Funding News - Research on Understanding and Preventing Brain Tumor Dispersal Sought

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) invite grant applications for research to understand and prevent brain tumor dispersal.*

Many brain tumors are highly invasive and, therefore, extremely difficult to treat. Cells from the primary tumor often infiltrate surrounding brain tissues, so that removal of the main tumor mass is not sufficient to prevent recurrence. The goal of this program announcement is to promote studies that: identify the properties of brain tumor cells that cause them to migrate; determine how interaction of tumor cells with normal brain elements affects migration; and translate understanding of these parameters into interventions that target invading tumor cells.

Potential areas of research interest include studies to: analyze candidate genes and signal transduction pathways that control brain tumor cell dispersal, and molecular and cellular mechanisms that control normal brain cell migration and potentially regulate the dispersal of brain tumor cells; determine the cells of origin and specific properties of migrating brain tumor cells; analyze the interactions of brain tumor cells with normal brain elements that may contribute to understanding tumor dispersal; study extracellular matrix properties that potentially control normal and aberrant migration of cells in the central nervous system; determine what causes brain tumor cells to exit the cell cycle during migration and reenter it during subsequent cell proliferation; study neural progenitor cell biology that may shed light on brain tumor dispersal; investigate why invading brain tumor cells are resistant to chemotherapy or radiation; establish novel in vitro and in vivo migration assays that can be used to elucidate mechanisms of brain tumor cell dispersal; develop novel methodologies that permit more effective visualization of migrating brain tumor cells; and develop therapeutic interventions that target migrating brain tumor cells and prevent them from forming new tumors.

For more information, potential applicants should contact Dr. Robert Finkelstein, Program Director, Neurogenetics Cluster, NINDS, Neuroscience Center, 6001 Executive Boulevard, Room 2143, Bethesda, MD 20892; telephone: 301-496-5745; fax: 301-402-1501; e-mail: rf45c@nih.gov.

*For a more detailed description of this program announcement, please visit the NIH web site at: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAS-04-079.html.