Six cancer researchers have been selected by the Georgia Cancer Coalition (GCC) as recipients of the 2010 Cancer Research Awards, made possible through voluntary donations to the Georgia Cancer Research Fund on State Income Tax forms.

Awardees, selected from twelve proposals, include:

• Khalid Salaita, Ph.D., an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Emory University, studying Notch signaling in breast cancer. This grant will ultimately help generate preliminary data critical to applying for National Cancer Institute (NCI) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants.
• Yuan Liu, Ph.D., an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology, Division of Cellular Molecular Biology and Physiology at Georgia State University, studying the inflammatory response in colon cancer.
• Ravi Bellamkonda, Ph.D., a GCC Scholar and a Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech, studying how to mark brain tumor margins using a dye visible to the naked eye, so as to provide accurate visual cues to the surgeon during surgery.
• Muthusamy Thangaraju, Ph.D., an Assistant Professor at the Medical College of Georgia, who will use these funds to continue to study breast cancer biology in the area of tumor suppressor genes and signaling mechanisms related to breast cancer.
• Robert McKallip, Ph.D., an Assistant Professor of Immunology in the Division of Basic Medical Sciences at Mercer University School of Medicine in Macon, who is studying new adjuvant therapies for treating malignant melanoma. This grant will help develop the data necessary to support his study’s hypothesis, thus strengthening his proposal for an NIH award.
• Zachary Wood, Ph.D., an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Georgia in Athens, studying how to slow metastasis and prevent drug resistance in colorectal and lung cancer. Preliminary data from this study will make a grant application to NIH more competitive.

    Each scientist will receive a one-year, $50,000 grant. This is the first year that Cancer Research Awards were made available to study all types of cancer. Legislation passed in 2009 removed prior restrictions to research in the areas of breast, prostate, or ovarian cancer.

       “These research awards are important to our state’s scientists,” says Bill Todd, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Georgia Cancer Coalition.  “It is a testament to the growing focus on cancer research among Georgia’s clinical and research investigators. We owe the program’s success to our citizens who support the drive to eradicate cancer.”

      Since the 2000 inception of the State Income Tax Checkoff program, $2.75 million has been raised for cancer research, which is matched by each researcher’s organization.  Sixty-one awards have been made possible by these generous contributions of Georgia’s citizens. A committee comprised of leading cancer researchers and clinicians conducted the competitive, peer-reviewed grant process. 

       For more information on Georgia’s Income Tax Checkoff program to benefit cancer research, go to the Georgia Cancer Coalition website at www.georgiacancer.org or call 404-584-7720.