UT Health San Antonio faculty receive $1.6 million in STARs Awards to advance cancer research
Mays Cancer Center Annual Report
Mays Cancer Center Executive Director Dr. Zheng earns $500,000 UT System STARs award
Lei Zheng, MD, PhD, executive director of the Mays Cancer Center at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, has been awarded a $500,000 Science and Technology Acquisition and Retention (STARs) award from The University of Texas System to elevate his research into monitoring pancreatic tumor progression and treatment efficacy.
Zheng, who joined the institution in 2024, is the vice president for oncology for the health science center and the Mays Family Foundation Distinguished University Presidential Chair of Oncology. He is also a professor with tenure in the Department of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
“My research focuses on the understanding of pancreatic cancer development and treatment. Pancreatic cancer is an aggressive malignancy often with metastasis at the time of diagnosis and broadly resistant to current treatment modalities,” Zheng said.
“We have used an orthotopic mouse pancreatic cancer model to study factors involved in the tumor environment that contribute to tumor metastasis, which is one of the major causes of death in this devastating disease. The mouse orthotopic pancreatic cancer model has allowed us to evaluate the efficacy of different combinations of treatment regimens for potential clinical applications. The second area our lab focuses on is the development of platform trials to translate concepts proven in the preclinical level to the clinical stage.”
Renowned cancer researcher brings $500,000 UT System Faculty STARs award to UT Health San Antonio
Simon Gayther, PhD, professor of medicine in the Division of Hematology and Oncology and founding director of the school’s Center for Inherited Oncogenesis at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, received a $500,000 UT System STARS award to support research infrastructure. The funding will help advance a basic and clinically translatable research program, including laboratory refurbishments and the purchase of general and specialized equipment.
Gayther, who also serves as co-director of the Population Sciences and Prevention Program at UT Health San Antonio’s Mays Cancer Center, joined the university in 2024 as part of a $16.4 million recruitment award from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas.
“We have established the Center for Inherited Oncogenesis with the goal to use leading-edge technologies to better understand the functional role of genetic risk variation in causing cancers that are common in South Texas and to develop clinical biomarkers that improve screening, diagnosis, prevention and treatment strategies for these cancers,” Gayther said.
Radiation oncology associate professor receives $500,000 UT System Faculty STARs award
Justin Leung, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, received a $500,000 STARs award from The University of Texas System in 2024.
Leung plans to use the funding to outfit his lab with cutting-edge equipment to enhance the local research community and establish key collaborations. He has appointments in several programs in UT Health San Antonio’s Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.
“This award will allow us to purchase three pieces of state-of-the-art instrumentation, including a microscope that can capture high-resolution DNA repair events in real-time, a high-content screen instrument for cataloging protein localization dynamics and kinetics, and a self-calibrated X-ray irradiator for radiation studies,” Leung said. “Our research program will be able to develop a pipeline to study the DNA repair machinery regulations and identify new cancer therapeutic targets. This will also build a foundation for biochemical and structural studies in the future.”
Luan receives $100,000 UT System Rising STARs award to research pediatric blood cancers
Yu Luan, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Cell Systems and Anatomy at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, received a $100,000 STARs award in 2024. The award will help lead breakthrough research in cancer genomics, especially in treating blood cancers among Hispanic children.
Luan, also an investigator with the UT Health San Antonio’s Greehey Children’s Cancer and Research Institute, joined the institution in early 2024 as a Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) Scholar.
“UT Health San Antonio is home to experts across various fields of cancer research, especially blood cancer, and houses the largest Hispanic biobank in South Texas,” Luan said. “My work is also particularly relevant for advancing the health of South Texas with its large Hispanic population. I feel that this aligns perfectly with my research strategy and offers a unique resource for advancing our understanding of cancer through a comprehensive genomic and epigenomic approach.”
