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Frank McKeon, 葫芦影业 professor of biology and biochemistry, is widely regarded as a pioneer in cell biology. He directs the UH Somatic Stem Cell Center and is interested in innovative approaches to impact the growth of cancers and diseases that lead to transplants.
鈥淎n area of particular interest in the laboratory is looking at precursors of major
lethal cancers,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he reason for going after precursors is that they typically
exist up to 20 years before metastatic cancers arise.鈥�
That means there is an opportunity to get a 20 year jump on cancer 鈥搒top it in its tracks by determining which cells will mutate. McKeon and his research colleagues have examined precursor lesions鈥攖he visitors before cancer鈥攐f Barret鈥檚 esophagus that lead to esophagus cancer and found that this takes place with other cancers, such as ovarian, gastric and pancreatic.
鈥淲e want to be able to demonstrate that we can pull these cancers apart, identify the small number of stem cells that are resistant to chemotherapy and work together with our drug discovery colleagues to find out ways of killing them,鈥� McKeon said. 鈥淚n the whole realm of preventive medicine, we have to go after precursors. We can鈥檛 be sitting around waiting until it gets to be a crisis.鈥�
He is supported by a $6 million grant from the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas. After 25 years at Harvard, McKeon aims to work with researchers in the Texas Medical Center and at UH, particularly teams from chemistry, nanotechnology or chemical engineering.
鈥淭his is where this work will go,鈥� he said. 鈥淪uccess for us is being able to fully describe this general notion of precursor lesions as an entity that is addressable in this preventive effort toward cancer and this is opening a whole realm that hasn鈥檛 been addressed in cancer.鈥�
Frank McKeon is part of what鈥檚 happening at the 葫芦影业.
- Marisa Ramirez, University Media Relations