Kawasumi Research Team Awarded Grant for Squamous Cell Carcinoma Research

Congratulations to Dr. Masaoki Kawasumi, Assistant Professor in the UW Division of Dermatology and Principal Investigator for the Kawasumi Lab, and Dr. Kostantin Kiianitsa, Kawasumi Lab Research Scientist, whose recent proposal was selected to receive $5000 in award funding through Seattle Translational Tumor Research (STTR), to support their squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) research project.

The STTR group fosters and promotes collaboration and a strong sense of community among Seattle’s cancer investigators. Located in Seattle, the STTR group is comprised of investigators from four leading Northwest institutions — Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, UW Medicine, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and the Seattle Children’s Hospital.

The team’s research project titled, “Epigenetic abnormalities in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma,” will receive funding through the STTR’s PDX Annotation Support Grant, from Nov. 2021 to Oct. 2022. The grant will cover costs associated with creating and annotating SCC patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models, which are human tumors transplanted to mice and highly useful in drug development.

The research project focuses on squamous cell carcinoma of the skin, the second most common form of skin cancer characterized by abnormal, accelerated growth of squamous cells. One of three main types of cells in the top layer of the skin (the epidermis), squamous cells are flat cells located near the surface of the skin that shed continuously as new ones form.

SCC occurs when DNA damage from exposure to ultraviolet radiation or other damaging agents trigger abnormal changes in the squamous cells. Despite high prevalence of SCC in the United States, SCCs are not well studied at least partly due to suboptimal availability of SCC models. The proposed study will create and annotate new SCC models so that many other researchers can use the annotated models to advance SCC research.

Kawasumi Lab

The Kawasumi Lab, headed by Dr. Masaoki Kawasumi, investigates molecular mechanisms of UV skin carcinogenesis with a goal of developing novel means to inhibit skin cancer. Recent work has focused on better understanding how caffeine prevents skin cancer.

For more information, please visit the Kawasumi Lab website.