Luke Vass, fourth-year PhD student
Luke Vass, a fourth-year PhD student in the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program co-advised by Thomas Loughran, Jr., MD, and Todd Fox, PhD, has been selected for a NIH F99/K00 Predoctoral to Postdoctoral Transition Award. This award funds outstanding graduate students in the last years of their doctoral program and up to four years of their postdoctoral training.
The project, titled “Ceramide and Cell Metabolism: Defining the Role of Sphingolipids in Modulating Mitochondrial Bioenergetics of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia,” focuses on Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL), a currently incurable cancer that can affect the blood, spleen, bone marrow, and lymph nodes.
Specifically, Luke studies sphingolipids, a class of fat molecules that have shown promise as a treatment for CLL in both laboratory conditions and living organisms. In the first phase of the award, Luke will study the mechanisms that allow a specific class of sphingolipids known as gangliosides to kill CLL cells. In the second, he will explore the therapeutic potential of these molecules.
Luke joins a cohort of six Cancer Center trainees who have received this prestigious award since it was established.