Dr. Sabine Brouxhon Receives SUNY Research Foundation TAF Award to Help Accelerate Development of a Novel Cancer Agent
The research evaluates a targeted agent to treat chemoresistant disease
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| Drs. Sabine Brouxhon and Stephanos Kyrkanides have discovered a novel cancer therapy that targets multiple chemoresistant pathways in epithelial-derived cancers. |
STONY BROOK, N.Y., May 31, 2013 – Sabine Brouxhon, MD, Clinical Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Stony Brook University School of Medicine, has been selected to receive a 2013 SUNY Technology Accelerator Fund (TAF) award of $50,000 from the SUNY Research Foundation. The award supports innovation by SUNY faculty and students by providing funding to accelerate development and commercialization.
Dr. Brouxhon has been working in the field of epithelial biology for more than a decade and has an active research program at Stony Brook Medicine funded by the National Institutes of Health and prior funding from the Komen Foundation. She and her research team discovered a novel cancer therapy that targets multiple chemoresistant pathways. The approach could revolutionize treatment for patients with breast, lung, skin and other epithelial-derived cancers.
“The Research Foundation’s initiative to fund research that has potential to be commercialized is an important catalyst to advance groundbreaking research in healthcare and other scientific areas,” said Stony Brook University President Samuel L. Stanley Jr, MD. “This vision to support faculty at Stony Brook and other SUNY schools will help enhance the position of SUNY research programs.”
“Dr. Brouxhon’s research in developing this novel cancer therapy is an example of where a scientific discovery at Stony Brook has great bench-to-bedside potential,” said Kenneth Kaushansky, MD, MACP, Senior Vice President of the Health Sciences, and Dean, School of Medicine. “We are optimistic that the successful commercialization of Dr. Brouxhon’s work will impact the long-term treatment of thousands of cancer patients.”
“The most significant drawbacks from current conventional or targeted therapies is that despite increases in progression-free disease and survival, patients often develop resistance within a year of therapy or exhibit de novo resistance from the start,” said Dr. Brouxhon. “We have discovered a novel antibody cancer therapy that acts through a completely different mechanism of action compared to existing industry drugs, in that it targets multiple resistant pathways.”
Dr. Brouxhon and colleagues have successfully tested the therapy on multiple National Cancer Institute-designated epithelial-derived cancer cell lines and numerous preclinical cancer mouse models, including cancers that are resistant to the FDA-approved drug Herceptin. After proof-of-concept studies in cells and in mice, Dr. Brouxhon and her team have developed proprietary mouse monoclonal antibodies that exhibit a far superior efficacy than anything previously tested. Moreover, studies proved the agent to be toxic only to cancer cells, while not harming healthy cells or tissues. The research team published its preclinical proof-of-concept findings in Clinical Cancer Research.
Dr. Brouxhon plans to expand testing a humanized version of their own mouse monoclonal antibody therapy on multiple cancer cells lines and preclinical mouse models, with the intent of progressing towards Investigational New Drug enabling studies and eventual testing in phase I clinical trials.
The TAF award will help the Stony Brook research team to advance this next stage of development of the novel cancer agent.
“SUNY faculty, students, and staff are conducting research and developing innovations that have the potential to change the world we live in for the better, and the Technology Accelerator Fund is one way SUNY can help bring their ideas to market,” said SUNY Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher.
“SUNY’s and New York’s innovation ecosystem begins with research,” said Dr. Tim Killeen, president of the RF and SUNY vice chancellor for research. “SUNY’s TAF program rewards and highlights the unique diversity of SUNY research and enhances our ability drive economic development by moving more SUNY technologies from the lab to the marketplace.”
Since its launch in 2011, the TAF has invested over $1 million to successfully advance the commercial readiness of 16 SUNY-developed innovations that are poised for high-impact commercialization.
SUNY faculty, staff, and student proposals were evaluated by the TAF managing director with input from external experts in various fields of science and business development. Factors considered for the awards include: availability of intellectual property protection, marketability, commercial potential, feasibility, and breadth of impact.
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© Stony Brook University 2012
