Research Paper

BMC Genomics: Detection of high variability in gene expression from single-cell RNA-seq profiling

August 22, 2016

Hung-I Harry Chen, Yufang Jin, Yufei Huang & Yidong Chen Abstract Background The advancement of the next-generation sequencing technology enables mapping gene expression at the single-cell level, capable of tracking cell heterogeneity and determination of cell subpopulations using single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq). Unlike the objectives of conventional RNA-seq where differential expression analysis is the integral component, the most important […]


BMC Genomics: CrossLink: a novel method for cross-condition classification of cancer subtypes

August 22, 2016

Chifeng Ma, Konduru S. Sastry, Mario Flore, Salah Gehani, Issam Al-Bozom, Yusheng Feng, Erchin Serpedin, Lotfi Chouchane, Yidong Chen & Yufei Huang Abstract Background We considered the prediction of cancer classes (e.g. subtypes) using patient gene expression profiles that contain both systematic and condition-specific biases when compared with the training reference dataset. The conventional normalization-based approaches cannot guarantee that the gene signatures in the reference […]


SA Business Journal: Cancer money to boost local pediatric research

July 3, 2016

The Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas has awarded nearly $11 million to the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio in its latest funding round. That award includes $5 million to help establish the Texas Pediatric Patient-Derived Xenograft Facility. Peter Houghton, director of the Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute at the […]


American Journal of Botany: Most Compositae (Asteraceae) are descendants of a paleohexaploid and all share a paleotetraploid ancestor with the Calyceraceae

July 1, 2016

Michael S Barker 1, Zheng Li 2, Thomas I Kidder 2, Chris R Reardon 2, Zhao Lai 3, Luiz O Oliveira 4, Moira Scascitelli 5, Loren H Rieseberg 6 Abstract Premise of the study: Like many other flowering plants, members of the Compositae (Asteraceae) have a polyploid ancestry. Previous analyses found evidence for an ancient duplication or possibly triplication in the early evolutionary history of the family. We sought to better […]


KSAT12: $10+ million grant helps survivor now working at cancer institute that saved him (Houghton, Chen, Ignatius, Shiio, mention)

June 17, 2016

SAN ANTONIO – The doctors, staff and patients at the Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute are celebrating its latest grant, a $10.9 million donation from Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas.


SA Business Journal: Cancer money to boost local pediatric research

June 3, 2016

The Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas has awarded nearly $11 million to the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio in its latest funding round. That award includes $5 million to help establish the Texas Pediatric Patient-Derived Xenograft Facility. Peter Houghton, director of the Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute at the […]


UT Health SA Newsroom: CPRIT awards $10.9 million to Greehey institute for cancer research

May 20, 2016

The Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute at the Health Science Center garnered $10.9 million from the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT)―a larger amount than any other academic institution in the state. The Health Science Center received 24 percent of the $45.3 million awarded to 13 academic institutions on May 18. The grant was the […]


UT Health SA Newsroom: CPRIT awards $10.9 million to Greehey institute for cancer research

May 20, 2016

The Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute at the Health Science Center garnered $10.9 million from the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT)―a larger amount than any other academic institution in the state. The Health Science Center received 24 percent of the $45.3 million awarded to 13 academic institutions on May 18. The grant was the […]


Cancer Chemotherapy and Pharmacology: Identifying novel therapeutic agents using xenograft models of pediatric cancer

May 18, 2016

Raushan T. Kurmasheva & Peter J. Houghton Abstract In the USA, the overall cure rate for all childhood cancers is seventy percent, and in many patients that ultimately fail curative therapy, initial responses to current multimodality treatments (surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy) are good, with overall 5-year event-free survival approaching 80 %. However, current approaches to curative […]


Molecular Cancer Therapy: The Bromodomain BET Inhibitor JQ1 Suppresses Tumor Angiogenesis in Models of Childhood Sarcoma

May 15, 2016

Hemant K Bid 1, Doris A Phelps 1, Linlin Xaio 1, Denis C Guttridge 2, Jiayuh Lin 1, Cheryl London 3, Laurence H Baker 4, Xiaokui Mo 5, Peter J Houghton 6 Abstract The bromodomain and extra-terminal domain inhibitor JQ1 has marked antitumor activity against several hematologic malignancies as well as solid tumor models. Here, we investigated its activity in vitro and in vivo against models of childhood rhabdomyosarcoma and Ewing sarcoma. […]