New Full & Pilot Project Leads
The U54 grant program proudly recognizes the efforts of its awardees advancing cancer research through collaborative projects. Full project leads, Dr. Guoliang Li and Dr. Cai Quiyin, are spearheading groundbreaking studies that align with the grant’s mission to address cancer disparities and promote novel therapeutic approaches.
Additionally, Deborah Lannigan, as the pilot project awardee, is exploring innovative solutions to further expand the reach of this critical research.
These projects demonstrate the transformative potential of interdisciplinary partnerships in tackling cancer’s challenges and building a foundation for future breakthroughs. Stay tuned for updates on their progress!
Biographies:
Dr. Qiuyin Cai, is a Professor of Medicine within the Division of Epidemiology, Department of Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He serves as the Director of the Molecular Epidemiology Core Laboratory at the Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center and Co-director of the Survey and Biospecimen Shared Resource at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center. Dr. Cai’s research program focused on investigating the contribution of host susceptibility and lifestyle factors to the etiology and disparities of various cancers, including lung, breast, prostate, and colorectal cancers. The major theme of his research program is to identify novel genetic and molecular markers for cancer risk and disparities and to understand the mechanisms of cancer development and progression, which will eventually help to improve measures for the primary and secondary prevention of cancer.
Dr. Guoliang Li serves as an Instructor in the Departments of Biochemistry, Cancer Biology, Neuroscience and Pharmacology at Meharry Medical College. He received his Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from Wayne State University in 2007, where his doctoral research focused on the study of catecholamine oxidation and its role in the death of dopaminergic neurons, a process implicated in Parkinson’s disease development. As a postdoctoral researcher at Vanderbilt University, Dr. Li investigated genetic variations contributing to cancer development, including single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), copy number variations, and microsatellite instability.
Dr. Deborah Ann Lannigan‘s main area of expertise and interest is in understanding signal transduction pathways that function in the normal breast and in breast cancer. Her laboratory played a key role in identifying kinases that modulate the activity of estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) and they have made substantial contributions to this field. She has trained in the areas of biochemistry, cell biology, molecular endocrinology and biophysics and has substantial expertise in using quantitative approaches to address complex biological problems. As part of her research program, they employ a variety of techniques, which include modern molecular biology and biochemistry, enzyme kinetics, novel assay development, high throughput screening, drug development, quantitative microscopy, various animal models, novel patient-derived explant cultures, patient-derived xenografts and bioinformatics.
