SACRAMENTO Genetic counselors play a key role in many healthcare settings. At UC Davis Health, there are genetic counselors at work in adult, pediatric, pre-natal, and oncology clinics.
Genetic counselors evaluate patients for features of hereditary or genetic conditions and order appropriate testing to reach a diagnosis. The diagnosis of a genetic condition can have huge implications for the patient and their family: it can provide a long-awaited answer for the patient’s signs/symptoms and help guide treatment, screening or preventive care.
Genetic counselors also educate the patient’s family about how the genetic condition is inherited and help identify other family members who should consider genetic evaluation/testing.
Pictured: Guadalupe Carvajal, Nicole Mans, Makenzie Fong, and Julia Martinez, genetic counselors in the Hereditary Cancer Program at the Cancer Center.
Approximately 5 to 10 percent of cancers are associated with an inherited gene mutation. Genetic testing can help determine whether a mutation is the underlying cause of an individual’s cancer and whether they have a higher risk of developing additional cancers. Genetic testing also may be informative for individuals who do not have cancer but have a family history of cancer. Genetic test results have implications for other family members as well.
Genomic Medicine Clinic
The Genomic team at the MIND Institute.
The goal of the Genomic Medicine Division at the MIND Institute is to help improve the quality of life for individuals, both children and adults, and family members of individuals with genetic disorders through clinical care, research, and education.
Maternal Fetal Medicine
This multidisciplinary team provides expert, high-risk obstetrical care for maternal and fetal conditions that can occur during pregnancy.
Today, Nov. 14, is Genetic Counselor Awareness Day. If you see one of our genetic counselors or work with the team often, please thank them for their dedication to our patients.
Credit: Gregory Urquiaga/UC Davis: Three undergraduates in “Becoming a Latino Scientist,” from the left Kaitlyn Menjivar-Esquivel, Itzel Gonzalez and Peyton Apruzzese, learn about opportunities at the Graduate and Law School Fair on the Quad Oct. 23 for an assignment given by instructor Luis Carvajal-Carmona, (center), a professor of biochemistry and molecular medicine who oversees campuswide Avanza HSI initiatives as associate vice chancellor for academic diversity in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. They are talking with Brad Pollock, in the booth, chair of the Department of Public Health Sciences in the School of Medicine.
The University of California, Davis, is now eligible to be one of the nation’s few research-intensive universities designated as a Hispanic-Serving Institution, or HSI, after fall enrollment numbers crossed the threshold for HSI status for the first time
Latinx enrollment at UC Davis has reached a new peak of about 8,100 students or 25.1 percent of undergraduate full-time-equivalent students, which surpasses the U.S. Department of Education’s criteria of at least 25 percent for HSIs. This fall’s 25.1 percent was up from 24.6 percent last year.
The campus has long-sought HSI designation to underscore its commitment to serving Latinx students. The status also makes the university eligible to apply for competitive grants from the federal government and foundations to support student success, innovation and institutional transformation benefiting all students.
“I’m grateful to all the members of the UC Davis community who worked for nearly a decade to reach this milestone,” said Chancellor Gary S. May. “Achieving eligibility for HSI designation shows that UC Davis is fulfilling its mission to serve the state, the nation and the world. We’re empowering more young people from underserved communities and closing the gap on socioeconomic disparities in access to higher education, particularly research universities.”
In each of the past few years, UC Davis has met HSI requirements related to serving low-income students and core expenses, and it is expected that the campus will seek to renew the status for those two criteria in January. With their anticipated renewal and this fall’s enrollment numbers, the next steps are to continue working on Latinx student success at all levels and seek federal funding to further support institutional transformation.
Two designations
The campus already secured the federal government’s status as a Minority Serving Institution in 2019 as an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution, or AANAPISI. Two designations position UC Davis to pursue a broader range of funding opportunities that will further support student success and strengthen academic programs.
“This synergy provides opportunities to deepen our understanding of and better serve Asian, Pacific Islander and Latinx students,” said Pablo Reguerín, vice chancellor for Student Affairs. “It helps us build a more inclusive campus community and links together the success of all students.”
A vision for leading HSI STEMM
Luis Carvajal-Carmona, a professor of biochemistry and molecular medicine who oversees the campuswide Avanza HSI initiatives as associate vice chancellor for academic diversity in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, or DEI, has a special ambition for UC Davis. He wants UC Davis to capitalize on its status as a Research I university — signifying a high level of research activity — to become the top HSI for science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medical sciences, or STEMM.
Instructor for the first-year seminar “Becoming a Latino Scientist,” he said he sees UC Davis STEMM education and research experiences as paths to well-paying careers and social mobility for Latinx students.
Alumni ‘incredibly proud’
Neptaly “Taty” Aguilera, a 1973 graduate of UC Davis, has championed Latinx opportunities, support and achievement as a leader of the UC Davis alumni association, the campus’s Chicanx Latinx Alumni Association and the Hispanic Community Council, as well as in his current role as co-chair of the UC Chicanx Latinx Alumni Association.
“For UC Davis, reaching the HSI milestone will only further contribute to its prominence in the nation and world as a public institution of higher education,” he said. “As Chicano alumni, we are incredibly proud of this major achievement for UC Davis.”
Long an advocate for Latinx students and alumni of UC Davis, 1972 graduate Caroline Cabias has served with the Chicanx Latinx Alumni Association, the HSI Task Force, the HSI Community Council and the UC Chicanx Latinx Alumni Association. “This is a public statement that we can look forward to more partnerships with our Hispanic stakeholders and community leaders,” she said, “to expand campus programs not only to sustain the enrollment but to increase it to better recognize the demographics of California.”
Joy and appreciation
Word about the HSI enrollment benchmark was met with joy and appreciation for those who helped lead the work including Enrollment Management, which includes Undergraduate Admissions; members of campus organizations and committees; Lina Mendez, the former director of HSI initiatives; Blas Guerrero, interim director of Avanza HSI initiatives; and Raquel Aldana, a professor of law who, as the former associate vice chancellor for academic diversity, co-chaired the HSI Task Force.
The achievement also builds upon research by Marcela Cuellar, an associate professor of higher education leadership at UC Davis who studies HSIs, emerging HSIs and Latinx student success.
“I extend sincere thanks to all who have been working toward this goal over many years,” said Renetta Tull, vice chancellor for DEI. “There are so many people and units across campus, alumni and members of the community who have put in time and effort to make this happen.”
Student success
Rodrigo Bonilla, director of the Chicanx Latinx Retention Initiative, said its work supports Latinx academic success through a culturally informed approach that centers student’s identities and experiences. Opened in 2017, the Center for Chicanx and Latinx Academic Student Success, also known as El Centro, offers on-site academic advising and tutoring, mental health support, professional development opportunities, academic seminars, community programs and more.
“We’ve been able to engage in many innovative initiatives because we have institutional support,” he said.
Lorena Márquez, chair of Chicana/o/x studies, said reaching the 25 percent enrollment mark does more than recognize the work of the academic department, El Centro, the Undocumented Student Resource Center and many others. “It signals to future UC Davis students that we are a friendly place where they can find community and foster lasting personal and professional relationships.”
UC Davis leads a $6 million NIH grant to better understand Alzheimer’s in Hispanic people
(SACRAMENTO)
There is almost always a personal story, a quest, driving researchers. For UC Davis neuropathology expert Brittany Dugger, it was witnessing how dementia affected her two grandmothers in very different ways.
That experience shaped her career choices and put her on a mission to understand dementia and its related diseases — particularly in people with Hispanic heritage. Now, she and a team of researchers have received a $6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to address how Alzheimer’s may affect people differently, especially those who identify as Hispanic.
Dugger is a neuropathology expert at UC Davis
“My grandmothers had dementia at the same time, but their diseases were very different. I remember being really frustrated. How do they have the same diagnosis when they are behaving completely differently? I wanted to know,” Dugger said.
In 2019, she led a $3.8 million 5-year grant from the National Institute for Aging (NIA). The grant funded the first large-scale initiative to describe brain manifestations of Alzheimer’s disease in people of Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican and Dominican descent.
The new grant involves researchers from many fields and institutions. It will address how Hispanic heritage relates to pathologic, demographic and clinical manifestations of Alzheimer’s.
The grant integrates machine learning, citizen science, and precision medicine in Alzheimer’s disease, especially within the Hispanic and Latino communities.
Engaging people with Alzheimer’s through gaming
In a small pilot study, Dugger and the team created and tested a game called Beta Catchers. It is in partnership with the Human Computation Institute, which creates online platforms that allow public volunteers to analyze scientific data in a game-like environment.
A slide with a stained sample of brain tissue
“We have over 80,000 registered users from 200 countries. Users come together to analyze scientific data. This speeds up research,” said Pietro Michelucci, executive director of the Human Computation Institute.
Beta Catchers is focused on engaging people who identify as Hispanic or Latino. Players look at images of stained human brain tissues to identify and trace the pathologies found in brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease — such as amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles.
“We can’t rely on a single nonexpert member of the public to analyze. To come up with a very high quality, expert-like answer, we combine answers from many people seeing the same thing,” Michelucci explained.
The team developed an algorithm that uses the crowd’s wisdom to produce very high quality answers. With the new grant, they will further refine this algorithm.
“How do we make sense out of players’ different answers? That is the fun part of the work, where we answer the research question through the field of human computation. We discovered the powerful wisdom of ‘crowd effect’ for the more difficult task, which is the classification of these toxic plaques,” Michelucci said.
The researchers would like people with Alzheimer’s as well as their family members to take part in the game. The new platform will be released summer 2025 in English and Spanish.
Besides growing the dataset for dementia pathologies, the game also provides outreach and educational opportunities.
“Children can play with their parents and their grandparents. How cool would that be? Could it inspire kids to become scientists? Engaging the public in scientific research can benefit science and also be an educational awareness moment,” Dugger said.
Disease evaluation for precision medicine
One important task is identifying plaque in brain tissues
Another arm of Dugger’s new grant will continue to address the evaluation of Alzheimer’s disease. Dugger will examine the way scientists evaluate its pathologies and the implications of that on clinical practice.
“How we evaluate diseases affects our understanding of the pathology and the treatments. Is it binary with present or absent options, or is it a non, mild, moderate and severe gradation? How we assess affects diagnosis,” Dugger said.
She gave the example of cancer. Instead of limiting diagnosis to cancer, there is an assessment of cancer severity and grade level. For now, these deeper classifications are mostly absent in the dementia realm. Deeper phenotyping or grouping of the disease can promote precision medicine.
Precision medicine research looks at the role social and demographic factors play in health. It addresses how diseases, in this case neuropathology, exhibit themselves similarly or differently among people. The aim is to reduce disease disparities and advance medicine for all by giving the right treatment to the right patient at the right time.
Dementia can manifest very differently in people
“Our research will fill critical knowledge gaps on Alzheimer’s by providing objective quantitative understanding of differences in the disease,” Dugger said. “We will engage the community to examine the neuropathologic landscape of Alzheimer’s, leading to better precision medicine approaches, especially for people within the Hispanic community.”
For this work, Dugger is collaborating with Chen-Nee Chuah, a UC Davis professor of electrical and computer engineering. Chuah is an expert in data science, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). She will build on her work with a UC-wide initiative, known as UC Noyce Initiative, to develop computer models that promote precision medicine.
“In this project, we will attempt to address bias in AI/ML models. One way to do that is by leveraging brain tissue images from diverse cohorts,” Chuah said.
Through a separate grant, the team will build the infrastructure to share pathology images across the country. The objective is to create a digital slide archive, like a searchable dictionary.
For more inclusive research on dementia
In their original grant, Dugger and a team of researchers asked: Does dementia vary in people from different backgrounds?
Brittany Dugger choosing a sample from the UC Davis Alzheimer’s Disease Center’s brain bank
“Most works on dementia have been focused on persons of certain demographics,” Dugger said. “It is imperative to study persons from diverse backgrounds, including persons who identify as Hispanic, to develop cures that benefit everyone.”
The team studied brain tissue from UC Davis, UC San Diego and Columbia University’s national Alzheimer’s disease research centers. They looked at plaque location and amount linked to dementia in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s. This allowed for a micro examination of the brain.
“Instead of the 30,000-foot view, we tried to get a street-level view of the brain,” Dugger explained.
Their study has shown that there are many similarities among people with dementia, but those who identified as Hispanic had more cerebral vascular disease on top of their Alzheimer’s disease.
“I am very proud that UC Davis is designated a Hispanic Serving Institution. Our research aligns with this mission of serving Hispanic communities by contributing to their healthy aging,” Dugger said.
From left to right, profile pictures of Lorena Garcia, Laurel Alison Beckett, Dan Mungas, Chen-Nee Chuah, Luis Carvajal-Carmona and Paul Lott
Partnerships and Collaborations
The grant involves researchers with very diverse expertise. In addition to Chuah and Michelucci, it includes associate professor David Gutman at Emory University and UC Davis professors:
The UC Davis Alzheimer’s Disease Center The UC Davis Alzheimer’s Disease Center is one of only 33 research centers designated by the National Institute on Aging. With locations in Sacramento and Walnut Creek, the center is focused on translating research findings into better tools to diagnose dementia and treatment for patients while focusing on the long-term goal of finding a way to prevent or cure Alzheimer’s disease. Also funded by the state of California, the center allows researchers to study the effects of the disease on a uniquely diverse population. For more information, visit ucdavis.edu/alzheimers/.
Gastric cancer (GC) is a significant cause of cancer incidence and mortality disparities among Hispanic/Latinos (HLs). HLs are approximately twice as likely to be diagnosed with and die from GC compared with non-Latino whites and are also more often diagnosed at earlier ages but at later stages of disease, for which survival rates are significantly worse. Despite this high burden of disease, relatively little data exists characterizing the molecular etiology of GC among HLs. This research will leverage existing genomic and epigenomic sequencing data from HLs with GC generated in a large multi-center NCI-funded study (U54 CA233306) to identify driver somatic epigenetic changes and genetic ancestry-associated germline risk loci that contribute to GC development, therapeutic response, and ultimately, health disparities among HLs in the US.
Biography
Dr. Halmai received her doctorate from the University of California (UC) Davis in 2019 in molecular, cellular and integrative physiology where she developed a novel genome editing platform for the functional modeling of cancer risk-associated variants. As a graduate student, Dr. Halmai was both an NIH-Initiative for Maximizing Student Development and NIH-Molecular and Cellular Biology T32 training fellow. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the UC Davis Genome Center. Her research is focused on the development of pre-clinical cancer models and (epi)genomic data from racial/ethnic minority populations to advance cancer health equity for these communities.
Acknowledgement of Support
“I am exceedingly grateful to the AACR and Bristol-Myers Squibb for providing this opportunity. Being a Cancer Disparities Research Fellow will provide me with the support to advance my career in the field of cancer health disparities and, most importantly, give back to our communities of color through my research.”
Swati Pothukuchi presented her research on Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) research today.
Swati is a undergraduate researcher in the Carvajal-Carmona Lab. For the past year, she has been working independently on her own project to assess the prevalence of pathogenic variants within minority populations.
The project was prompted by Hugo Campos, a community Participant Ambassador for NIH All of Us program. Hugo is an advocate for HCM and has been wanting to address the research disparity in HCM for minorities. The NIH All of Us program provides researchers the ability access to explore next generation datasets for over 500K individuals.
Swati is currently working to identify known pathogenic variants and potentially pathogenic variants in participants with HCM and similar diseases. This research will assess the prevalence of known variants in minority populations and work to identify previously unknown potentially pathogenic variants that could help improve diagnosis of HCM.
She is utilizing existing clinical database such as ClinVar, OMIM, ClinGen to assess known pathogenic/likely pathogenic variants that have been clinically validated. She is also using whole genome sequencing datasets from All of Us to identify variants of unknown significance (VUS). VUSs will then be evaluated to identify computationally predicted pathogenic variants. Computational predictions will be based off current variant effect predictor software and databases (ie. AlphaMissense, CADD, Polyphen2, among others).
UC Davis Students, Faculty and Staff Benefit From Campus’ HACU Membership
by Julia Ann Easley March 05, 2024
Fifth-year student Jasmine Diaz and Professor Luis Carvajal-Carmona spoke at a HACU conference, and the conversation led to an invitation to work in his cancer lab. (Gregory Urquiaga/UC Davis)
A series of five deaths in her extended family had devastated Jasmine Diaz, and the neurobiology, physiology and behavior major was on academic probation through 2022. She had given up her dream to become a doctor or even to continue in science.
Today, the fifth-year student is thrilled to be working in the cancer lab of Professor Luis Carvajal-Carmona, is recommitted to a career in science, and has a passion to help underrepresented and first-generation students.
“I’m a stronger person and a strong advocate for people like myself,” Diaz said.
Since 2005, UC Davis has been a member of HACU, the only national association representing existing and emerging Hispanic-Serving Institutions, or HSIs. While the campus nears federal recognition as an HSI, its membership continues to bring benefits to students, faculty and staff.
Faculty and staff have opportunities for collaboration and professional development. And students can attend conferences to learn and network, win scholarships and complete corporate and government internships available through the organization.
Chancellor Gary S. May has been a HACU board member since October 2022 and serves on its government relations committee.
‘Doors do open’
Jasmine Diaz
At HACU’s annual conference in Chicago in October, Diaz said, she attended informational and motivational workshops – including one on home ownership. At a dinner there leaders of UC Davis’ Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, or DEI, initiative, she also shared her heartbreak to have left science behind.
Diaz later spoke with Carvajal-Carmona, associate vice chancellor for academic diversity and a professor of biochemistry and molecular medicine, who invited her to work in his lab. Carvajal-Carmona, who is a first-generation college graduate, has a strong record of supporting and mentoring students like Diaz and in 2021 received the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Mentoring Undergraduate Research.
In the lab, several researchers are mentoring Diaz to help her fulfill her aspirations of going to graduate or professional school. Diaz said she wants to inspire the students she works with as a peer ambassador with Undergraduate Admissions and a student outreach assistant with the Early Academic Outreach Program. “I use myself as an example,” she said. “Even if it’s a roller-coaster journey, doors do open.”
In October, HACU representatives came to UC Davis and shared information about internships and scholarships — more than $1 million was awarded in 2022. About 90 students attended the October session.
‘It shaped my passion’
HACU played a role in Rodrigo Bonilla’s career as the director of Chicanx Latinx Retention Initiative and the Center for Chicanx Latinx Academic Student Success.
“One of the major reasons I’m in higher education — I’m truly the byproduct of this organization that led me in that direction,” Bonilla said.
Rodrigo Bonilla, director of the Chicanx Latinx Retention Initiative and the Center for Chicanx Latinx Academic Student Success, said training for a HACU internship shaped his passion for supporting students from similar backgrounds. (Gregory Urquiaga/UC Davis)
Having immigrated from Mexico at age 9, Bonilla had been a farmworker until he went to Washington State University in Pullman, where he studied agriculture food systems, agriculture economics and Spanish.
There, a mentor steered him toward a HACU internship with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s rural development unit in Davis in summer 2015 before he started a master’s degree in international agriculture development at UC Davis.
At the weeklong training for interns in Washington, D.C., Bonilla said, he “connected with people who supported students and opened doors.
“It shaped my passion for supporting students from similar backgrounds,” he said.
Bonilla joined UC Davis as a student affairs officer in 2018, became interim associate director for the Chicanx Latinx Retention Initiative and the Center for Chicanx Latin Academic Success in 2021 and was hired as director in March 2022.
Now pursuing a doctoral degree in educational leadership, Bonilla has regularly attended HACU conferences. At the annual conference in October, he presented on the academic retention model to support Latinx students at UC Davis. “It’s wild how it was a full circle moment for me,” Bonilla said.
Lina Mendez, director of the campus’s HSI initiative at UC Davis, and others have participated in leadership academies offered by HACU. “The fact that they’re thinking about how to prepare and train the leaders of the future is a really good mentoring opportunity,” she said.
Grants for HSI work
In addition to providing opportunities for students, faculty and staff, the association advocates for grant programs to improve access to and the quality of higher education for Hispanic students, said Antonio R. Flores, president and CEO of HACU.
“Part of our job is to increase those pots of money and relay to our institutions that they can use them for the benefit of underserved students,” he said.
As a participant in three regions, UC Davis is using about $3 million in grants to help reduce inequities in higher education and workforce participation. The funding is helping support the campus’s outreach, recruitment and admission efforts including SAYS (Sacramento Area Youth Speaks); the Avenue programs in engineering, medicine and biological sciences; and more.
Nearly two decades of help
UC Davis joined HACU — headquartered in San Antonio with regional offices in Washington, D.C., and Sacramento — almost two decades ago as an associate member, an institution whose Hispanic enrollment constitutes at least 10% of enrollment. In 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2024, UC Davis qualified as an HSI member, with at least 25% Hispanic enrollment at the undergraduate or graduate level or both.
UC Davis continues to pursue designation by the federal government as an HSI to allow it to apply for funding to support student success, innovation and institutional transformation, benefiting all students. The U.S. Department of Education grants the designation to institutions that first meet the threshold of having enrollment of undergraduate full-time equivalent students that is at least 25% as counted at the end of the award year — and then meet other criteria. By this definition, UC Davis had 24.6% Hispanic enrollment in fall 2023.
In October, Hispanic Outlook on Education Magazine recognized UC Davis as a top 100 university for Hispanic and Latino students in its annual lists. UC Davis ranked 31st for the number of bachelor’s degrees awarded to Hispanic/Latino students (2,014) and 71st for total enrollment among four-year institutions (9,225).
Flores said UC Davis has been one of the most progressive universities in the nation in terms of diversity and inclusion. “We are delighted UC Davis is continuing as a role model for the rest of California and across the nation,” he added.
Cancer center seeks to understand cancer burden of Northern California’s Indigenous peoples
Many Indigenous communities, including Native Americans in California, suffer from significant cancer health disparities, which are evident in high rates of death from colon, kidney, and stomach cancer. UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center recognizes the unfair cancer burden shouldered by Indigenous peoples and the unique combination of risk factors that may be contributing to the inequity.
Diets lacking fresh produce and other healthful foods, as well as limited access to health care screenings and care, increase the cancer risk. This is particularly true for rural communities that make up a significant proportion of tribal lands. Environmental exposures and genetics also can play a role in the cancer risks threatening Native people.
The cancer center wants to understand these disparities, so its Center for Advancing Cancer Health Equity created a new tribal community engagement liaison role. UC Davis Genome Center postdoctoral researcher Nicole Halmai was appointed to the position and is working to identify cancer health priorities for Indigenous peoples in the northern and central parts of California. She is also seeking to better understand the factors that might influence their willingness to take part in cancer precision medicine research.
Halmai’s current research is focused on the development of pre-clinical cancer models and epigenomic data from racial/ethnic minority populations to advance cancer health equity.
“Before we do anything else, we need to build partnerships with Indigenous communities and tribal leadership to guide cancer disparity research.”
Nicole Halmai, UC Davis Genome Center Postdoctoral Researcher
Personal connection
Halmai is passionate about building relationships with Native communities. That’s because she is Diné, a citizen of the Navajo Nation. Her mother grew up on the Navajo Nation, located in the Four Corners region of the Southwest.
Growing up in Phoenix, Arizona, Halmai spent every summer with her maternal grandparents on the family’s 1,650 acres in the Navajo Nation. Halmai still visits her family’s land, where she and her husband were recently married in a traditional Navajo wedding ceremony.
New tribal outreach begins with building trust.
“California has the largest population of Native Americans in the country, but there is a certain level of distrust when it comes to medical care and biomedical research, given historical mistreatment of Native peoples and misuse of samples and data,” Halmai said. “Before we do anything else, we need to build partnerships with Indigenous communities and tribal leadership to guide cancer disparity research.”
Halmai said she feels building an advisory board is critical. She is hopeful that suggestions from the Native communities will eventually lead to community-driven research projects that will both help to improve Native representation in cancer precision medicine research and rectify cancer health disparities experienced among Native communities.
Along with recruiting for the advisory board, Halmai is generating commentary from community members by attending talking circles at local tribal events and health fairs, and asking people to take part in health surveys to help identify what is important to them.
“We are also working closely with Native community-focused health care providers to support cancer health and research education,” Halmai said. “Ultimately, one of our main goals is to support capacity-building efforts for tribal nations, allowing them to expand their own health care infrastructure and improve cancer care for their citizens.”
Renewal of the first National Cancer Institute grant to fund a University of California Cancer Consortium research collaboration is inspiring UC scientists to continue their quest to develop targeted therapies to treat gastric cancer and non-small cell lung cancer.
UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center serves as the lead research institution. It is also the only minority focused research center to have participated in the Patient-Derived Xenograft Development and Trial Center since its inception five years ago. The $5.2 million renewal of the NCI grant will span another five years.
Patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) are created by implanting tumor tissues from human patients into immunocompromised mice to create an environment that increases understanding of tumor development and spread. Other participants include all five University of California comprehensive cancer centers, and the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
The goal of the research alliance is to establish and characterize at least 120 new PDXs from racially diverse populations and study them to better understand the specific genetic factors that may underlie certain cancer disparities. The scientists also are testing precision medicine therapies that may be successful in overcoming gene mutations specific or more common to certain races or ethnicities.
“The impact of the collaborative is to understand the biological processes involved in cancer health disparities and to develop effective new treatments that we can then offer to patients as clinical trials.”
LUIS CARVAJAL-CARMONA, ASSOCIATE VICE CHANCELLOR FOR THE UC DAVIS OFFICE OF ACADEMIC DIVERSITY AND FOUNDING DIRECTOR OF THE CANCER CENTER’S CENTER FOR ADVANCING CANCER HEALTH EQUITY
Carvajal-Carmona said researchers will implant human fresh tumor samples into mice. The goal is to assess how ancestry influences patients’ response to anti-cancer drugs and what types of drug combinations will work more effectively in certain populations. The models and data generated in the study will be made available as a resource for UC scientists and those around the country.
