MARION, OH (CRAWFORD COUNTY NOW)—Two Ohio State University professors at the Marion campus have been awarded a $157,500 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for their collaborative cancer research. The funding will support their project, which aims to understand the role of a specific gene complex in DNA repair and its connection to cancer.
Dr. Ruben Petreaca, an associate professor of molecular genetics, and Dr. Renee Bouley, an assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry, received the grant for their proposal, “TIP60-chromatin remodeling complex roles in chromosome break repair.”
According to Petreaca, the research will focus on mapping mutations in the TIP60-chromatin remodeling complex and determining their incidence in cancer cells. “The basic aim of the research is to uncover mutation patterns and functions of genes,” Petreaca said. He explained that these mutations and larger chromosomal rearrangements, which arise from improper DNA damage repair, are key drivers of cancer progression.
Petreaca emphasized that the success of their grant application was due in part to “aggressive grant writing and peer reviewed publications involving undergraduate students.” The project will continue to offer research opportunities for undergraduate students at Ohio State Marion, providing them with valuable experience for graduate school or scientific careers.
While the research is not expected to lead directly to new cancer therapies, the data generated could be used by future clinical scientists to “inform therapeutic strategies,” Petreaca noted.
The collaboration leverages the complementary expertise of the two scientists, with Petreaca’s background in genetics and Bouley’s in protein structural biochemistry. “Analyzing these data requires annotation of DNA sequence as well as understanding how mutations affect 3-dimensional protein folding,” Petreaca said.
Both professors see this grant as a foundational step. “The goal is to produce preliminary data for a larger National Cancer Institute grant,” Petreaca said, with the hope of using their findings to secure future funding for more extensive research.