Award
NIH Reporter #5K08CA256173-05
Advancing WRN as a synthetic lethal target for microsatellite unstable cancers
Recipient
Columbia University Health Sciences
Award Amount
$168,125.00
Ceiling
$168,125.00
Awarded
August 22, 2025
Identifier
5K08CA256173-05
The award supports research to develop WRN inhibitors and combination therapies targeting microsatellite unstable cancers by understanding WRN's role in DNA repair and immune response activation.
Description
This project aims to identify WRN as a synthetic lethal target for MSI cancers, exploring its role in DNA structure unwinding, structure/function relationships, and immune response activation following WRN depletion. The research seeks to investigate why WRN is required in MSI cancers, inform rational drug design, and investigate the relationship between the innate immune response and the DNA-damage response following WRN depletion in cancers with MSI. The overarching goal is to translate this discovery into a clinically meaningful therapeutic.