Duke Pathology Chair Jiaoti Huang, MD, PhD, has received a new five-year National Institutes of Health (NIH) RO1 grant for his project titled “The Role of Focal Adhesion Kinase in Therapy-Resistant Prostate Tumors.” The grant will support the group’s work to study how focal adhesion kinase (FAK) is involved in prostate cancer’s carcinogenesis, therapy resistance, and disease progression. FAK is a crucial signaling component that is activated by numerous stimuli and functions as a biosensor or integrator to control cell motility. And has been shown to have a key role in both normal and tumor cell migration.
Huang’s team will use a variety of techniques and multiple models including cell line models, animal models, and human tissue in their investigation. Dr. Xuesen Dong of the University of British Columbia will serve as a co-principle investigator.
Huang’s prostate cancer research work is extensive, and this is the second RO1 grant that he has received in two years. In January 2022, he was senior author of a groundbreaking study identifying a molecular signal that can be developed into a test to identify patients in need of prostate cancer treatment early in their diagnosis. The study received funding from the NIH (1RO1CA205001, 1RO1CA200853) and the Prostate Cancer Foundation. Read more about it here.
Also, last year the Huang Lab discovered a novel metabolic pathway that is critical for prostate cancer, introducing a new way to control tumor growth. Read more about that study here.