February 11, 2016
Congratulations to Dr. Matthew Soellner, who has been awarded $50,000 to develop a kinase inhibitor for the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer.

The University of Michigan Center for the Discovery of New Medicines has awarded funding for five new drug discovery projects by U-M faculty that address critical health areas including chronic kidney disease, ovarian cancer, breast cancer, toxoplasmosis, and atherosclerosis.

Matthew Soellner, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicinal Chemistry, College of Pharmacy, has been awarded $50,000 to develop a kinase inhibitor for the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer. Triple-negative breast cancers are especially lethal, and disproportionately affect women of African descent. It is the only subset of breast cancers for which there are no FDA-approved targeted therapies. The grant will support continued development of a promising inhibitor known as UM-164 in the Vahlteich Medicinal Chemistry Core and Pharmacokinetics Core.

Together, the Center for the Discovery of New Medicines and its affiliated cores at the U-M Life Sciences Institute and College of Pharmacy help guide researchers through the many stages of the drug discovery process—from validation of a drug target to optimizing drug safety and effectiveness for human clinical trials.

The center supports faculty from across U-M in developing promising biomedical research toward commercialization. The grants provide researchers with access to the technology and expertise of four core laboratories at the university, helping advance early-stage projects to the point they can attract more substantial funding from federal agencies, foundations and industry partners.

Since its establishment in 2012, the center has awarded 32 grants totaling nearly $860,000. Several projects have already gone on to receive additional external funding, commercial licensing, and patent protection.

Read the full story from Michigan News.