MU Biomedical - News

Dr. Dasgupta Wins FAMRI Award
(article taken from MU-Advance)

The Flight Attendant Medical Research Institute (FAMRI) has awarded Dr. Piyali Dasgupta a $300,000 award toward her lung cancer research.  Formed in response to a successful lawsuit seeking compensation for smoke-related injuries, the FAMRI’s mission is to curtail the incidence of death related to tobacco smoke and to increase awareness among health care providers.  Through a $300 million settlement from the tobacco industry, the FAMRI funds four types of awards: Center of Excellence, Clinical Innovators, Young Clinical Scientists, and Dr. William Cahan Distinguished Professors.  Dr. Dasgupta is the recipient of a Young Clinical Scientist Award.  According to the FAMRI website, this type of award was designed to help prepare and support new clinical investigators, particularly research fellows and junior faculty members, to provide the bridge between the clinic and the laboratory for the critical translation of basic research findings into diagnostic and therapeutic approaches” (http://www.famri.org/researchers/awards_history.html).

Through her research, Dr. Dasgupta has found that there is a correlation between two chemicals found in cigarette smoke, nicotine and NNK [4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone], and the development of lung cancer.  The research funded by FAMRI will focus on nicotine stimulation of acetylcholine production, which promotes the growth of lung cancer cells.  Specifically, Dr. Dasgupta and her lab will seek to determine whether nicotine and NNK influence proteins that create or break down acetylcholine.  The overall goal of the project is to identify a novel target for the development of a drug directed against lung cancer. 

The $300K award will be divided into $100,000 installments distributed over the course of three years.  The grant began July 1st.  At the end of the award, Dr. Dasgupta will be eligible to apply for a two-year renewal, potentially increasing the grant total to $500,000.