Chemistry professor wins $334,663 grant to study cancer cells

February 25, 2011

Christopher Veldkamp is on a mission to understand how cancer spreads throughout the body. The assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater now has national backing and funding to carry out his research.

Veldkamp received a three-year, $334,633 Academic Research Enhancement Award from the National Institutes of Health.

Veldkamp’s research involves chemokines, a family of proteins found in humans and many other creatures. One of these proteins – CCL21 – is known to attract cancer cells to the lymph nodes, facilitating the spread of cancerous tumors.

“My goal is to determine the 3D structure of the protein to better understand how CCL21 tells cancer cells to migrate,” Veldkamp said. “Then, hopefully, we can figure out a way to disrupt this process.”

Slowing the spread of cancer could result in better treatments and survival rates among cancer patients. Localized cancer can often be removed via surgery or targeted with radiation. Cancer that has spread is much more difficult to treat.

Veldkamp will be assisted by five undergraduate students who will perform lab work and contribute to the 3D protein structure determination.