A grant of $1.8 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will allow researchers at the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey to investigate a link between the protein Sox9 and lung cancer. Previously, the protein was shown to be an important part of the biological machinery that controls genetic activation, making it potentially a key part of the metastasis of lung cancer. It has also been linked with low rates of lung-cancer survival.

2.  A grant of $1.8 million from the National
Institutes of Health (NIH) will allow
researchers at the Rutgers Cancer Institute
of New Jersey to investigate a link between
the protein Sox9 and lung cancer.
Previously, the protein was shown to be an
important part of the biological machinery
that controls genetic activation, making it
potentially a key part of the metastasis of
lung cancer. It has also been linked with
low rates of lung-cancer survival.

3.  The research will be far reaching. First, the
team will figure out how Sox9 works in
conjunction with multiple pathways for lung
cancer. It will then look into the protein’s role in
the development of lung cancer and try to
figure out how it impacts the progression of
tumors. Finally, the team will develop a new
treatment with the goal of limiting the
production of Sox9 in cancerous cells in the
lungs. The NIH grant will fund the research
through 2019, and the investigative team will
include professors in the fields of
pharmacology, molecular biology and
biochemistry, and medicine.