An associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, Dr. Anthony is the first recipient in the greater Evansville area of an investigator-initiated National Institutes of Health Research Project Grant, the oldest NIH funding programs which allows the researcher to define the focus of his scientific project.
Dr. Anthony’s project seeks to improve the treatment for the most common childhood cancer, acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). NIH grant support is from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
The goal of her research is to improve the safety and effectiveness of asparaginase, a drug used as an integral part of ALL treatment. In certain age groups and patients, asparaginase produces hepatotoxicity or chemically-enduced liver damage, as well as coagulopathy, bleeding or thrombotic events. By determining mechanisms by which asparaginase causes these adverse metabolic effects, the results can be used to develop and test new methods of treatment and prevention of toxic complications. The long-term project goal is to increase the safety, tolerability and efficacy of asparaginase, leading to improved outcomes for children and adolescents diagnosed with ALL.
As primary investigator at IU School of Medicine-Evansville, Dr. Anthony will work with scientists at Indiana University School of Medicine and State University of New York at Stony Brook. Locally, laboratory technicians and undergraduate students at the University of Southern Indiana will be employed on the project.
The IU School of Medicine-Evansville on the campus of the University of Southern Indiana is one of eight regional campuses of Indiana University School of Medicine, the second largest medical school in the nation. Established in 1971, the Evansville program is celebrating its 40th anniversary as Indiana’s southwestern campus for medical education and biomedical research.