St. Baldrick’s Grant Boosts Dr. McEvoy’s Fight against Rhabdomyosarcoma

Sometimes, it may not be in our genes—at least not entirely.  MCB Assistant Professor Justina McEvoy is focused on learning why children with few gene mutations suffer from rhabdomyosarcoma, a pediatric cancer with poor outcomes that has seen little improvement in treatment over the past 30 years.  Her promising research in epigenomics aims to shed light on how changes in the binding of proteins with DNA contribute to the growth of tumors. 

Preliminary results in her University of Arizona Cancer Center lab excited McEvoy; they showed that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNA) could be the mechanism by which a mutation in the most aggressive form of rhabdomyosarcoma affects protein binding.  They also got the attention of the St. Baldrick's Foundation, a pediatric cancer non-profit, which just awarded McEvoy a three-year $167,000 career development grant.

“It’s nice to have the recognition,” McEvoy said.  “It gives me confidence that this is exciting research, and we are getting other people excited.  Finding this new non-genetic mechanism [in rhabdomyosarcoma] gives us an opportunity for therapeutic development that would otherwise be beyond our reach.”

Pediatric cancers compete with the larger universe of cancers for grants, but non-profits focused on finding cures for children are an important source of support for researchers like McEvoy, who hopes to parlay this initial success into a research grant.

As she outlines her research plans, McEvoy’s enthusiasm is contagious.  She hopes that further understanding of the role of lncRNA in protein binding could help find an already existing cancer treatment that would be effective against rhabdomyosarcoma, which occurs in developing skeletal muscles.  McEvoy is happy to share that enthusiasm with three undergraduate students working in her lab, “They are excited to apply what they are learning in class, and it is gratifying to see them getting excited.”

With a promising line of inquiry, McEvoy is interested in taking on additional undergraduate researchers, who must have completed MCB 325 - The Biology of Cancer.