Today, the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) awarded the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center $ 4 million in ongoing funding for the MD Anderson Cancer Center’s CPRIT research training program, which offers fundamental, interdisciplinary and innovative training in cancer research for fundamental and translational scientists. The renewal of the grant funds the program for another five years.

The program has three streams: the CPRIT TRIUMPH Postdoctoral Program (Translational Research in Multidisciplinary Programs), the CPRIT Graduate Scholar Program, and the CPRIT Undergraduate Research Summer Program. Since the inception of the program in 2010, 447 undergraduates, 52 doctoral students. graduate students and 36 postdoctoral fellows have followed these leads, and he has received three CPRIT grant renewals.

“We are thrilled to receive this renewal grant and to have the opportunity to continue our impactful training program at MD Anderson,” said Khandan Keyomarsi, Ph.D., Program Co-Director and Professor of Radiation Oncology. experimental. “We sincerely appreciate the support from CPRIT, our institutional support and our many dedicated mentors, all of whom have contributed significantly to the success of our program.

Students from all areas of the program have excelled in their education and careers in STEM. For example, seven students who participated in the CPRIT CURE 2020 undergraduate summer program received the prestigious Goldwater scholarship. One of the graduate researchers received a Fulbright Fellowship in 2019, and several have published high profile, leading publications in journals such as Cell and Nature Communications. Its postdoctoral fellows also continue to amass first-authored publications in leading journals such as Cancer Discovery and Cancer Cell, and to gain independent research support, including the NIH K00, F32, and R01 Diversity Supplement awards. . Additionally, the results of the program indicate similar successes for minority and non-minority students, suggesting that it helps remove barriers to advancement in cancer research.

“With this renewed funding, we plan to continue to expand our mentoring and training opportunities, recruit top talent, and conduct research alongside our esteemed academic mentors,” said Stephanie Watowich, Ph.D., co-director of the program and professor of immunology.

Since its inception, CPRIT has awarded $ 2.73 billion in grants for cancer research, of which MD Anderson and his projects received approximately 20% of the total grants. The agency began providing funds in 2010 after Texas voters overwhelmingly approved a 2007 constitutional amendment committing $ 3 billion to fight cancer. In November 2019, voters approved another amendment to the Texas constitution that will fund CPRIT with an additional $ 3 billion over the next 10 years.

The programs facilitated by the CPRIT funding have reached Texans in all 254 counties of the state, advanced scientific and clinical knowledge, brought more than 200 eminent researchers to Texas, and provided more than 7.1 million educational services, training, prevention and early detection of cancer in Texans.

“We are grateful for CPRIT’s support for MD Anderson’s vital programs,” said Peter WT Pisters, MD, President, MD Anderson. “The funds received today will enable the MD Anderson Cancer Center’s CPRIT research training program to continue to educate the next generation of cancer researchers, which will have a lasting impact on their professional and academic careers as well as on the future of cancer research, prevention, treatment and treatment. survival. “