September 24, 2007                                               

SIU Med School Receives Grants to Study the Spread of Cancer

A research scientist at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in Springfield has been awarded two national grants.  Sophia Ran, Ph.D., assistant professor of medical microbiology, immunology and cell biology and member of the SimmonsCooper Cancer Institute research team, is the principal investigator for the projects.  The research may lead to the control of metastasis, and hence the survival of many cancer patients, because metastatic cancer currently has no or limited treatment options.

Ran received a two-year grant from the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute (NIH/NCI).  The study will test whether a specific antibody can be used to suppress the spread of cancer from lymph nodes to other parts of the body.  The total budget for the grant is $216,750.

Ran received another two-year grant from the William E. McElroy Charitable Foundation.  The study will identify ways to control the spread of cancer in animal models by preventing the formation of lymphatic vessels in tumors.  This will be done through evaluating the effect of specific proteins that may suppress the spread of cancer cells in the body.  The total budget for the grant is $50,000.

This research may improve the control of metastasis, and hence the survival of many cancer patients, because metastatic cancer currently has no or limited treatment solutions.

Ran’s research has been nationally funded for three years, totaling nearly $500,000.  Her research has focused primarily on cancer metastasis, particularly of breast cancer.

Ran joined SIU's faculty in 2003.  She completed postdoctoral fellowships in cellular physiology at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto (1992) and in protein purification and transport at the University of Alabama in Birmingham (1991).  She earned her doctoral degree at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel (1989), her master's at Ben Gurion University in Beer Sheva, Israel (1983) and her bachelor's at Tel Aviv University in Israel (1981).

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