SIU Researchers Receive State Grants to Study Breast Cancer

By DEAN OLSEN STAFF WRITER

A Springfield-based researcher’s work in probing the inner workings of breast cancer tumors will receive a boost from a $70,000 state grant announced Wednesday.

“Research is the key to a cure,” Dr. Eric Whitaker said during a news conference at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine.

Whitaker, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, announced a total of $700,000 in research grants, including the $70,000 that will go to SIU’s Sophia Ran, an assistant professor of medical microbiology.

Ran, 48, a native of Russia who came to SIU 21/2 years ago from the University of Texas at Dallas, said she will use the money to conduct studies on tissue samples and laboratory mice. The studies will look into why some tumors return despite chemotherapy.

“We’re trying to understand what’s going on at the molecular level and what we can do to suppress it,” she said.

Ran, who is part of the medical school’s Cancer Institute, said she hopes to use her future research findings in collaboration with physicians to develop more effective chemotherapy for patients.

“Our job is to create the prototype of the improved clinical protocol,” she said.

Ran’s grant comes from the state’s Penny Severns Breast, Cervical and Ovarian Cancer Research Fund, named for the late state Sen. Penny Severns of Decatur, who died from breast cancer.

Money is generated for the fund from donations, a state income tax checkoff and general revenue funds.

Other grant recipients included Laura Murphy, an SIU researcher in Carbondale, who will receive $50,000 for breast cancer research.

SIU officials said Murphy will conduct a pilot project looking at the effectiveness of a “drug cocktail” of ginsenosides – the active component in ginseng – in inhibiting the growth of breast cancer cells.

The root of the ginseng plant is a common component in Asian herbal treatments for cancer. Murphy believes the scientific study of ginseng could lead to a novel natural therapy for breast cancer, according to SIU.