The Long Island League to Abolish Cancer (LILAC) awarded the Department of Pharmacological Sciences at Stony Brook University Medical Center a grant to advance cancer research through new instrumentation. Pictured from left: Lena Gaynes, LILAC President; Howard Crawford, Ph.D., SBUMC cancer researcher; Evelyn Rose, LILAC Program V.P., and Sabine Brouxhon, M.D., SBUMC cancer researcher.

Cancer researchers in the Department of Pharmacological Sciences at Stony Brook University Medical Center received a $9,995 grant from the Long Island League to Abolish Cancer (LILAC) to purchase an essential piece of laboratory instrumentation. The grant will be used to attain a DNA imager, an ultraviolet (UV) light and camera source that enables researchers to analyze DNA gels of tissue to advance molecular studies of cancer.

In order to understand the genetic changes that cause cancer or control the progression of disease, cancer researchers need a UV light source and camera to visualize cellular changes within diseased tissue of cancer models. Pharmacological Sciences investigators Howard Crawford, Ph.D., Associate Professor; Stella Tsirka, Ph.D., Professor; Emily Chen, Ph.D., Associate Professor, and Sabine Brouxhon, M.D., Visiting Associate Professor, Emergency Medicine, will use the new DNA imager to conduct laboratory studies on pancreatic, brain, breast and skin cancer.

For 12 consecutive years, LILAC has provided more than $85,000 to SBUMC to support instrumentation for cancer research initiatives in areas such as molecular markers for cancer, proteins and cancer, and cancer stem cells. A portion of the 2009 grant was funded by a newly formed group called LILAC’s “Teens Against Cancer.” The group includes dedicated teenagers from Half Hollow Hills High School in Dix Hills, N.Y., who volunteered their time during the past school year to raise funds for LILAC.

Established in 1967, Plainview-based LILAC raises funds for direct contributions to cancer research projects on Long Island. The organization’s charter requires funds be used to purchase specific research equipment.

The Department of Pharmacological Sciences is one of 25 departments within Stony Brook University School of Medicine, an arm of Stony Brook University Medical Center. The School centers its mission on education, medical training, and advancing scientific research in the areas of basic, translational, and clinical investigation.