SPRINGFIELD, IL – Lt. Gov. Corinne Wood today announced the award of $600,000 to 12 Illinois scientists for breast and cervical cancer research.

"These grants are awarded to researchers working to advance the understanding of breast and cervical cancer and seeking to develop techniques that may be effective in its early detection, prevention and treatment," said Wood, a breast cancer survivor.

One in every eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer during her lifetime and more than 40,000 women in the United States are expected to die this year from breast cancer -- 2,060 of them from Illinois. In addition, about 730 women in Illinois learn they have invasive cervical cancer each year and about 210 die annually from the disease.

"I appreciate the support of Governor George Ryan and his commitment to advancing women's health services through the creation of Women's Health Illinois," said Wood, who serves as chair for Women's Health Illinois. "The panel has been successful in coordinating more than 60 state programs affecting women's health."

Twenty research grant requests were reviewed by the Illinois Department of Public Health, which administers the grants in consultation with the Illinois Breast and Cervical Cancer Research Fund Advisory and Peer Review committees. Members of the advisory committee include representatives of the Illinois chapter of the American Cancer Society, Y-ME, the Komen Foundation and the State Board of Health.

Following is a list of this year's grant recipients and amounts.

• Zarema Arbieva, Ph.D., University of Illinois at Chicago, "Identification of tumor suppressor gene in breast cancer based on functional screening," $62,100
• Frauke Fehrman, Ph.D., and Laimonis Laimins, Ph.D., Northwestern University, Evanston, "Effects of HPV E5 protein on the productive viral life cycle," $35,000
• Andrei Gartel, Ph.D., University of Illinois at Chicago, "Role of p21 (WAF1/CIP1) repression c-Myc in breast cancer," $62,000
• Yulei Jiang, Ph.D., University of Chicago, "Development of a new computer technique for classification of breast lesions," $62,300
• Jongsook Kim, Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, "Modulation of estrogen action in breast cancer cells by xenobiotic nuclear receptors," $62,000
• Anait Levenson, M.D., Ph.D., Northwestern University, Evanston, "Gene expression profiles with activation of ER-SERM complex," $37,500
• Rajendra Mehta, Ph.D., and Genoveva Murrillo, Ph.D., University of Illinois at Chicago, "Deguelin, a novel chemotherapeutic agent for breast cancer," $35,000
• Rajeswari Mehta, Ph.D., University of Illinois at Chicago, "Targeting metastatic breast cancer," $62,000
• Lucio Miele, M.D., Ph.D., "Role of Notch-1 in the diagnosis and treatment of cervical cancer," $50,000
• Arno Mundt, M.D., University of Chicago, "Intensity modulated radiation therapy: A novel approach to the treatment of cervical cancer," $35,000
• Hayat Onyuksel, Ph.D., University of Illinois at Chicago, "A novel breast cancer targeted drug delivery," $56,100
• Elizabeth Peralta, M.D., Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, "Modulation of angiogenesis in breast cancer with tamoxifen and vitamin E," $41,000

The grant monies come from a special fund established in 1994 and renamed in 1999 the Penny Severns Breast and Cervical Cancer Research Fund in honor of state Sen. Penny Severns, who died from breast cancer. In addition to taxpayer contributions through state income tax returns, the fund is supplemented each year by an appropriation of $250,000 in general revenue funds. Since the fund first appeared on the 1993 state tax form, taxpayers have donated more than $1.3 million, which has been used to support 67 research projects.

Illinois' voluntary tax funds must generate a minimum of $100,000 each year in order to appear on the next year's tax form. By the end of September, the Penny Severns Breast and Cervical Cancer Fund had already received $239,100 in taxpayer contributions from the 2000 tax year and will appear on the 2001 tax forms for the ninth consecutive year.