Nicholas Wallace, an assistant professor in the Kansas State University Division of Biology, has received a $454,466 grant for cancer research.
The R15 Academic Research Enhancement Award comes from the National Cancer Institute of Health and is for Wallace’s study titled, “HPV Oncogenes Dysregulate Translesion Synthesis.”
Wallace is studying the resistance of certain cervical cancers to Cisplatin, a drug that is largely effective in treating cervical-cancer tumors.
More specifically, Wallace and his team are looking at how to identify Cisplatin resistance in cervical-cancer cells and the different features that make certain cancers resistant to the drug.
According to Wallace, the goal is to help doctors identify cervical cancers that are resistant to Cisplatin so that they can find a different method of treatment.
Wallace and his team have already found that cancerous cervical cells build a resistance to Cisplatin through translesion synthesis, or adjusting their response to sunlight damage.
The nearly half-million dollar grant will help Wallace’s team expand on the initial studies, which were done through the Johnson Cancer Research Center located at K-State.
Wallace specializes in studying the Human Papillomavirus, also known as HPV, which is a cancer-causing pathogen.
