2005 Recipient — Anil K. Sood, MD

Dr. Anil Sood headshot

Anil K. Sood, MD

Novel siRNA Based Therapeutic Approaches for Ovarian Carcinoma

Project Summary

The goal of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center Program Project Development Grant is to develop new therapy approaches for ovarian cancer patients based on using short interfering RNA (siRNA) approaches, part of a natural selective process for turning off genes. The three key objectives of this project will examine the biological consequences and therapeutic efficacy of targeting key genes involved in ovarian cancer metastasis using siRNA approaches, targeting specific chemotherapy-resistance genes in ovarian cancer, and developing new delivery vehicles with a two-step approach for adhesive targeting and specificity against tumor cells.

Areas of Research:

Bio

Professor and Vice Chair, Translational Research
Co-Director, Center for RNA Interference and Non-Coding RNA
Director, Blanton-Davis Ovarian Cancer Research Center
M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Dr. Anil Sood is Professor and Vice Chair for Translational Research in the Departments of Gynecologic Oncology and Cancer Biology and co-director of the Center for RNA Interference and Non-Coding RNA at the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

He is also Director of the multi-disciplinary Blanton-Davis Ovarian Cancer Research Program. Dr. Sood’s research is focused in three main areas: 1) effects of neuroendocrine stress hormones on ovarian cancer growth and progression, 2) development of new strategies for in vivo siRNA delivery, and 3) development of novel anti-vascular therapeutic approaches.

Dr. Sood has received major recognition for his research accomplishments including the Hunter Award, the Margaret Greenfield/Carmel Cohen Excellence in Ovarian Cancer Research Prize, and the GCF/Claudia Cohen Research Foundation Prize for Outstanding Gynecologic Cancer Researcher. Dr. Sood is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.