Dr. Bin , a professor in the Department of  and a member of the Center for Gene Regulation in Health and Disease (GRHD), has been awarded a three-year, $445,500 grant from the National Institutes of Health to continue his work developing potential treatments for glioblastoma, an invasive and highly malignant brain tumor. The grant, awarded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (), is titled “Enhancement of BBB Crossing of AR Degraders in GBM.”

Patients with glioblastoma have a very poor prognosis and rarely survive more than a year after diagnosis in spite of new surgical techniques, with a 2-year survival rate that is less than 10%. Dr. Su’s lab has identified drug candidates that selectively inhibit the androgen receptor (AR) protein that contributes to glioblastoma progression. These small molecule drug compounds can cross the blood brain barrier (BBB), which is of critical importance to their effectiveness in treating glioblastoma. For the current work, Dr. Su and his lab will focus on structurally optimizing AR degrader molecules to improve their BBB penetration, and thus their effectiveness at treating glioblastomas.

This grant was awarded under NIH’s Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA) R15 award program, which supports meritorious research that engages student researchers.