Ellen Beswick, PhD, has received a $1.7 million five-year grant from the NIH's National Cancer Institute to study colorectal cancer. Dr. Beswick is an associate professor at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine's department of molecular genetics and microbiology in Albuquerque.
Here's what you need to know:
1. Dr. Beswick studies granulocyte-colony stimulating factor, a protein which may play a role in colon tumor growth.
2. In the past, she has shown that colon and stomach tumors have more G-CSF and G-CSF receptor than normal tissues, and that blocking G-CSF in mice causes the tumors to shrink. She has also showed that, in mice, blocking G-CSF drew three kinds of immune cells to the tumor.
3. With the NIH grant, Dr. Beswick will study both how G-CSF keeps tumor cells from multiplying and how it affects different immune cells.
4. Dr. Beswick will also use these funds to test her previous findings in human tumor tissues.
5. She hopes her research will lead to the development of a new drug to treat colorectal cancer.