Satoru Osuka, MD., PhD., assistant professor in the UAB Department of Neurosurgery, recently received the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Transition Career Development Award (K22) for his research project, "Targeting Adaptive Radio-Resistance of Glioblastoma."  
 
The objective of the K22 is to provide support to mentored, non-independent investigators in transitioning to their first independent tenure-track-faculty cancer research positions.
 
This award, in the amount of $324,000, will fund Osuka’s research over the next three years, beginning Jan. 1, 2023. 
 
The purpose of his research is to identify the mechanisms that drive therapeutic radiation resistance in glioblastomas, a type of fatal brain tumor, and learn how to target them. 
 
By using clinically relevant glioblastoma models, Osuka’s research found that SDC1 is a vital newfound protein for increasing radiation resistance in glioblastomas. 
 
According to Osuka, “This research may lead to the development of novel therapeutics to overcome radiation resistance in brain cancer by targeting novel molecular pathways.”
 
Osuka and his research team will analyze the underlying details of the tumors’ resistance-driving mechanism with the goal of developing a new treatment for glioblastoma patients.