of Veterans Affairs Healthcare System in Ann Arbor, ApoLife, Inc., and the National Cancer Institute. A second grant was awarded to Bin Teh for the development of the “RenoChip,” a diagnostic and prognostic tool for use against kidney cancer. In addition, the Department of Defense awarded Eric Xu a grant for a three-year study of the structure and function of the androgen receptor in prostate cancer. Eric’s lab aims to make progress in understanding the androgen dependence (or independence) of prostate cancer.
and Mineral Research; in January 2005, we had a featured article in Molecular Cell; and in February, a VARI article in Cancer Cell was the source of the issue’s cover photo. Our investigators have also demonstrated their competitive research abilities in terms of receiving grants for funding of their work. In fiscal year 2004, extramural funding for VARI dramatically increased over that in 2003. Seventeen of our scientists and six of our postdoctoral fellows received funding from 42 grants. Our new major awards have come from a variety of sources. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Cancer Institute (NCI) made two awards to Nick Duesbery. The first was an R01 grant for studying MEK signaling in sarcoma growth and vascularization. The second grant, an R21, was for investigating the antitumor effects of an anthrax toxin moiety (which we have termed tumor lethal factor, or “TLF”) on Kaposi sarcoma. Nick’s lab has been developing TLF as a potential cancer therapeutic. Brian Haab was awarded an R21 NCI grant for a two-year project entitled “Longitudinal CancerSpecific Serum Protein Signatures.” This project seeks to develop protein microarray methods for detecting and diagnosing prostate cancer by examining changes over time in several cancerrelated proteins in serum. And, Art Alberts received an R21 award from the NIH to exploit a discovery in his lab with a long-term goal of developing novel anti-cancer therapies.
Funding from other sources in the past year has included Brian Haab’s grant from DHHS/ NCI via the University of Michigan for a project entitled “Accelerated Cancer Biomarker Discovery.” This project is being undertaken by a consortium of laboratories and focuses on the development and application of new proteomics technologies for cancer biomarker discovery. Bin Teh has received a grant from the Schregardus Family Foundation for a project on renal cell carcinoma (RCC) in which his lab will be studying the prognostic value of genes for improving the clinical management of RCC patients. Bin is also the recipient of a grant from the Gerber Foundation for gene expression profiling in newborns with congenital chromosomal abnormalities. We are also proud that three of our postdoctoral fellows have received awards. Carrie Graveel (Vande Woude lab) and Kate Eisenmann (Alberts lab) have received National Research Service Awards from the NIH, while Jennifer Bromberg-White (Webb lab) received a fellowship award from the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.
The American Cancer Society awarded two Research Scholar Grants to our researchers. One grant, to Art Alberts, is for a four-year project to study Diaphanous-related formins in myelodysplasia. Art has been studying the role of formins in cancer. A second American Cancer Society grant was awarded to Michael Weinreich. Michael is identifying small-molecule inhibitors of Cdc7 kinase for study of its regulation in DNA replication, with a long-term goal of identifying novel targets for cancer diagnosis and therapy.
Looking to the Future We now look to expanding not only our research goals but the Institute itself. On May 17th we celebrated our fifth anniversary, and our CEO, David Van Andel, announced that in 2006 we will begin the second construction phase of our Institute. The new building, a model of which is displayed in the Cook-Hauenstein Hall, will join and mirror our current exceptional facility, but it will provide two-and-a-half times the existing laboratory space, or an additional 150,000 square feet.
Two major grants have also been received from the Michigan Technology Tri-Corridor (MTTC). One award went to Rick Hay for the development of novel agents for nuclear imaging and therapy of Met-expressing human tumors. The project is a collaboration among scientists at VARI, Michigan State University, the Department 4