OCAST awards grants to three OSU professors
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Three researchers representing the Oklahoma State University system were recently awarded grants from the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology.
The grants, awarded through the Oklahoma Health Research program of OCAST, will fund
these researchers’ projects for three years. The recipients are Robert Matts and Daqing
(Daching) Piao, both from the Stillwater campus, and Dorothy Turetsky, OSU Center
for Health Sciences in Tulsa.
Dr. Matts, a biochemistry and molecular biology professor and researcher since 1985, is studying the Deleted-in-Breast Cancer-2 gene product and its relationship to cancer. The genetics of this gene product suggest that it is a tumor suppressor protein.
This research will help us better understand how cancer arises and determine how mutations or deletions of the gene contribute to it.
Dr. Piao, who came to OSU in August 2005 as a bioengineering specialist, is developing a method to better identify prostate cancer for more accurate biopsy. This method uses a novel endoscopic near-infrared tomography approach that may be more tissue-specific than current methods.
Near-infrared (NIR) tomography has been recognized as extremely sensitive to the increased microvessel density that occurs in tumor growth. The results of this project could establish an entirely new endoscopic imaging device for cancer diagnosis.
Dr. Turetsky, assistant professor of biochemistry at OSU-Center for Health Sciences, has been awarded a three-year $135,000 grant to study a novel splice variant of the AMPA-type glutamate receptor. Glutamate is the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system and is involved in numerous brain functions ranging from breathing to cognition.
AMPA receptor over-activation contributes to the neuronal damage that occurs in epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease and stroke. The new splice variant affects AMPA receptors in an unexpected way and might lead to innovative, neuroprotective therapeutics.