August 21, 2014

Lee Dolat, a PhD candidate in the Spiliotis lab, has been awarded a prestigious Ruth L. Kirschstein pre-doctoral fellowship award (F31) from the National Institutes of Health. Funded by the National Cancer Institute, the grant is entitled “Regulation of cell migration by septin 2 in renal cancer” and focuses on the mechanisms by which septins, a family of proteins whose levels are abnormally increased in renal cancers, contribute to renal cancer metastasis. In collaboration with the laboratories of Dr. Tanya Svitkina (University of Pennsylvania) and Dr. Edna Cukierman (Fox Chase Cancer Center), this study will employ high-resolution microscopy and novel biomimetic three-dimensional matrices to explore the genetic and pharmacological targeting of septins as a therapeutic strategy against renal cancer metastasis.

Congratulations!