UT Health Science Center San Antonio Secures $1.5M for Advanced Cancer and Alzheimer’s Research

San Antonio, TX – UT Health Science Center Receives Funding for Advanced Research

The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) recently received $1.5 million from the William and Ella Owens Medical Research Foundation to support their continued research efforts. The generous grant will fund eight faculty members and their groundbreaking projects in advancing research into pediatric and pancreatic cancers and Alzheimer’s disease.

Grants to Support Research Progress

Lindsay Helsel, director of corporate and foundation relations in the university’s Office of Institutional Advancement, acknowledged the Research Foundation’s unwavering support. “Since its founding in 1998, the William and Ella Owens Medical Research Foundation has generously supported research efforts at UT Health San Antonio. Our faculty are committed to making lives better and making a difference in understanding with the potential to translate their research findings into future treatments and therapeutics for these complex conditions,” stated Helsel.

Research Recipients and their Projects

The awardees and their associated projects include the Department of Cellular and Integrative Physiology’s Dr. Manzoor Bhat, who will investigate the role of the microglial Ms4a6c in β-amyloid-associated Alzheimer’s disease, and Dr. Sandeep Burma from the Departments of Neurosurgery and Biochemistry and Structural Biology who will work on glioblastoma recurrence after radiotherapy.

The Department of Biochemistry and Structural Biology’s Dr. Yogesh Gupta will work on deciphering BAF assembly for pediatric cancer therapy. Moreover, Dr. Xianlin Han from the Department of Medicine and Sam and Ann Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies will focus on how myelin sulfatide deficiency alters galetin-3 signaling in Alzheimer’s disease.

The Department of Molecular Medicine and Radiation Oncology’s Dr. Sang Lee will be working on identifying APE2 nuclease inhibitors for pancreatic cancers. Dr. Juan Pablo Palavicini, from the Department of Medicine – Division of Diabetes and the Barshop Institute, will focus on modeling late-onset Alzheimer’s via gene-environment interactions.

In addition, Dr. Muralidharan Sargurupremraj from the Department of Cell Biology, Genetics, and Molecular Medicine and the Department of Neurology, and Dr. Pei Wang from the Department of Cell Systems and Anatomy, will research genome-wide gene-environment interactions and CAR-T cell reprogramming for PDAC treatment respectively.

Internal Selection Process

According to Dr. Mark Goldberg, Associate Vice President for Strategic Research Initiatives and professor of neurology, this is the second year that the institution has managed the selection of research awardees internally. Notably, Dr. Patrick Sung, professor of biochemistry and structural biology, and Dr. Sudha Seshadri, professor of neurology, played instrumental roles in the selection process of ensuring that projects with the highest potential for impactful research are advanced.

The recent grant reaffirms UT Health San Antonio’s commitment to leading-edge research to improve treatments and therapies for these complex conditions. The research community in San Antonio and beyond anticipates significant development in pediatric and pancreatic cancers, along with Alzheimer’s disease, as UT Health San Antonio progresses in its pivotal research work.