The Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) has announced that Ilya Finkelstein has been awarded a $2 million Faculty Recruitment Grant. Finkelstein recently joined the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry as an Assistant Professor. His research focuses on single molecule techniques and he is using them to solve important biological problems that cannot be solved in any other way. In particular, he will be using the transformative “DNA curtains” strategy, a technique he invented and developed, to study a seminal aspect of cancer biology, namely genomic instability and related repair mechanisms. His unique approach will allow him to be the first to address fundamental questions regarding how cells coordinate multi-protein assemblies to repair DNA by directly observing, at the single molecule level, the key biochemical steps of DNA double-strand break repair.
Finkelstein Lab
CPRIT is a state agency mandated to:
- Create and expedite innovation in the area of cancer research and in enhancing the potential for a medical or scientific breakthrough in the prevention of cancer and cures for cancer;
- Attract, create, or expand research capabilities of public or private institutions of higher education and other public or private entities that will promote a substantial increase in cancer research and in the creation of high-quality new jobs in this state; and
- Develop and implement the Texas Cancer Plan.