilot projects of $25,000-$50,000 each were awarded. The investigators and the titles of their projects are listed below:
Resulting publication: Zheng Z, Cantor A, Bepler G. A Global Genome Damage Score Predictive of Lung Cancer Patients Outcome. Oncogene. 2006 July 27; 25(32):4491-4. Epub 2006 Mar 6. PMID: 16518406
Fiskus W, Pranpat M, Bali P, Balasis M, Kumaraswamy S, Boyapalle S, Rocha K, Wu J, Giles F, Manley PW, Atadja P, Bhalla K. Combined effects of novel tyrosine kinase inhibitor AMN107 and histone deacetylase inhibitor LBH589 against Bcr-Abl expressing human leukemia cells. Blood. 2006 Jul 15; 108(2):645-52. Epub 2006 Mar 14. PMID: 16537804 George P, Bali P, Annavarapu S, Scuto A, Fiskus W, Guo F, Sigua C, Sondarva G, Moscinski L, Atadja P, Bhalla K. Combination of histone deacetylase inhibitor LBH589 and the hsp90 inhibitor 17-AAG is highly active against human CML-BC cells and AML cells with activating mutation of FLT-3. Blood. 2005 Feb 15; 105(4):1768-76. Epub 2004 Oct 28. PMID: 15514006 Guo F, Sigua C, Bali P, George P, Fiskus W, Scuto A, Annavarapu S, Mouttaki A, Sondarva G, Wei S, Wu J, Djeu J, Bhalla K. Mechanistic role of heat shock protein 70 in Bcr-Abl-mediated resistance to apoptosis in human acute leukemia cells. Blood. 2005 Feb 1; 105(3): 1246-55. Epub 2004 Sept 23. PMID: 15388581
Resulting publications:
Ma Y, Freeman SN, Cress WD. E2F4 Deficiency Promotes Drug Induced Apoptosis. Cancer Biol Ther. 2004 Dec; 3(12):1262-9 Epub 2004 Dec 14. PMID: 15611646
Rodriguez JM, Glozak MA, Ma Y, Cress WD. Bok, Bcl-2 related ovarian killer, is cell cycle regulated and sensitizes to stress-induced apoptosis. J Biol Chem. 2006 Aug 11; 281(32):22729-35. Epub 2006 Jun 13. PMID: 16772296
Berchuck A, Iversen ES, Lancaster JM, Dressman HK, West M, Nevins JR, Marks JR. Prediction of optimal versus suboptimal cytoreduction of advanced-stage serous ovarian cancer with the use of microarrays. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2004 Apr; 190(4):910-25. PMID: 15118612
Page edited 7/7/09