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Illinois IGB

Paul Hergenrother

Advances in Brain Cancer Research Leads to $3M NCI Award

February 25, 2021

Several Cancer Center at Illinois (CCIL) and IGB members are joining forces with scientists from the Mayo Clinic and Georgetown University on an expansive project targeting improved treatment for glioblastoma (GBM), the most aggressive form of brain cancer. The team, led by Brendan Harley (RBTE leader/EIRH), professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, recently received a $3M grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) for their research which will unite the cell biology, bioengineering, and chemistry behind cancer drug development.


February 25, 2021


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Chancellor, Provost offer reflections on 1 million COVID-19 tests

December 15, 2020

It sometimes seems a million doesn’t command quite the same attention that it used to. It isn’t mathematically special. And in today’s society, it isn’t even unusually large. We now live in a world where the population is measured in billions, economies are scaled in trillions and computer calculations are counted by the quadrillion.

But it takes on a very special significance when you’re talking about looking after the well-being of your community in the middle of a globally devastating pandemic.


December 15, 2020


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Nelson awarded $4.5M to study prevention, treatment of breast cancer

October 30, 2020

Professor of Molecular and Integrative Physiology Erik Nelson (ACPP) has won a $4.5M Era of Hope Scholar Award from the United States Department of Defense (DoD) Breast Cancer Research Program (BCRP). This prestigious award supports individuals early in their careers who have demonstrated significant potential to effect meaningful change in breast cancer research. Recipients of the Era of Hope Scholar Award are leaders and visionaries in their respective field who go beyond conventional thinking to change the current landscape of breast cancer research and therapy.


October 30, 2020


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Cancer compound leads to major licensing deal

October 6, 2020

Researchers affiliated with the Cancer Center at Illinois and the IGB discovered a novel small molecule compound that is now the subject of a new global licensing agreement between the pharmaceutical company Bayer AG and the cancer drug development company Systems Oncology LLC. Systems Oncology originally licensed the IP related to the compound in 2018, and this new deal will now give Bayer the exclusive rights to develop the compound, currently called ERSO, as a cancer therapy.


October 6, 2020


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Dozens of potential new antibiotics discovered with free online app

November 19, 2019

A new web tool speeds the discovery of drugs to kill Gram-negative bacteria, which are responsible for the vast majority of antibiotic-resistant infections and deaths. The tool also offers insights into discrete chemical changes that can convert drugs that kill other bacteria into drugs to fight Gram-negative infections. The team proved the system works by modifying a Gram-positive drug and testing it against three different Gram-negative bacterial culprits in mouse sepsis. The drug was successful against each.


November 19, 2019


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Cancer drug starts clinical trials in human brain-cancer patients

November 27, 2017

A drug that spurs cancer cells to self-destruct has been cleared for use in a clinical trial of patients with anaplastic astrocytoma, a rare malignant brain tumor, and glioblastoma multiforme, an aggressive late-stage cancer of the brain. This phase Ib trial will determine if the experimental drug PAC-1 can be used safely in combination with a standard brain-cancer chemotherapy drug, temozolomide.


November 27, 2017


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Cancer Drug Tested in Pet Dogs is Now Bound for Human Trials

July 20, 2013

Cancer Drug Tested in Pet Dogs is Now Bound for Human Trials

Thanks to a new $2 million investment, a drug that spurs cancer cells to self-destruct while sparing healthy cells is on the road to human clinical trials. The compound, known as PAC-1, has so far proven safe and has promising anti-cancer effects in cell culture, in mouse models of cancer and in pet dogs with spontaneously occurring lymphomas and osteosarcomas.


July 20, 2013


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Paul Hergenrother: Finding New Targets by Way of Novel Pathways

December 17, 2010

While there are thousands of drugs on the market for human diseases, they only hit in the neighborhood of 200 targets, says Paul Hergenrother, professor of chemistry and a member of the Cellular Decision Mak­ing in Cancer (CDMC) Theme at the IGB. Many drugs aim at the same target and are either minor improvements or work in a different way. And, while there is some rationale for developing new drugs for old targets, Hergenrother has an entirely different goal.


December 17, 2010


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