Professor gets $1.5 M grant for cancer research

EDINBURG - Chemistry professor Bimal Banik has spent more than a decade investigating compounds that could eventually become lifesaving drugs.

He has numerous patents for organic compounds that, his research has suggested, inhibit the growth of cancer cells. Still, he's determined to find more compounds that could attack cancer without ravaging the body.

Banik, a professor at the University of Texas-Pan American, and colleagues at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio have received a $1.5 million grant to continue this research and also investigate the impact of cancer on the South Texas population.

The four-year grant, awarded by the National Institutes of Health, has several purposes, Banik said. The funds will support laboratory
research of anti-cancer agents, education of undergraduate and graduate students in organic chemistry and cancer biology, and the study of disparities in cancer treatment and education among Rio Grande Valley residents.

Banik's portion of the research will focus on a particular family of organic compounds that researchers originally thought caused cancer, he said. By slightly altering these compounds, scientists might be able to create a formula that actually fights cancer but is non-toxic, he said.
"Some cancer drugs are very toxic, and end up killing patients," Banik said.

The goal is to discover compounds that inhibit cancer growth but don't attack healthy cells, he said.

Developing drugs takes years, and this research is one of the first steps in the process, the investigators said. After discovering cancer-fighting compounds, researchers must conduct animal tests and identify the mechanism by which the compounds are killing cancer cells, Banik said.

Eventually, pharmaceutical companies take over, he said.

UTPA students will participate in the project, learning about the basics of cancer biology and working with organic compounds in the lab, investigators said.

Some of Banik's students already have volunteered to participate in his project.

"I became interested in his research and asked to join his research group," said Sonya Rivera, a senior biology major. "I've learned a great deal about organic and medicinal chemistry."

As part of the project, researchers at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio also will be interviewing Hispanic women in the region to assess their knowledge of breast cancer prevention and treatment, according to the NIH grant proposal. The researchers will be looking at women's willingness to undergo genetic testing to see if they're at risk for breast cancer, the proposal says.

UT Health Science Center researchers working on this arm of the study couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday.