The field of translational research
has been modeled most effectively in the oncology setting,
where an unprecented number of new agents are being clinically
tested and approved for use against specific malignancies.
Impetus for this renaissance has come from the laboratory.
Biochemistry and molecular biology have driven advances in
understanding the molecular changes that are seen in cancer
and have enabled the ability to pharmacologically target these
changes. Drug targets in cancer encompass almost every aspect
of cellular function, including cell surface expression of
molecules, intracellular signaling events, protein degradation
and even gene expression. An advantage of this generation
of drugs is the fact that clinical trials may take into account
whether the appropriate molecular target has been hit, thereby
arming the next phase of drug development in improving the
drug itself or choosing a better target. The most dramatic
example of the success of these strategies has been in therapies
for chronic myelogenous leukemia, a blood cancer which aberrantly
expresses the BCR/ABL oncogene. Therapies inhibiting BCR/ABL
action have changed the management and the clinical course
of this disease. More importantly, the strategies utilized
to develop these therapies have been adopted by translational
researchers working to cure human disease inclusive of, but
not limited to cancer.
Joya Chandra
Children’s Cancer Hospital at M.D. Anderson
University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Houston, Texas, U.S.A
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| | Dr.
Joya Chandra earned her doctorate in cancer biology and immunology
at the University of Texas Health Science Center Graduate
School of Biomedical Sciences and M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
in 1998. She subsequently conducted two postdoctoral fellowships.
The first was at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden,
where she trained with Professor Sten Orrenius and studied
the biochemistry of programmed cell death and oxidative stress.
Her second fellowship was at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester,
Minnesota under the direction of Scott Kaufmann, M.D., Ph.D.
where she conducted translational research in the field of
leukemia therapeutics. In 2002 she returned to the University
of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas as
an Assistant Professor on the tenure track within the Children’s
Cancer Hospital. She is currently an Associate Professor with
Tenure, and has authored over 40 publications in the field
of translational biomedical research. Her NIH funded laboratory
conducts preclinical studies on novel agents in pediatric
cancer model systems with an emphasis on leukemia and brain
tumors. She is also conducting translational research on how
limiting oxidative stress by specific currently used cancer
drugs can promote fewer long term toxicities in pediatric
cancer survivors.
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| Selected Awards and Honors:
AACR-AFLAC Young Investigator Award; AACR-AFLAC Scholar-in-Training
Award; NIH NRSA Individual (F32) Training Grant; Children's
Oncology Group Young Investigator Award; Leukemia SPORE Career
Development Award; Texas Federation of Business and Professional
Women's Club Award; Faculty Educator of the Month, The University
of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.
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