CLEVELAND - The National Institutes of Health has rewarded a three-year $445,500 grant to Bin Su, Ph.D., professor of chemistry at Cleveland State University’s Center for Gene Regulation in Health and Disease. The grant was rewarded to investigate a potential treatment for glioblastoma, a brain tumor that patients generally have poor prognoses despite new surgical techniques and drug therapies.
Dr. Su, the principal investigator on “Targeting Androgen Receptor-HSP27 Signaling in Glioblastoma,” is collaborating with Bingcheng Wang, Ph.D., Case Western Reserve University Director of the Division of Cancer Biology and Department of Medicine, MetroHealth Medical Center; and Justin Durla Lathia, Ph.D., professor, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, Lerner Research Institute and Case Comprehensive Cancer Center.
“Collaboration and sharing of ideas and information are critical to advances in research. Glioblastoma tumors are aggressive and very difficult to treat – there is an urgency to find more effective therapies for this type of cancer – but we have hope that our compound candidates showed the great capability to move through barriers in the brain to reach the tumor, further optimize the structure to improve the efficacy and hope that one day those compounds will enter clinical trials,” stated Dr. Su.
Dr. Su’s past ten years of research was concentrated on drug discovery to treat cancer and continuing NIH research grant to develop drugs used to treat trypanosomiasis, a sleeping sickness that kills millions every year in sub-Saharan Africa.
Dr. Su's researches received three NIH grants and support of internal grants by the CSU. His research discoveries have great potential in new drug therapies in cancer. And in 2014 CSU patented Dr. Su’s discovery of HSP27 inhibitor.
Besides research, Dr. Su has a strong belief that being a teacher is equally important as his research work in the lab. He was also honored seven times with the Faculty Merit Recognition Award for Research and the Mentor of the Year Award for the McNair Scholars Program in 2014.
“I want to help them to discover their field of interest and inspire them to continue. If they can discover their path, they will advance their studies and contribute greatly to all of society, regardless of their area of study.” Dr. Su said.