Drug Discovery, Delivery and Experimental Therapeutics

It takes a community of researchers, physicians, patients and support staff to discover and develop new ways to prevent, detect and treat cancer. The Drug Discovery, Delivery and Experimental Therapeutics research program at The University of Kansas Cancer Center integrates a broad range of research areas that contribute to the discovery of new cancer therapeutic agents as well as novel approaches for effective drug delivery; the development of drug products and diagnostics for the treatment and prevention of cancer; and the evaluation of these medical innovations in hypothesis-driven experimental therapeutics trials. The Drug Discovery, Delivery and Experimental Therapeutics research program is organized around four themes: 

1. Cancer Therapeutics Discovery and Development: develop and evaluate new cancer therapies, including cellular therapies and targeted small molecule drugs, in preclinical models and advance the most promising candidates into clinical trials.
2. Cancer Therapeutics Delivery: develop innovative approaches to deliver cancer therapies more precisely to tumors improving treatment effectiveness while reducing side effects.
3. Diagnostic and Technology Development: develop innovative approaches to deliver cancer therapies more precisely to tumors improving treatment effectiveness while reducing side effects.
4. Experimental Therapeutic Trials: Design and conduct clinical trials to bring new cancer treatments to patients, improve the use of existing therapies and evaluate promising drug repurposing opportunities. 

The program forms and drives project teams, led by principal investigators and project managers, comprised of basic, translational, and clinical scientists representing multiple disciplines. To bring promising new cancer treatments and diagnostics to patients, members of the Drug Discovery, Delivery and Experimental Therapeutics research program collaborate with industry, academia, government and disease philanthropy partners.

The Drug Discovery, Delivery and Experimental Therapeutics research program is led by Priyanka Sharma, MD, Mark Farrell, PhD and Stefan Bossmann, PhD. The Drug Discovery, Delivery and Experimental Therapeutics research program liaison is Divya Kamath, PhD.

To identify opportunities for collaboration and coordination across disciplines, the Drug Discovery and Development Steering Committee plays a key role. Specifically, the committee helps to:

• Foster transdisciplinary collaboration for new projects.
• Build a supportive culture for scientists by providing mentors and career development.
• Aid in securing external funding.
• Advance drug discovery to preclinical in vivo studies.
• Efficiently use shared resources to support drug discovery and development projects.

The Investigator-Initiated Trial Steering Committee, similar to the Drug Discovery and Development Steering Committee, helps scientists and doctors develop and carry out new cancer treatment trials. The goals of these trials are to test new cancer drugs, improve the use of existing drugs or understand why patients respond differently to treatments. This committee supports cancer center members in creating and running innovative clinical trials by forming diverse teams, providing necessary resources, offering pilot funding and assisting with proposals and grants.