Research Strengths

Gupta at MicroscopeOur strengths include cancer genomics, DNA damage, RNA biology, and drug development.

We are developing expertise in drug delivery, focusing on nanotechnology-driven delivery of small RNA mimics and inhibitors.

The Pediatric Translational Working Group, formed as part of the Mays Cancer Center P30, meets regularly to coordinate discoveries to develop novel therapies.

Research Focus

Core Facilities

Clinical

Greehey CCRI interacts with members of the UT Health San Antonio, Division of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology to provide support for clinical research, banking of clinical specimens, and annotation of such specimens to facilitate patient-oriented research. As our clinical mission includes performing research that translates into clinical care, Greehey CCRI supports infrastructure for human subjects’ research and investigator-initiated trials in pediatric cancer. Since much of the research in pediatric cancer includes participation in cooperative group trials, Greehey CCRI supports the involvement of investigators in Children’s Oncology Group participation.

UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson Cancer Center has become a member of The Pediatric Oncology Experimental Therapeutics Investigators’ Consortium (POETIC); pediatric oncology studies focus on the biologic basis for anti-cancer therapy, and in particular, attempt to explore and evaluate new agents and novel combinations of therapies early in clinical development.

Education

The educational mission of the Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute is to train the next generation of researchers in pediatric cancer research. This includes creating a pipeline of trainees through our program for undergraduates engaged in summer research, medical students within the MD with Distinction in Research program, fellows in the ACGME-approved hematology-oncology fellowship program, as well as the traditional graduate programs in Cancer Biology and other relevant areas. We also provide a nurturing home for post-doctoral graduate research training. In the past five years, we have graduated eight new PhDs, and trained four pediatric oncology fellows as well as hosted several dozen summer undergraduate students.