# Investigating Cancer-Specific Long Noncoding RNAs for Early Cancer Detection

> **NIH NIH R50** · SCRIPPS RESEARCH INSTITUTE, THE · 2021 · $144,678

## Abstract

Project Summary / Abstract
The project supported by the Outstanding Investigator Award to the Unit Director, Dr. Peter K. Vogt, focuses on
the transcriptional aspects of oncogenesis mediated by PI 3-kinase and by MYC. The starting points for this
research are two discoveries made by the applicant: (1) MYC controls the majority of the long non-coding RNAs
and (2) knock-in of the oncogenic PI 3-kinase mutation, H1047R, induces vast changes in the transcriptome that
cannot be linked to PI 3-kinase activity. In pursuing this research, extensive use of NGS (next generation
sequencing), RNAseq, design of CRISPR libraries to be used for gene activation and gene repression and
analysis of complex proteomic data sets are required. The applicant is an expert in bioinformatics and
computational biology and therefore is deeply involved in the analysis of the massive data sets generated by
these approaches. He creates tools for the automated design of CRISPR-dCas9 guide RNAs, examines CCLE
(Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia) and TCGA (The Cancer Genome Atlas) data for long non-coding RNA
expression and establishes new gene signatures associated with disease-relevant long non-coding RNA
expression. The role of the applicant in the research of the unit director is critical and indispensable. The ultimate
goal of this work is to contribute to an understanding of the unexplored and unexpected transcriptional activities
of oncogenic MYC and oncogenic PI 3-kinase.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10247645
- **Project number:** 5R50CA243899-03
- **Recipient organization:** SCRIPPS RESEARCH INSTITUTE, THE
- **Principal Investigator:** Jonathan Ross Hart
- **Activity code:** R50 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $144,678
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-09-20 → 2022-07-05

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10247645

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10247645, Investigating Cancer-Specific Long Noncoding RNAs for Early Cancer Detection (5R50CA243899-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10247645. Licensed CC0.

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