Stephen M. Sykes Receives American Cancer Society Grant for Acute Myeloid Leukemia Research

Stephen M. Sykes, PhD. The Sykes laboratory studies how molecular pathways are differently regulated in leukemia versus normal cell development. With this grant, the lab will seek to uncover molecular targets that can serve as a basis for developing novel acute myeloid leukemia (AML) therapies.
Stephen M. Sykes, PhD. The Sykes laboratory studies how molecular pathways are differently regulated in leukemia versus normal cell development. With this grant, the lab will seek to uncover molecular targets that can serve as a basis for developing novel acute myeloid leukemia (AML) therapies.

PHILADELPHIA (January 7, 2019) – Stephen M. Sykes, PhD, assistant professor in the Blood Cell Development and Function Program at Fox Chase Cancer, has received a Research Scholar Grant from the American Cancer Society to support research on the elucidation and exploitation of molecular pathways that support leukemia. The grant will provide approximately $792,000 over a period of four years.

The Sykes laboratory studies how molecular pathways are differently regulated in leukemia versus normal cell development. With this grant, the lab will seek to uncover molecular targets that can serve as a basis for developing novel acute myeloid leukemia (AML) therapies.

The lab will conduct studies to dissect the roles of the proteins JUN and ATF3 in orchestrating transcriptional programs that support AML, as well as interrogate these JUN/ATF3-regulated leukemia-supportive transcriptional programs to identify potential therapeutic entry points in AML.

AML is an aggressive blood cancer that currently has a survival rate below 25 percent.

“In addition to seeking new therapies for AML, we anticipate that our eventual findings will have far reaching implications, because the proteins we are studying play key roles in several forms of cancer,” Sykes said.

Fox Chase Cancer Center (Fox Chase), which includes the Institute for Cancer Research and the American Oncologic Hospital and is a part of Temple Health, is one of the leading comprehensive cancer centers in the United States. Founded in 1904 in Philadelphia as one of the nation’s first cancer hospitals, Fox Chase was also among the first institutions to be designated a National Cancer Institute Comprehensive Cancer Center in 1974. Fox Chase is also one of just 10 members of the Alliance of Dedicated Cancer Centers. Fox Chase researchers have won the highest awards in their fields, including two Nobel Prizes. Fox Chase physicians are also routinely recognized in national rankings, and the Center’s nursing program has received the Magnet recognition for excellence six consecutive times. Today, Fox Chase conducts a broad array of nationally competitive basic, translational, and clinical research, with special programs in cancer prevention, detection, survivorship, and community outreach. It is the policy of Fox Chase Cancer Center that there shall be no exclusion from, or participation in, and no one denied the benefits of, the delivery of quality medical care on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity/expression, disability, age, ancestry, color, national origin, physical ability, level of education, or source of payment.

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