# Clinical Investigations and Precision Therapeutics

> **NIH NIH P30** · RBHS -CANCER INSTITUTE OF NEW JERSEY · 2020 · $29,643

## Abstract

CLINICAL INVESTIGATIONS AND PRECISION THERAPEUTICS
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
The overall goals of the Clinical Investigations and Precision Therapeutics (CIPT) Program are to translate
outstanding science into early phase trials, to develop new diagnostic, prevention, and therapeutic strategies
for human cancer, and to promote bidirectional translation from bench to bedside and back. CIPT provides a
translational bridge between the basic science and population science programs and the clinic, and conducts
its own programmatically aligned translational research. CIPT is unique in its centralization of experience in
the development of early phase clinical trials with expertise in molecular biology, genomics, imaging analysis,
systems biology, statistics, and biomarker development. CIPT members translate scientific findings to create
new paradigms at the bench and in the clinic, and are positioned within this multidisciplinary framework to
access the expertise necessary for high impact translational research. High impact translational projects are
prioritized for institutional support. CIPT has 60 members from 22 Departments and 7 Schools. CIPT
research is well funded with $5.6M annual direct peer-reviewed grant support, $4.4M of which is cancer-
focused (9 multi-PI), with $2.3M from the NCI (8 R01-equivalent/7 PIs, one UM1). In the last funding period
CIPT members published 929 papers, 42% of which were collaborative (29% intra- and 25% inter-
collaborations) with 51% collaborative with other institutions. This represents an increase in both total and
collaborative publications compared with last project period. Impactful science includes discovery of
compounds that reactivate specific conformational mutants of p53 in collaboration with the Cancer
Pharmacology Program (CP); development of rational combinations of MAPK pathway and apoptosis
inhibition, and targeting cancer metabolism by inhibiting autophagy in collaboration with the Cancer
Metabolism and Growth Program, (CMG); and identification of mechanisms of resistance to PARP inhibitors in
BRCA1 mutant cancers in collaboration with Genome Instability and Cancer Genetics Program (GICG). These
approaches are being assessed in the clinic and in mouse models. CIPT investigators worked with CMG and
GICG investigators to identify novel markers of response to immune checkpoint therapy, including presence of
DNA polymerase-epsilon mutations in endometrial cancer. Collaboration with biomedical engineers in CP led
to development of a classifier to help guide treatment of early stage ER+ breast cancer based on
computational analysis of digital histology images. Collaboration with the Cancer Prevention and Control
Program (CPC) led to studies evaluating the impact of mental illness on breast cancer outcome in the elderly.
Finally, clinical investigation of immune checkpoint therapy in Merkel cell carcinoma led to FDA approval of
avelumab for advanced disease. CIPT science is fueled by translation of finding...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9889067
- **Project number:** 5P30CA072720-21
- **Recipient organization:** RBHS -CANCER INSTITUTE OF NEW JERSEY
- **Principal Investigator:** Janice M. Mehnert
- **Activity code:** P30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $29,643
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** — → —

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9889067

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9889067, Clinical Investigations and Precision Therapeutics (5P30CA072720-21). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9889067. Licensed CC0.

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