Grant is Awarded To Continue The Creation Of Software Tools To Predict The Efficacy Of Cancer Drugs

Technology has helped us bridge many gaps in medicine that go beyond human capability, especially in detection. Especially when it comes to life-threatening illnesses like cancer, it’s important to have as much relevant data as possible. Grant funds can help fund research so that medical professionals can help best direct patients towards the best possible treatment. The more technology can help provide data that shows a complete picture, the better. Well-informed patients can make the best choices for themselves and their families. In Arizona, Northern Arizona University researchers have received a grant for this purpose. The researchers will use this funding to create software tools that can predict cancer treatment drugs’ efficacy.

The Potential For Better Cancer Treatment

Here’s the story:

Dr. Richard Posner, a professor at Northern Arizona University’s Department of Biological Science, has received a grant from the NIH. This grant will go towards the continued development of software tools. These tools will model cancer pathways that are responsible for deviant growth and spread.

Here’s what Dr. Posner had to say about this project:

Modeling a cellular regulatory network is challenging because the number of molecular species in these networks is too large to use traditional modeling approaches. Normally, researchers need an equation for each molecular component they are tracking. But in a cellular network, the number of components is too large to be written down by hand. Our software enables a modeler to describe molecular interactions at a high level in terms of rules and this rule-based description is then automatically turned into equations by the software

Could Cancer Treatment Become More Efficient With Less Side Effects?

Researchers will use medical models to more specifically predict how well certain drugs will work to hinder the growth of cancer cells, and then use these predictions to find the best combination of drugs for cancer treatment.

One of the problems this research is attempting to solve is the current cancer treatment methods that kill healthy and malignant cells. By researchers and scientists better able to identify the pathways that are hyperactive in cancer cells, treatment can be improved. Hyper-targeted treatment would enable doctors to effectively kill cancer cells, sparing healthy cells, leading to fewer side-effects.

Proactive medical research is changing lives for patients everywhere. Grant awards like this one can fund the development of new research, methods, and ideas to change the world. That’s why we think it’s so important here at GrantWatch to list an entire category on Medical & Health grants. These grants include grants like a grant to provide remote health services, as well as many other relevant grants. We also feature a research grant category.