WVU Surgeon Awarded Tumor Microenvironment Research Grant

Dr. Margaret Bennewitz and Dr. Brian Boone were each awarded $50,000 to support basic and translational projects focused on tumor microenvironment research that specifically enables acquisition of preliminary data for federal grant applications and cultivates a team of new investigators as Project Leaders for the CoBRE.

Dr. Bennewitz, an Assistant Professor in Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, received a TME CoBRE pilot grant for her project entitled, “Tumor-associated extracellular vesicles (EVs) enhance breast cancer metastasis through platelet-neutrophil aggregates and neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs)”. Her collaborators include Dr. Timothy Eubank, Dr. Brian Boone, Dr. Duaa Dakhlallah, and Dr. Hannah Hazard-Jenkins, who bring complementary expertise in breast cancer models and molecular biology, NETs in the tumor microenvironment, EV characterization, and breast cancer patient treatment, respectively.

Dr. Boone, an Assistant Professor in Surgical Oncology, received funding for his research focused on the development of novel therapeutic strategies that target the pathophysiology of pancreatic cancer and the characteristic fibrosis associated with it. In this grant, he explores the impact of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) on the pancreatic tumor microenvironment. These studies are critically important to improving their understanding of the pancreatic tumor microenvironment.

Congratulations Drs. Bennewitz and Boone!