NIH Grant Supports Collaborative Oral Cancer Research

The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded nearly a half-million dollars to UCSF's Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) for a collaborative research project on oral cancer.

The project, titled "A New CTSA Partnership to Translate an Oral Cancer Biomarker from Lab to Clinic," includes New York University, Oregon Health and Science University and Providence Cancer Center.

With the incidence of oral cancer on the rise, particularly among young people and women, this collaborative effort is focused on identifying oral cancer patients who are at low risk of cervical lymph node metastasis, and reducing the number of major surgeries to remove cervical lymph nodes, which are costly and inherently risky.

The aims of this NCATS supplemental award are to enhance collaborations among investigators from the 60-member Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) program performing multidisciplinary projects in the area of bench-to-bedside translational research. UCSF, NYU, and OHSU are all part of the national CTSA consortium. The CTSA program is funded by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences at the National Institutes of Health.

Read more about the project at CTSI's website.