On Aug. 16, 2023, the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) announced it took another major step in the fight against cancer by approving over $49 million in new cancer research and prevention grants at its quarterly meeting on Wednesday. Of the 29 grants approved by the Oversight Committee, significant awards included the first CPRIT Scholar award to Southern Methodist University in Dallas, state funding for Baylor Research Institute to join a major National Cancer Institute study, and numerous targeted TREC awards to cancer research centers outside major Texas metropolitan areas.

The Oversight Committee approved 10 new CPRIT Scholar recruitment grants totaling $23.8 million. The CPRIT Scholars program is an ongoing effort to bring the best and brightest cancer researchers to Texas institutions from around the country. Since 2009, CPRIT has awarded $866 million to bring 295 stellar cancer investigators to Texas.

Today, CPRIT approved the first CPRIT Scholar award to Southern Methodist University in Dallas with a $2 million grant (RR230081) to recruit Annika Wylie, Ph.D. to the university. Dr. Wylie is performing groundbreaking research into the tumor suppressor p53 gene, which is mutated in at least half of all human cancers. How this gene acts to suppress tumor formation is not well understood. Through her identification of novel regulatory effects of p53, Dr. Wylie is poised to make significant contributions to the understanding of cancer biology.

The CPRIT Oversight Committee also approved a $7.5 million grant (RP230426) to Baylor Research Institute in Dallas to fund the Texas CONNECT for Cancer Prevention Study to develop a statewide cohort within the CONNECT study at the National Cancer Institute.

The Texas CONNECT for Cancer study will invite 25,000 Texans to be part of the NCI study that will include 200,000 people across the U.S. to build a large, diverse database to better understand the causes of and how to prevent cancer. By engaging with people and communities who have been under-represented in medical research, the Baylor Scott and White Health System will work with urban, rural, low-income, and minority populations across 46 Texas counties to address a broad range of cancer-related questions to identify social, environmental, behavioral, and genetic factors that underlie cancer risk.