{"id":381174,"date":"2026-07-21T17:21:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T17:21:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/381174\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T17:21:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T17:21:14","slug":"rice-synthx-center-houston-methodist-award-90k-for-cancer-seed-grants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/381174\/","title":{"rendered":"Rice SynthX Center, Houston Methodist award $90K for cancer seed grants"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rice University\u2019s Synthesis X Center<\/a>, in partnership with the Houston Methodist Neal Cancer Center<\/a>, announced earlier this month the organizations would award $90,000 in seed grant funding to two projects that could help fight cancer. One would ease the pain of chemotherapy, while the other could change the way the progression of leukemia is tracked. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re excited to be collaborating with the Neal Cancer Center to support collaborative, novel and interdisciplinary proposals to improve cancer care and outcomes,\u201d Han Xiao, Rice professor of chemistry and the director of the SynthX Center, said in a news release.<\/a> \u201cTogether, we can achieve translational excellence.\u201d<\/p>\n

The projects<\/p>\n

Chemotherapy is one of the most effective cancer treatments, but it can be hard on the body. The human body doesn\u2019t like being injected with radioactive material, especially the skin around the injection point, which can become extremely irritated. For patients in long-term treatment, the skin irritation can be more than just a bother; it can lead to infections that are dangerous to a compromised immune system.<\/p>\n

Angel A Marti, a professor of chemistry at Rice University, and Biana Godin, an associate professor of nanoscience at Houston Methodist Research Institute, are experimenting with metal nanoclusters as a way to block radiation at the injection site. The nanocluster could be applied in a cream or a gel on the skin, serving as a type of shield against the harsh radioactive material.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Yuan Ma, an assistant professor of chemistry at Rice, and Shu-Hsia Chen, a professor of immunology at Houston Methodist Research Institute, are working with m6A. Discovered in the 1970s, m6A is the most prevalent chemical modifier found in mRNA in mammals. It is prevalent in many cancers, including leukemia. <\/p>\n

Ma and Chen are working on measuring the amount of m6A in leukemia to see if it can determine the most effective cancer treatments. The team is also experimenting with ways to shut off m6A to see if it makes current leukemia treatments more effective. <\/p>\n

Progress from SynthX <\/p>\n

SynthX was first launched in April 2024<\/a> to turn research from Rice and Houston Methodist into real-world cancer treatments. Within a year, the center had secured $1.5 million in grant money to work on crossing the blood-brain barrier in brain cancer treatments<\/a>. These latest awards show that SynthX Center continues to bridge the worlds of research and clinical practice. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis collaboration reflects a shared commitment to team science in cancer research,\u201d Daniela Matei, the director of the Houston Methodist Neal Cancer Center, added in the release. \u201cThese are the types of translational and pioneering projects that lead to transformation in patient care.\u201d’<\/p>\n

The SynthX Center awarded $90,000 in seed grants<\/a> to three teams in 2025 and $80,000 to three teams in 2024.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rice University\u2019s Synthesis X Center, in partnership with the Houston Methodist Neal Cancer Center, announced earlier this month…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381175,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[134624,134625,13197,77991,56,58,2597,134626,57,134623,134629,134630,134622,134628,134621,134627],"class_list":["post-381174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-angel-a-marti","tag-biana-godin","tag-chemotherapy","tag-daniela-matei","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-methodist","tag-houston-methodist-research-institute","tag-houston-news","tag-leukemia-treatment","tag-m6a","tag-rice-synthx-center","tag-seed-grant","tag-shu-hsia-chen","tag-synthesis-x-center","tag-yuan-ma"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}