Researcher John J. Wyrick will then use any new information to try and obtain additional funding for a bigger project that includes other proteins and types of cancer.
“Completion of this project will advance our understanding of the epigenetic causes of breast cancer, and hopefully speed the development of new classes of anti-cancer drugs that inhibit cancer growth by reversing these epigenetic changes,” Wyrick said.
Epigenetics is a field of study that aims to turn on genes in the body that are erroneously turned off during the body’s development, and is a new approach to the treatment of cancer, aging and inherited diseases. Wyrick’s project was selected from about eight submitted for the Eagles gift, which was the result of 12 months of fundraising by Eagles members throughout
Wyrick previously assisted in developing an experimental method of mapping altered proteins of normal human cells, and will use this method for the first time to map the proteins in cancer cells. The method uses Gene Chip technology, which basically allows a researcher to monitor and measure various changes in a large number of genes.
“We will use the Eagles gift to purchase the biological samples needed to conduct the proposed experiments,” he said.
Wyrick is an assistant professor of molecular biology and a member of the WSU College of Pharmacy’s Cancer Prevention & Research Center (CPRC), which conducted a competition among its members for the Eagles award.
The award was presented at the Washington State Fraternal Order of the Eagles recent annual convention in
“With recent cuts in federal spending, particularly in the medical sciences, private support from groups like the Eagles is especially important to fighting the war on cancer,” said Gary Meadows, director of the CPRC.
Wyrick, who is collaborating on his project with molecular biology professor Raymond Reeves, was one of several who received a gift from the Eagles, which distributed $107,000 in awards on June 15. Nancy Magnuson, a professor of molecular biology at WSU and a member of the CPRC, has received several gifts from the Eagles over the years and this time around was awarded $5,000 for her work in cancer.
The $15,000 from the national organization came from the Art Ehrmann Cancer Fund, which has given out more than $30 million to universities and research centers in the past 40 years.
WSU’s CPRC has 75 member researchers and clinicians throughout the Inland Northwest and its purpose is to develop new research projects and to educate the public about cancer. Additional information about the center is available online at http://www.cancer.wsu.edu.
