Department of Biomedical Sciences researchers Jerome Irianto, an assistant professor, and Branko Stefanovic, a professor, were awarded a cancer research grant from the Florida Department of Health.

Through the Live Like Bella Pediatric Cancer Research Initiative, the Irianto Lab and the Stefanovic Lab will receive $124,025 over three years for a project titled, “Evaluation of LARP6 inhibitor for the treatment of pediatric glioblastoma.”

Glioblastoma is a fast-growing malignant brain tumor. According to the National Institutes of Health, it is a devastating disease in children with a five-year survival rate of less than 20%. LARP6 is a protein that, when it binds to collagen, augments the creation of fibroids. This project will verify the impact that inhibiting LARP6 has on the growth and invasion potential of pediatric glioblastoma organoids – tiny, three-dimensional tissue cultures that are derived from stem cells – and explain the mechanism behind it.