Thursday, September 9, 2010
Eventually, smokers could have a different option for preventing lung cancer.
Emily Scott is researching, with the support of federal grants, the possibility of a new drug that would alleviate the harm of nicotine.
One in five Americans currently smoke and adults aged 18 to 24 make up 21.4 percent of smokers. Both numbers remain steady, according to recent reports from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
“We’re trying to stop the protein that converts nicotine into the cancer-causing molecule,” Scott said. “It wouldn’t treat lung cancer, but it would prevent it for those people who can’t or won’t give up tobacco.”
Dr. Emily Scott, associate professor in chemistry, received a $300,000 grant to further her research in lung cancer. Scott's grant comes from the American Recover and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) which has funded grants to KU totaling over $44 million.
In August 2009, Scott, an associate professor in the department of medicinal chemistry, added a $300,000 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant to the more than $1 million already being used to fund her lung cancer research.
Without the help of federal and private funding, Scott said her research would not have been possible.
The stimulus act, approved by former President George W. Bush and implemented by President Barack Obama in February of 2009, allocated $787 billion to be spent over a period of a couple of years. Of the $787 billion, $275 billion went to contracts, grants and loans, according to www.Recovery.gov.
As of Sept. 3, 74 ARRA awards have been given to Lawrence researchers, totaling $44.7 million.
In 2009, the University received over $200 million for the first time with a total of $207,092,922, according to the sponsored research report prepared by the office of research and graduate studies.
Preliminary reports suggest that in the fiscal year 2010, which ended in June, the University received $238 million. The unusually high amount is mainly due to ARRA grants, Kevin Boatright said.
Boatright, the director of communications for the Office of Research and Graduate Studies, said that this has been an outstanding year in terms of financial awards.
“We’ve really been grateful to the federal government for having done this,” Boatright said. “It helped us keep some good research projects going, as well as maintained or created jobs in many areas.”
Much of research funding goes towards salaries, which includes graduate student salaries, salaries for students who are considered post-doctorate and summer salaries.
The funding also contributes to equipment, construction and laboratory hall renovation.
“Large, external grants are the only way to do research,” Scott said. “This University would not be a research institute otherwise.”
Scott’s ARRA grant requires that the money be spent by the end of this calendar year, although her research won’t conclude then. She said it is a long-term process to develop a drug and they are still in the research lab phase, trying to understand and visibly see what the protein looks like in order to know how to inhibit it.
Scott explained that when people smoke, they smoke for the addictive agent nicotine, which is inhaled and then distributed throughout the body. Nicotine does not cause cancer, but as the body works to get rid of the nicotine, some proteins in the lung convert the nicotine into something that is carcinogenic.
The chemical that is created from nicotine modifies DNA and goes into lung cells, adding itself to a DNA adduct. Adducts cause problems when DNA goes to copy itself or add proteins. Ultimately, the cell replicates itself uncontrollably, resulting in lung cancer.
For Aaron Harris, life-enhancing research such as Scott’s is one of every major university’s obligations.
Harris, a senior from Kansas City, Kan., said research and the grants they require are important.
“College isn’t just to get you a job,” Harris said. “It also gives students and researchers a chance to make scientific and historic breakthroughs that contribute to society.”
— Edited by Alex Tretbar
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