2024 Research Highlights

Apolo AB, Ballman KV, Sonpavde G, Berg S, Kim WY, Parikh R, Teo MY, Sweis RF, Geynisman DM, Grivas P, Chatta G, Reichert ZR, Kim JW, Bilen MA, McGregor B, Singh P, Tripathi A, Cole S, Simon N, Niglio S, Ley L, Cordes L, Srinivas S, Huang J, Odegaard M, Watt C, Petrylak D, Hoffman-Censits J, Wen Y, Hahn O, Mitchell C, Tan A, Streicher H, Sharon E, Moon H, Woods M, Halabi S, Perez Burbano G, Morris MJ, Rosenberg JE. Adjuvant Pembrolizumab versus Observation in Muscle-Invasive Urothelial Carcinoma. N Engl J Med. 2024. Epub 20240915. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2401726. PubMed PMID: 39282902.

Carrozza MJ, Workman JL. Rpd3S meets the nucleosome. Cell Res. 2024;34(1):1-2. doi: 10.1038/s41422-023-00899-9. PubMed PMID: 37985880; PMCID: PMC10770393.

Gagelmann N, Dima D, Merz M, Hashmi H, Ahmed N, Tovar N, Oliver-Caldés A, Stölzel F, Rathje K, Fischer L, Born P, Schäfer L, Albici AM, Schub N, Kfir-Erenfeld S, Assayag M, Asherie N, Wulf GG, Kharboutli S, Müller F, Shune L, Davis JA, Anwer F, Vucinic V, Platzbecker U, Ayuk F, Kröger N, Khouri J, Gurnari C, McGuirk J, Stepensky P, Abdallah AO, Fernández de Larrea C. Development and Validation of a Prediction Model of Outcome After B-Cell Maturation Antigen-Directed Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell Therapy in Relapsed/Refractory Multiple Myeloma. J Clin Oncol. 2024:Jco2302232. Epub 20240215. doi: 10.1200/jco.23.02232. PubMed PMID: 38358946.

Gao S, Oden PN, Ryan BJ, Yang H, Freudenthal BD, Greenberg MM. Biochemical and structural characterization of Fapy•dG replication by Human DNA polymerase ß. Nucleic Acids Res. 2024. Epub 20240418. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkae277. PubMed PMID: 38634780.

Koschmann C, Al-Holou WN, Alonso MM, Anastas J, Bandopadhayay P, Barron T, Becher O, Cartaxo R, Castro MG, Chung C, Clausen M, Dang D, Doherty R, Duchatel R, Dun M, Filbin M, Franson A, Galban S, Garcia Moure M, Garton H, Gowda P, Marques JG, Hawkins C, Heath A, Hulleman E, Ji S, Jones C, Kilburn L, Kline C, Koldobskiy MA, Lim D, Lowenstein PR, Lu QR, Lum J, Mack S, Magge S, Marini B, Martin D, Marupudi N, Messinger D, Mody R, Morgan M, Mota M, Muraszko K, Mueller S, Natarajan SK, Nazarian J, Niculcea M, Nuechterlein N, Okada H, Opipari V, Pai MP, Pal S, Peterson E, Phoenix T, Prensner JR, Pun M, Raju GP, Reitman ZJ, Resnick A, Rogawski D, Saratsis A, Sbergio SG, Souweidane M, Stafford JM, Tzaridis T, Venkataraman S, Vittorio O, Wadden J, Wahl D, Wechsler-Reya RJ, Yadav VN, Zhang X, Zhang Q, Venneti S. A road map for the treatment of pediatric diffuse midline glioma. Cancer Cell. 2024;42(1):1-5. Epub 20231130. doi: 10.1016/j.ccell.2023.11.002. PubMed PMID: 38039965.

Leavens ELS, Wagener TL. E-Cigarettes and FDA Nicotine Cap. Jama. 2024;331(4):358-9. doi: 10.1001/jama.2023.24521. PubMed PMID: 38261053.

Pisinger C, Vogelmeier CF, Wilson AC, Salathe M, Tarran R. The Pulmonary Perspective: Can E-Cigarettes Be Labeled as Safe Smoking Cessation Tools? Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2024. Epub 20240730. doi: 10.1164/rccm.202405-0892VP. PubMed PMID: 39078200.

Ramakrishnan N, Weaver TM, Aubuchon LN, Woldegerima A, Just T, Song K, Vindigni A, Freudenthal BD, Verma P. Nucleolytic processing of abasic sites underlies PARP inhibitor hypersensitivity in ALC1-deficient BRCA mutant cancer cells. Nat Commun. 2024;15(1):6343. Epub 20240727. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-50673-7. PubMed PMID: 39068174; PMCID: PMC11283519.

Smail C, Ge B, Keever-Keigher MR, Schwendinger-Schreck C, Cheung WA, Johnston JJ, Barrett C, Feldman K, Cohen ASA, Farrow EG, Thiffault I, Grundberg E, Pastinen T. Complex trait associations in rare diseases and impacts on Mendelian variant interpretation. Nat Commun. 2024;15(1):8196. Epub 20240918. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-52407-1. PubMed PMID: 39294130.

Wesson W, Ahmed N. Axi-cel outcomes among non-Hispanic Black patients. Blood. 2024;143(26):2681-2. doi: 10.1182/blood.2024024959. PubMed PMID: 38935357.

Increasing Access and Participation to Early Phase Clinical Trials to the Underrepresented Populations | $797,870
Baranda, Joaquina
Funding Source: National Cancer Institute

DCIS Progression to Invasive Basal-like Breast Cancer Driven by N-Ras | $930,000
Behbod, Fariba
Funding Source: Department of Defense

REST-MED12 Pathways in the Regulation of Estrogen - Progesterone Sensitivity in Uterine Leiomyoma | $2,735,700
Chennathukuzhi, Vargheese
Funding Source: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Implementation of the New Pediatric Obesity Clinical Practice Guideline in Rural Families and Clinics: A Randomized Clinical Trial | $3,461,485
Davis, Ann M.
Funding Source: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Mechanisms of Mitochondrial Dynamics, Quality Control and mtNDA-Mediated Inflammation in Alcohol-Associated Liver Disease | $1,930,980
Ding, Wen-Xing
Funding Source: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism 

Cryo-EM for the Midwest Region | $1,000,000
Freudenthal, Bret
Funding Source: National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Institutes of Health Office of the Director

Ribonucleotide Processing in Telomere Maintenance and Integrity, $2,523,760
Freudenthal, Bret
Funding Source: National Cancer Institute

KanSurvive 2.0, $4,732,500
Greiner, K. Allen; Klemp, Jennifer
Funding Source: National Cancer Institute

Progesterone Promotes Mammary Tumor Growth Through Recruitment of Immunosuppressive Regulatory T Cells | $792,000
Hagan, Christy
Funding Source: American Cancer Society

Post-Translational Regulation of Hepatic Uptake Transporters in Health and Disease | $818,780
Hagenbuch, Bruno
Funding Source: National Institute of General Medical Sciences

Effectiveness of the Addition of Yoga to a Behavioral Weight Loss Intervention for Adults with Overweight or Obesity | $3,440,690
Jakicic, John
Funding Source: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

Investigating the relationship between Sympathetic Nervous System Development and Neuroblastoma | $1,590,000
Kulesa, Paul
Funding Source: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

PB-iCRC: Multi-site Practice-Based Implementation of a Colorectal Cancer screening intervention | $3,123,485
LeMaster, Joseph; Greiner, K. Allen; Hester, Christina
Funding Source: National Cancer Institute

A Short Peptide-Based Prostate-Specific AR Protein Degradation for Prostate Cancer Treatment | $1,316,982
Li, Benyi
Funding Source: Department of Defense

Addressing Food Insecurity in Transplant and Cellular Therapy Patients with Healthcare-Community Partnerships | $3,763,620
Sung, Anthony
Funding Source: National Institute of Nursing Research

Intravenous Ascorbate Plus Gemcitabine/Carboplatin: A Novel and Cost-Effective Alternative with Evident Efficacy in Patients with Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer | $3,560,880
Taylor, John
Funding Source: Department of Defense

Elucidating Late Effects of Radiation in Head and Neck Cancer | $620,000
Thomas, Sufi
Funding Source: Department of Defense

Leveraging Big Data to Improve Women's Health (BD-WH )
Whelan, Rebecca; Desaire, Heather
Funding Source: National Institute of General Medical Sciences

Intravenous Ascorbate Plus Gemcitabine/Carboplatin: A Novel and Cost-Effective Alternative with Evident Efficacy in Patients with Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer / PI: Dr. John Taylor 

Effects of Tirzepatide on Blood Imaging and Breast Tissue Biomarkers in Women with Obesity and Other Risk Factors for Breast Cancer / PI: Dr. Carol Fabian 

Immunotherapy in Combination with Ablative Radiosurgery to Ultra-high DoSes (ICARUS): A Phase I dose-escalation Radiosurgery Study / PI: Dr. Gregory Gan 

Progressive Prostate Cancer Program: Web-based Support for Staying Strong and HealthyTM / PI: Dr. Jamie Myers 

Gut microbiota and lifestyle risk factors of colorectal cancer in younger and older adults: A case-control feasibility study / PI: Debra Sullivan 

Understanding Patient Preferences for and Engagement with Head and Neck Cancer Informational Resources / Dr. Frank Materia 

Next Gen CARs / PI: Mary Markiewicz 

Determining the role of NKG2D signaling in IL-24 production by human CD8+ T cells / PI: Mary Markiewicz 

Chemotherapy-Induced Neurocognitive Impairment and its Association with Hearing and Olfactory Dysfunction / PI: Dr. Jennifer Villwock 

A Phase II Open-Label Study of Sacituzumab Govitecan in Patients with Previously Treated Locally Advanced Recurrent or Metastatic Cholangiocarcinoma / PI Dr. Anup Kasi 

Emerging from the HazeTM: Feasibility pilot for a virtually delivered individual viewing format of a multi-dimensional psychoeducational cognitive rehabilitation intervention for cancer survivors / PI: Dr. Jamie Myers 

Reduced Dose Fludarabine/Cyclophosphamide Lymphodepletion before Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocyte Therapy with Lifileucel in Metastatic Melanoma / PI: Dr. Muhammad Mushtaq 

Quantifying Optimal Relugolix Duration with Radiation in High-Risk Prostate Cancer (QURE-PC) / PI: Dr. Xinglei Shen 

Surgery or Radiation Therapy for Prostate Cancer Patient Survey / PI: Dr. Ronald Chen 

Development of Liquid Biomarkers as Correlative to Clinical Outcomes in Prostate Cancer / PI: Dr. Xinglei Shen 

Development of Instruments to measure self-efficacy for symptom self-management and symptom self-management behaviors among children with cancer and their parents / PI: Dr. Kristin Stegenga 

A Phase II Open-Label Study of Enfortumab Vedotin in Patients with Previously Treated Locally Advanced Recurrent  or Metastatic Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma (EPIC) / PI: Dr. Anup Kasi 

vGRID SBRT: A Phase I Clinical Trial in Unresectable or Metastatic HCC / PI: Dr. David Akhavan

VIVA: Volatile or IV Anesthesia for Cancer / PI: Dr. Luke Selby 

Phase II Randomized Trial Combining TG01 Vaccine / QS-21 Stimulon with Or Without Balstilimab As Maintenance Therapy Following Adjuvant Chemotherapy in Patients with Resected Pancreatic Cancer (TESLA) / PI: Dr. Anup Kasi 

Neoadjuvant TIL- and Response-Adapted Chemoimmunotherapy for TNBC (NeoTRACT) / Dr. Shane Stecklein

Sleep Hygiene Education ReadiWatchTM Actigraphy and Telehealth Cognitive Behavioral Training For Insomnia Effect On Symptom Relief For Men With Prostate Cancer Receiving Androgen Deprivation Therapy (ADT) (SHERE-Relief 2). / PI: Dr. Jamie Myers

Adverse Childhood Events (ACEs) and Long-term Breast Cancer Treatment Sequalae / Dr. Jamie Myers / 

Yttrium-90 Trans-Arterial Radioembolization dose delivery via Pressure-Enabled Drug Delivery Catheters with Smart Valve (TriNav) versus end-hole catheters in patients undergoing treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma / PI: Dr. Aaron Rohr

Prevalence of occult urologic malignancy in patients undergoing screening for lung cancer / PI: Dr. Eugene Lee 

Rural Engagement in TelemedTeam for Options in Obesity Treatment Solutions (RE-TOOL) / PI: Dr. Christie Befort 
Comparative analysis of upper and lower respiratory microbiomes in patients with lung cancer / PI: Dr. Maykol Postigo Jasahui 

Patient Survey Regarding Financial Toxicity of Breast Cancer Treatment with IORT versus EBRT / PI: Dr. Kelsey Larson 

Using Ex Vivo Tumoroids To Predict Immunotherapy Response In neoplasm (TUMORIN) / Dr. Jun Zhang 

Itraconazole Repurposing to Reduce Residual Cancer Risk in Patients with High-Risk Barrett’s Esophagus after Ablation / Dr. Ajay Bansal 

Frailty in Children with Lymphoblastic Leukemia and Lymphoma / PI: Dr. Thomas Cochran 

Biospecimen evaluation for potential biomarkers critical signaling pathways and microbiome environment changes / PI: Dr. Mazin Al-Kasspooles 

CAFs (Combination of Atezolizumab and pirfenidone in Second-line and Beyond NSCLC): a Phase I/II study / PI: Dr. Chao Huang 

Characteristics of Sleep in Breast Cancer Survivors with Lymphedema / PI: Dr. Catherine Siengsukon 

Phase I Trial Of Alpelisib Plus Sacituzumab Govitecan In Patients With Metastatic Or Locally Recurrent HER2-Negative Breast Cancer / PI: Dr. Priyanka Sharma 

The Impact of Menthol Flavoring on Switching in Adult Menthol Smokers / PI: Dr. Nicole Nollen

Phase I/II clinical trial of regorafenib plus durvalumab (MEDI4736) in patients with chemo refractory advanced biliary tract cancers / PI: Dr. Raed Al-Rajabi 

A Randomized Phase II Trial of Hypo-fractionated Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) Utilizing 2.5 Gy/Fraction VS. Standard-Fractionated IMRT Concurrent with Carboplatin/Paclitaxel and Followed by Consolidation Durvalumab for Subjects with Stage III Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer / PI: Dr. Dr. Krishna Reedy 

LaserEn: SOLTIVE™ Thulium Laser Fiber En Bloc Resection of Bladder Tumors / PI: Dr. Jeffrey Holzbeierlein 

Pilot Study of Effects of Bazedoxifene plus Conjugated Estrogen on Imaging and Blood Biomarkers In Women with Menopausal Symptoms at Increased Risk for Breast Cancer / PI: Carol Fabian 

Increased Sensitivity of Minimal Residual Disease Monitoring using Peripheral Blood in Pediatric Patients with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia / PI: Dr. Keith August

Identifying Gaps in Patient Preparation and Education for Mohs Surgery / PI: Dr. Clint Humphrey 

Shear Wave Elastography for the Assessment of Radiation-Induced Fibrosis in Head and Neck Cancer Patients / PI: Dr. Jill Jones 

Provider Assessment of Head and Neck Cancer Patients' Supportive Service Needs / PI: Dr. Kevin Sykes 

A Phase Ib/IIa Trial Of CEND1 In Combination With Neoadjuvant FOLFIRINOX Based Therapies In Pancreatic Colon And Appendiceal Cancers (CENDIFOX) / PI: Dr. Anup Kasi 

Emerging from the Haze: Feasibility pilot comparing two telehealth virtual delivery formats of a multi-dimensional psychoeducational cognitive rehabilitation intervention for cancer survivors reporting impaired cognitive function post-chemotherapy / PI: Dr. Jamie Myers

Evaluating Patient and Clinician Preferences for Electronic Symptom Assessment in Kidney Cancer / PI: Dr. Emily Cramer 

Prospective analysis of patients undergoing Breast Reconstruction after Mastectomy or Lumpectomy. / PI: Dr. Richard Korentager 

Development and Validation of a Gene Expression Assay to Predict the Risk of Disease Progression in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma / Dr. Andres Bur 

MyCare App: A preliminary evaluation of its use in youth with Hematology/Oncology Disorders / PI: Dr. Karen Lewing 

Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis Suppression in Children with ALL after Induction / PI: Dr. Jennifer Boyd 

Creation of a Tissue and Blood Repository of Patients with Gastroesophageal Reflux disease Barrett’s esophagus and Esophageal adenocarcinoma: Translating molecular discoveries from bench to clinic / PI: Dr. Ajay Bansal 

Using Microbiome to Predict Durvalumab Toxicity in Post-CCRT NSCLC Patients (MicroDurva) / PI: Dr. Jun Zhang 

Quantitative CT image matching and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) assessment of regional lung structure and function changes in cancer patients / PI: Dr. Maykol Postigo Jasahui 

Resiliency in Patients Undergoing Radical Cystectomy for Bladder Cancer / Dr. Eugene Lee 

A Multi-Center Phase II Study of Ipatasertib in Combination with Docetaxel in Metastatic/Advanced NSCLC Patients Who Have Failed or Are Intolerant to 1st Line Immunotherapy / PI: Dr. Jun Zhang 

Microbiome in immunotherapy naïve NSCLC patients receiving PD-1/L1 blockade (MIP_NSCLC)

Development of an Instrument to measure symptom self-management and communication behaviors in AYA with cancer / Dr. Kristin Stegenga 

Evaluation of the FLIR One Dynamic Thermal Imaging System in Autologous Breast Reconstruction / PI: Dr. Eric Lai 

Genetic Analysis of Cerebral Spinal Fluid and Blood for Markers of Tolerance in Cancer Pain / Dr. Erin Youngs 

Assessing the Utility of Ultrasound Compared to Cross-Sectional Imaging in the Follow-up of Patients with Renal Cell Carcinoma / Dr. Eugene 

Ideal Implant Case Series in Oncologic and Cosmetic Breast Surgery / PIL Dr. Richard Korentager 

Tranexamic Acid in Radical Resection and Endoprosthetic Reconstruction: A Randomized Controlled Trial / PI: Dr. Kyle Sweeney

Phase I study of ex vivo expanded/activated gamma delta T-cell infusion following haploidentical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and post-transplant cyclophosphamide / Pi: Dr. Joseph McGuirk 

Department of Radiation Oncology Research Registry / PI: Dr. Xinglei Shen 

Optimizing Urologic Cancer Outcomes at Kansas University Medical Center / PI: Dr. Hadley Wyre 

A Prospective Registry of Patients at risk for Inherited and Sporadic Gastrointestinal Cancers for Understanding Disease Progression and Development of Novel Diagnostics and therapeutics / PI: Dr. Ajay Bansal 

A comparative study of yield of screening for Lynch syndrome in patients with endometrial and colorectal cancers. / PI: Dr. Ajay Bansal 

Natural history and epidemiology of Hereditary Gastrointestinal Cancer Syndromes: A patient registry at a large tertiary care center / Current PI: Dr. Ajay Bansal 

HoLEP prior to Radiation Therapy for Patients with LUTS/Retention and Concurrent Prostate Cancer / PI: Dr. Donald Neff 

Using Ultrasound Elastography to Predict Development of Hepatic Sinusoidal Obstruction Syndrome / PI: Dr. Sherwin Chan 

Biomarker Discovery in Patients Receiving Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cell Therapies / PI: Dr. Haitham Abdelhakim

A Phase I Study To Evaluate the Safety of Umbilical Cord- Derived Ex-vivo Cultured and Expanded Wharton's Jelly Mesenchymal Stem Cells for the Treatment of De Novo High Risk Acute or Steroid Refractory Acute Graft versus Host Disease / PI: Dr. Dr. Joseph McGuirk 

Tumor Bank / PI: Dr. Nicole Wood 

Heated Intraperitoneal chemotherapy in primary ovarian cancer patients / PI: Dr. Andrea Jewell 

Hypofractionated Radiation Therapy for Patients with Breast Cancer Receiving Regional Nodal Irradiation / PI: Dr. Shane Stecklein 

Phase II Single Blind Randomized Trial Comparing Morbidity and Mortality of Cytoreductive Surgery and Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy (CRS-HIPEC) using Mitomycin-C versus Melphalan for Colorectal Peritoneal Carcinomatosis – A KUCC – Funded Pilot Trial / PI: Dr. Mazin Al-Kasspooles

Head and Neck Oncology Research Registry / PI: Dr. Andres Bur 

Prospective evaluation of GErmline mutations Cancer outcome and Tissue biomarkers (P.R.O.G.E.C.T.): A registry for patients with triple negative breast cancer and germline mutations / Dr. Priyanka Sharma 

Breast Tissue Biomarkers Predicting Short Term Risk of Breast Cancer / PI: Dr. Carol Fabian