$48K grant to fund Dayton research of aggressive brain tumor

A team of researchers from the Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine received a $48,500 grant to study the role of genes in new treatments for a deadly pediatric brain tumor.

The researchers are studying a highly aggressive brain tumor found at the base of the brain that’s a terminal form of childhood cancer.

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Dr. Robert Lober, a physician scientist and assistant professor of pediatrics at the Boonshoft School of Medicine, is leading the research team studying the tumor with the grant from Mayfield Education & Research Foundation of Cincinnati.

“I treat children with brain tumors. This research directly addresses a particular incurable brain cancer in children. We are trying to understand how these tumors resist all current treatments through changes in gene expression,” stated Lober, who practices at Dayton Children’s Hospital.

The one-year grant will let Lober and his research team to understand how gene expression affects tumor growth and treatment resistance.

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Through Dayton Children’s affiliation with the Wright State University and Premier Health Neuroscience Institute, Lober researches brain tumors in children through high-level imaging.

His team includes co-principal investigator Thomas Brown, graduate student Christopher Waker, and research assistants Chanel Keoni and Brianna Schurko of Dayton Children’s.

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