Rice University announced on June 8 new funding from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas to support advancements in cancer research. The funding will be used to strengthen a core genetic engineering facility, support studies in cancer immunotherapy and ovarian cancer, and help attract up to three leading researchers to the university's faculty.
The investment comes at a time of notable progress in cancer treatment. In the United States, the five-year relative survival rate for all cancers has increased to 70%, compared with 49% in the mid-1970s, according to a report from the American Cancer Society. Notable improvements have been seen particularly for advanced cancers that were once considered largely untreatable.
Targeted therapies and immunotherapies are among newer approaches contributing significantly to this progress. Cell-based treatments that use a patient's own immune system, such as genetically engineered T cells, have shown results against certain blood cancers.
Three newly funded projects at Rice reflect this shift toward precise, biology-driven treatments. Anna-Karin Gustavsson will lead research on live visualization of biological responses for next-generation radiation therapy; Peter Lillehoj will focus on improving cancer-fighting T cells; and Cynthia Reinhart-King is examining how age affects ovarian cancer spread.
A $2 million core facility renewal award will expand Rice's Genetic Design and Engineering Center (GDEC), which was initially established in 2022 with an earlier $4 million grant from CPRIT. The center provides DNA tools for researchers at Rice, Texas Medical Center, and other institutions. Gang Bao said, "This CPRIT grant will allow a major expansion of the core facility by adding an automated mammalian cell hub to GDEC, enabling the generation of new cell models for cancer research and supporting collaborative projects that require automated handling of mammalian cells... This will generate a significant impact on cancer research," Bao leads GDEC together with Caleb Bashor and Elizabeth Gardner.
