SIU Med School Receives Breast Cancer Research Grant

A research scientist at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in Springfield has been awarded a two-year grant from the William E. McElroy Charitable Foundation to study drug resistance in breast cancer. Total budget for the grant is $50,000.

The study will look at cultures obtained from breast cancer cells to learn how different proteins in the cells are modified. Breast cancer cells resistant to chemotherapy drugs will be compared to cancer cells killed by the same drugs. This research has important implications for future development of a drug resistant profile, which would allow physicians to tailor cancer treatment for individual patients. It may also provide valuable information for the development of new drugs to improve conventional cancer therapy.

Rita Trammell, Ph.D., assistant professor of orthopaedics and rehabilitation, is the principal investigator for the project and Yin Yuan Mo, Ph.D., assistant professor of medical microbiology, immunology and cell biology, is the co-investigator for the project. Both are members of the research team involved with the SIU Cancer Institute.

Trammell's research has been funded for eight years by the William E. McElroy Charitable Foundation for a total of $304,253. Her previous research focused on evaluating tumor immune response.

Trammell joined SIU's faculty in 1995. She earned her doctoral degree in medical microbiology and immunology from SIU School of Medicine (1995) and her bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois at Springfield (1988).

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