Zachary Reitman, MD, PhD, was recently awarded a $150,000 Duke Science and Technology (DST) SPARK seed grant, offered by the Office for Research and Innovation (ORI), for his proposal "Mining Tumor Mutations for Novel Biocatalysts: A Screen of Cancer Genomes to Discover Enzymes with New-to-Nature Chemistry."
"Some mutations in cancer cells change enzymes, the body's chemical workhorses, so that they make molecules that nature has never made before, as Duke researchers found years ago with IDH mutations in brain tumors," said Dr. Reitman. "With this award, we'll search thousands of tumor genomes for more of these unusual enzymes, a new direction for our lab that could yield useful tools for industry and point to new drug targets for cancer, just as mutant IDH did."
DST SPARK seed grants are directed towards enhancing the novel research of Duke's early/mid-career faculty, helping awardees pursue ideas that would otherwise be difficult to fund. Faculty are encouraged to submit blue-sky ideas that have a high degree of risk, but where the long-term impact could be transformative if the outcomes fully realize their potential.