HOBOKEN, N.J. — The National Institute of Health (NIH) has awarded a research grant to Jun F. (James) Liang, Ph.D., Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Stevens Institute of Technology.
Liang will serve as the Principal Investigator for project, “Design of Peptides as New Anti-Cancer Drugs.” Each year, more than one million Americans will be diagnosed with cancer and approximately 600,000 Americans will die of cancer, more than 1,500 people a day. Anticancer drugs currently on the market are not yet effective enough to cure cancers for number of reasons. Most patients experience beneficial response at the beginning of therapy. Unfortunately, with time, therapy has to be altered or stopped because the cancer cells are no longer killed or controlled by currently available drugs because of the development of so-called drug resistance. Currently, anti-cancer drug therapy has reached limits of improvement achievable by increasing the dose to the maximum tolerable (MTD) levels or raising the MTD through improved host rescue methods. Therefore, new classes of drugs with novel mechanisms of action which allow for effective killing of cancer cells while sparing normal cells are in great demand. “Our lab is working on the development of ‘smart’ peptide drugs for improved cancer therapy. Smart peptides are designed to be activated at tumor sites only and thus can kill cancer cells selectively without damaging normal tissues. More importantly, these peptide drugs have proven to be highly active to both drug sensitive and drug resistant cancers through well designed studies on cultured tumor cells and created tumor animal models. The success of this research may provide a new opportunity for cancer patients who have failed to respond to current chemotherapy,” said Liang.
About Stevens Institute of Technology
Founded in 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is one of the leading technological universities in the world dedicated to learning and research. Through its broad-based curricula, nurturing of creative inventiveness, and cross disciplinary research, the Institute is at the forefront of global challenges in engineering, science, and technology management. Partnerships and collaboration between, and among, business, industry, government and other universities contribute to the enriched environment of the Institute. A new model for technology commercialization in academe, known as Technogenesis®, involves external partners in launching business enterprises to create broad opportunities and shared value. Stevens offers baccalaureates, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science and management, in addition to a baccalaureate degree in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The university has a total enrollment of 1,850 undergraduate and 2,980 graduate students, and a worldwide online enrollment of 2,250, with a full-time faculty of 140. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.stevens.edu. For the latest news about Stevens, please visit www.StevensNewsService.com.