Sources: Alexander Beeser, 785-532-6615, albeeser@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Andy Badeker, 785-532-6415, abadeker@k-state.edu
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
CANCER RESEARCHER MAKES A PLACE FOR HIMSELF AT K-STATE
MANHATTAN -- Alexander Beeser is settling into his professorial role at Kansas State University. He has furnished his new lab in Ackert Hall and has the help of a visiting summer research assistant.
"Everything is up and running and we're starting to do experiments," said Beeser, who is the first professor recruited through a program sponsored by K-State's Terry C. Johnson Center for Basic Cancer Research.
Beeser joined K-State's Division of Biology in January as an assistant professor. He studies a class of proteins called kinases (KY-nazes), which play a role in cellular communication.
"Kinases are the predominant way that cells sense and appropriately respond to their environment," he said.
But when such kinases aren't regulated properly, they can lead to a variety of diseases. Beeser's particular interest is in "Paks," a family of kinases linked to Type 2 neurofibromatosis, a debilitating pediatric cancer for which there is no effective therapy.
Beeser was hired through a cooperative university program designed to encourage departments to hire cancer researchers by funding their first three years' salary. The department is responsible for laboratory and equipment expenses, as well as the faculty member's salary after those three years.
"A most crucial approach in our fight against cancer is to recruit promising new faculty members to K-State," said Robin Denell, director of the Terry C. Johnson Center for Basic Cancer Research and university distinguished professor of biology. "We're thrilled to have Dr. Beeser here. He'll no doubt contribute a great deal as K-State strives to take a leading role in conquering cancers in our time."
"I am very excited to be a part of the large group of cancer researchers at K-State," he said.
Beeser also frequents Lawrence, where he's using robotic screening equipment at the University of Kansas' Center for Cancer Experimental Therapeutics.
"It allows you to rapidly screen very large numbers of small molecules, up to 100,000, for biological or enzymatic activity," Beeser said. That work is supported by the National Institutes of Health Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence, or COBRE, program.
Beeser will then experiment with the most promising of those molecules in hopes of finding a way to block the activity of Paks.
"Currently, most drugs that target kinases inhibit multiple kinases, which isn't ideal from a therapeutic standpoint," he said. "Small molecules with increased specificity, such as Gleevec and Irressa, which have shown immense clinical benefit, are the paradigms of directed therapeutics."
The success of those drugs is encouraging researchers to hunt for ever more precise inhibitors.
Beeser received his doctorate in microbiology/immunology in 2000 from the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center. Before coming to K-State he was a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Jonathan Chernoff at Philadelphia's Fox Chase Cancer Center.
K-State's Terry C. Johnson Center for Basic Cancer Research funds research and supports training, higher education and public outreach. Its programs are made possible through private donations.
More information about the center is available at http://www.k-state.edu/cancer.center or by calling 785-532-6705.