The American Cancer Society has awarded Greg Oakley, Ph.D., a cancer researcher at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) College of Dentistry, a $720,000 grant to study DNA damage and how cells repair themselves.
Oakley studies the process by which cells, good or bad, are damaged by chemotherapy and looks for ways to protect the healthy cells, according to the university. He hopes to do this by targeting a protein called replication protein A (RPA).
"Once a cell is damaged, RPA jumps into action to begin the repair process by recruiting other proteins," Oakley said a press release. "If we can find a way to inhibit the activation of this protein in cancer cells, then it could be a useful target for cancer therapy."
Oakley, who has degrees in toxicology and pharmacy, came to the College of Dentistry in 2006 from the University of Cincinnati Medical Center where he first studied RPA in 1996.
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