# Developmental Therapeutics Program

> **NIH NIH P30** · VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $71,907

## Abstract

DEVELOPMENTAL THERAPEUTICS PROGRAM: PROJECT
SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
The objectives of the Developmental Therapeutics (DT) program are to develop new insights in to the
mechanisms of action of new and established anti-cancer agents, and to exploit these findings by translating
them into the clinical arena in the form of innovative phase I and II trials. The scientific goals of the program are
to: (1) elucidate the mechanisms of action of new and existing therapeutic agents and approaches, and to seek
opportunities for beneficial therapeutic interventions based upon promising discoveries in cancer biology
emanating from the DT program and other Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center (MCC)
programs; (2) develop strategies capable of overcoming drug resistance of human malignancies to single
targeted agents through the design of rational drug combinations that circumvent multiple compensatory
survival pathways characteristic of cancer cells; and (3) advance emerging concepts for the treatment of
human cancers into early-phase clinical trials, focusing on concepts emanating from DT program member
laboratories as well as those of other MCC programs. To advance these goals, research in the program has
been organized into 4 interdigitating themes with the goal of maximizing fruitful intra- and interprogrammatic
interactions. These research themes include: (1) structural and computational biology and drug design; (2)
mechanism-of-action studies involving new and existing drugs; (3) rational combinations of targeted agents in
clinical and preclinical studies; and (4) translational implementation of emerging strategies into investigator-
initiated trials. The DT program has 43 members representing 13 departments and 3 schools. The DT program
has a total cancer-related funding base of $6.2 million ($5 million in peer-reviewed direct costs), of which $2.4
million was from the NCI. During 2011-2015, the DT program had a total of 696 publications, of which 22%
were intraprogrammatic and 24% were interprogrammatic.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9921323
- **Project number:** 5P30CA016059-39
- **Recipient organization:** VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Steven Grant
- **Activity code:** P30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $71,907
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** — → —

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9921323

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9921323, Developmental Therapeutics Program (5P30CA016059-39). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-11 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9921323. Licensed CC0.

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