UM Team Awarded Prestigious Research Grant

You are here

Thu, July 25, 2013

Dr. Arul Chinnaiyan and his team have been awarded 1 of 4 research grants ($7.97 million pending) from the National Institutes of Health to explore the use of genome sequencing in medical care. The new grants are funded as part of the National Human Genome Research Institute's (NHGRI) Clinical Sequencing Exploratory Research (CSER) program. NHGRI is part of NIH.

The team will sequence the genomes of tumors from 500 patients with advanced sarcoma or other rare cancers to discover new information about genomic alterations, with the goal of eventually customizing therapies. Few clinical trials have been conducted in most rare cancers, and scientists would like to know more about the genetic underpinnings of these diseases. Investigators also plan to evaluate the patient consent process, and the delivery and use of genome sequencing results.

Several CBSSM-affiliated faculty are involved with this project, including Scott Kim, Scott Roberts, Raymond De Vries, Brian Zikmund-Fisher, as well as Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Michele Gornick.