Children’s Research Institute at UT Southwestern scientist awarded NIH Director’s New Innovator Award
Javier Garcia Bermudez, Ph.D., and CRI colleagues to study how metastatic cancers overcome lethal oxidative stress
DALLAS – Oct. 23, 2024 – Javier Garcia Bermudez, Ph.D., an Assistant Professor in Children’s Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern (CRI), is one of 67 scientists awarded a 2024 National Institutes of Health High-Risk, High-Reward (HRHR) Research grant.
Dr. Garcia Bermudez will use his NIH Director’s New Innovator Award of $1.47 million across five years to study how highly metastatic cancers manage to overcome both cell-intrinsic and extrinsic oxidative stress to colonize in distant organs. His lab will develop technologies to understand how individual organelles allow cancer cells to survive oxidative stress.
The Garcia Bermudez Lab will manipulate the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), the volatile molecules driving oxidative stress in tumors, using a high-resolution optogenetic system. Researchers will apply this technique in cells and mouse models which — when coupled with functional genetics and metabolomics — will uncover targetable metabolic bottlenecks of metastasis.
“The tools and techniques we develop have the potential to revolutionize our ability to study ROS and oxidative stress and be broadly applied to any disease impacted by oxidative stress,” said Dr. Garcia Bermudez, who is also Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at UT Southwestern Medical Center. “My lab wants to reshape our understanding of these processes not only in cancer, but across a wide range of diseases, which may pave the way for new therapeutic strategies and improved patient outcomes.”
NIH’s High-Risk, High-Reward Research program supports innovative scientists at each career stage who propose visionary and broadly impactful behavioral and biomedical research projects.
“The HRHR program champions exceptionally bold and innovative science that pushes the boundaries of biomedical and behavioral research,” said Tara A. Schwetz, Ph.D., NIH Deputy Director for Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives and Director of the Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives, which oversees the NIH Common Fund. “The groundbreaking science pursued by these researchers is poised to have a broad impact on human health.”
About CRI
Children’s Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern (CRI) is a joint venture of UT Southwestern Medical Center and Children’s Medical Center Dallas. CRI’s mission is to perform transformative biomedical research to better understand the biological basis of disease. Located in Dallas, Texas, CRI is home to interdisciplinary groups of scientists and physicians pursuing research at the interface of regenerative medicine, cancer biology, and metabolism.
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About UT Southwestern Medical Center
UT Southwestern, one of the nation’s premier academic medical centers, integrates pioneering biomedical research with exceptional clinical care and education. The institution’s faculty members have received six Nobel Prizes and include 25 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 24 members of the National Academy of Medicine, and 14 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators. The full-time faculty of more than 3,200 is responsible for groundbreaking medical advances and is committed to translating science-driven research quickly to new clinical treatments. UT Southwestern physicians provide care in more than 80 specialties to more than 120,000 hospitalized patients, more than 360,000 emergency room cases, and oversee nearly 5 million outpatient visits a year.