Joon Uhm, M.D.

Recipients of the Brain Cancer Research Awards

Joon Uhm, M.D.

Mayo Clinic, Rochester MN

2001 Sontag Foundation/American Brain Tumor Association Translational Grant
Grant Award: $50,000

"In 2001, shortly after I joined the Mayo Clinic faculty, our laboratory received a generous grant from the ABTA with funds made possible by The Sontag Foundation. The impact of The Sontag Foundation/ABTA grant was tremendous. Young physicians and scientists coming fresh out of training are bristling with ideas and enthusiasm, but without funding support, these ideas can never leave the drawing board. The Sontag Foundation/ABTA Translational Research Grant that we received in 2001 constituted the original "seed" funding that helped to launch our research efforts. The progress made possible by that grant led to a successful application to the National Institutes of Health's K08-career development grant, which was awarded in the summer of 2002. We aim for a day when we have better treatments for our patients and hope that our laboratory will be able to contribute to this goal. If our laboratory one day does "make a difference," then such contributions will always owe their origins to that critical first grant support made possible by The Sontag Foundation and the American Brain Tumor Association."

-- Dr. Joon Uhm

About Dr. Uhm's Research:

The Role of Aberrant Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Signaling in the Invasive Phenotype of Malignant Gliomas

Despite the many treatments that are available in the battle against cancer, the prognosis for patients diagnosed with glioblastoma (GBM), a malignant brain tumor, unfortunately remains very poor. At the core of this poor prognosis is the ability of the tumor cells to invade and hence disrupt the function of the surrounding brain, thus affecting the patient's strength, memory, and alertness. The focus of our laboratory research is to better understand how a brain tumor cell invades the surrounding brain. In close collaboration with Dr. C. David James of Mayo Clinic, we have focused on EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor), a protein located on the surface of brain tumor cells. Our research has shown that when EGFR is "turned on," brain tumor cells make enzymes (proteases) that then destroy other cells and proteins that surround the tumor. In this way, EGFR arms the tumor cells with the ability to clear a path over which the tumor cells may further advance. The goal of our research project is to identify just how EGFR causes the release of such destructive enzymes. By better understanding how tumor cells invade, we may be better able to design drugs to stop the tumor cells from invading the surrounding brain. EGFR may represent such a target for two important reasons: 1) brain tumor cells often have abnormally high levels of EGFR; 2) EGFR increases not only invasion, but also increases tumor growth and its ability to resist the killing effects of current chemotherapy drugs. Thus, a better understanding of EGFR and the signals that it gives to tumor cells may lead to new treatments that will hopefully improve the survival and quality of life of our patients affected with this aggressive tumor.

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