June 26, 1997
BREAST AND CERVICAL CANCER RESEARCH GRANTS ANNOUNCED
SPRINGFIELD, IL — The Illinois Department of Public Health has awarded seven grants, totaling $433,900, for breast and cervical cancer research, Dr. John R. Lumpkin, state public health director, today announced.
"Critical research into the causes, prevention and treatment of breast and cervical cancer must be ongoing," said Dr. Lumpkin. "These research grants contribute significantly to advancing these efforts."
Invasive breast cancer is diagnosed in approximately 7,300 Illinois women annually and claims the lives of 2,200 each year. Nearly 710 women in Illinois learn they have invasive cervical cancer each year and about 220 women die annually from the disease.
The grant monies are from state appropriations and the Breast and Cervical Cancer Research Fund, a special fund to which taxpayers can contribute through their IL-1040 income tax returns. Since 1993, 34 research projects have received nearly $1.4 million — $456,000 of which has been contributed through the tax fund.
Grant requests were reviewed by the Department 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 State Board of Health and the Department.
The seven grant recipients are —
Mary Hunzicker-Dunn, Northwestern University, "Role of PKC-(differential variation) in the growth of human breast cancer cells," $75,000
Wijbe Martin Kast, Loyola University, "Analysis of the signal transducing zeta chain in peripheral T-cells of patients with cervical cancer," $68,000
Martin Mueller, Loyola University, "Characterization of chimeric papillomavirus particles," $50,000
Benette Phillips, Northwestern University, "Novel regulatory elements in the HPV18 long control region," $69,200
Miriam B. Rodin, Northwestern University, "A randomized comparison of peer education for local community-based breast cancer screening," $45,400
Liang Qiao, M.D., Loyola University, "DNA vaccine to treat HPV expressing tumors," $67,400
Bayar Thimmapaya, Northwestern University, "Gene therapy for breast cancer," $58,900
Illinois' voluntary income tax funds must raise a minimum of $100,000 each year to remain on the IL-1040 form. By mid June, the Breast and Cervical Cancer Research Fund had received more than $118,000 in taxpayer contributions from the 1996 tax year and will appear on the 1997 tax forms for the fifth consecutive year.
  |
Illinois Department
of Public Health 535 West Jefferson Street Springfield, Illinois 62761 Phone 217-782-4977 Fax 217-782-3987 TTY 800-547-0466 Questions or Comments |