Research Spotlight > Archives
Randle Gallucci
Wound Healing
Dr. Randle Gallucci recently received an RO3 award from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health (NIAAA, NIH). The two year award is $100,000 in direct costs and will be active from April 1, 2006 through March 31, 2008. The name of the research is "Gender Differences in Liver IL-6R Expression."
An R03 is considered a small grant award mechanism. It is designed for very targeted areas of research which can be accomplished with a restricted budget in a smaller timeframe.
When asked about this research, Dr. Gallucci explained that his laboratory is investigating why women have worse alcoholic liver disease as compared to men. It looks like it has something to do with increased inflammation in the liver. The lab has found a specific inflammatory gene (interleukin 6 receptor) is increased in the livers of alcohol consuming female rats as compared to males. He hopes to find out why this gene is upregulated in females, and perhaps manipulate its function to see if that will decrease alcoholic liver damage.
Dr. Gallucci also has an RO1 award from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Institutes of Health (NIGMS, NIH) entitled, "Identification of an IL-6 induced keratinocyte motogen." This project deals with the role of inflammation in skin wound healing. The point of the project to find out how a specific inflammatory gene is aiding healing, and through its manipulation help patients with chronic ulcers. This is a five year award, and this past year May 1, 2005 through April 30, 2006 marked the third year of this research.
Thomas
Pento
Breast Cancer
Cancer has been the focus of Dr. Tom Pento’s research for the past 20 years. Dr. Pento, a pharmacy professor at the College of Pharmacy, and a leading researcher at the OU Cancer Center, said scientists will not beat cancer with one drug or one treatment, but will soon succeed in producing medicines that will stop the disease that affects nearly half of all men and a little over one third of all women in the United States in their lifetimes.
Working with Dr. Xiao-Ping Zang, Pento’s lab is exploring Keratinocyte Growth Factor (KGF), an element produced in the supportive tissue around the tumor. KGF speeds the growth and migration of cancer cells.
In other research, Dr. Pento is working with Dr. Roger Harrison, an OU chemical engineering professor, to develop a protein compound that would deprive a cancer cell of a specific protein it needs to spread. They have applied for a patent on their work and hope to turn it into a viable treatment in 10-15 years.