Dr. George-Lucian Moldovan, Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and member of the Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute Experimental Therapeutics Program was awarded the V Scholar Career Development Grant from the Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research. Founded in 1993 by the famous college basketball coach Jim Valvano and ESPN, The Jimmy V Foundation supports basic cancer research with the ultimate aim of eradicating this disease. Jim Valvano, diagnosed with terminal cancer at the young age of 46, recognized the need to invest in young physicians and scientists to help establish their careers. The V Scholar concept was developed in 1994 to address this need to help early-career cancer investigators develop into promising future research talents.
Dr. Moldovan will use the V Scholar award to investigate how DNA repair dysfunctions participate in cancer formation, with a major focus on leukemia. Cancer cells acquire genetic mutations with much higher frequency than normal cells. This genetic instability enables them to inactivate cellular mechanisms that would normally keep in check proliferation and growth, and became cancerous. Dr. Moldovan’s laboratory previously described a novel mechanism that preserves genomic stability, centered on the DNA repair factor PARI. Recently, Dr. Moldovan found this mechanism to be improper in cancer cells. The goal of Dr. Moldovan’s research is to understand how cancer cells benefit from PARI dysregulation. This will allow designing improved strategies for cancer treatment and prevention.
Moldovan laboratory: http://www2.med.psu.edu/biochemistry/faculty/graduate-faculty/moldovan-lab/
Jimmy V foundation: http://www.jimmyv.org/