Everardo Macias, Associate Professor at the Georgia Cancer Center, Augusta University, shared on LinkedIn:
“What a year!
After nearly a decade (literally) of applications, revisions, setbacks, and relentless commitment, our team secured our first NIH R01 earlier this year. We have now received Notices of Award for two additional R01 grants.
In collaboration with Dr. Nenad Bursac at Duke Biomedical Engineering, one of our awards investigates Serine/Threonine Kinase 3 (STK3) as a novel therapeutic target capable of providing dual patient benefit, protecting the heart from chemotherapy‑induced injury while simultaneously suppressing breast cancer progression.
Foundational work for this project was led by my outstanding former students Amelia Schirmer, PhD and Peter Nam.
Our second award, to be conducted with support from Dr. Antonina Mitrofanova at Rutgers University and Dr. Jung Wook Park at Duke University, will define the mechanisms by which NUAK2 drives the transdifferentiation of prostate adenocarcinoma into neuroendocrine prostate cancer, a highly aggressive and therapy‑resistant disease state.
Foundational work for this award was a major team effort, with critical leadership from junior faculty lab member Dr. Umar Mehraj and former student Megan Zhao.
This moment represents far more than just funding, it is momentum, validation, and the beginning of a new chapter for our lab now at the Georgia Cancer Center at Augusta University.
I am incredibly grateful and proud of the trainees, collaborators, and mentors whose dedication and support made this possible. We extend our gratitude to scientific review panelists and program officers at the National Cancer Institute, whose thoughtful evaluation, guidance, and support were instrumental in advancing these applications.
We look forward to carrying out the proposed studies and contributing meaningfully to the Georgia Cancer Center’s mission of advancing cancer research and improving patient outcomes.”
