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Cancer Research at Albany Medical College Awarded Nearly $5 Million in Federal Funding

The Center for Cell Biology and Cancer Research at Albany Medical College has been awarded four grants, totaling $5 million, by the National Institutes of Health to further focus on understanding cellular function in normal and disease states and facilitate the application of new findings not only to the field of cancer biology, but also to a variety of other diseases including atherosclerosis, arthritis and diabetes.

Paula McKeown-Longo, Ph.D., professor and co-director of the Center for Cell Biology and Cancer Research, has received a five-year, $1.75 million grant to study cross-talk among cellular receptors in the tumor microenvironment. These studies will help identify the mechanisms used by tumor cells to weaken normal tissue processes to promote their own growth and survival.

Michelle R. Lennartz, Ph.D., professor, has been awarded a two-year, $495,000 grant to study the effect of immune cell receptors on the development of atherosclerotic plaques. This award will help identify molecules that play a role in plaque rupture and stroke.

Susan LaFlamme, Ph.D., professor, has been awarded a four-year $1.4 million grant to study the regulation of the assembly of the intracellular machinery necessary for proper segregation of genetic material necessary for cellular division. When not regulated, this ‘machinery’ can cause both birth defects and cancer.

Michael DiPersio, Ph.D., associate professor, has been awarded a four-year, $1.3 million grant to study how a particular integrin receptor expressed in skin and breast cancer controls the genes that help drive malignant tumor growth.  

“Research continues to flourish at Albany Med,” said Vincent Verdile, M.D., dean of Albany Medical College and executive vice president for health affairs. “We are incredibly proud of our research pursuits in cancer and cell biology, and the promise that the discoveries made in our laboratories may one day lead to new diagnostic techniques, treatments and therapies that could improve the quality of life of so many afflicted by cancer and other related diseases. These recent awards granted by the NIH serve as testimony to the outstanding work being done right here in Albany.”