The Mary Kay Foundation awarded $100,000 to Dr. Melanie Cobb, Professor of Pharmacology at UT Southwestern, to study the role of the WNK gene in the progression of breast cancer.  

“Our research aims to understand the effect of specific inhibitors on cell migration and to provide evidence for the potential of the WNK1/OSR1 pathway as a therapeutic target in treating some of the most aggressive forms of breast cancer,” said Dr. Cobb, whose lab studies the role of kinase signaling in cell regulatory mechanisms.  

This is the 11th year that UT Southwestern Medical Center has been the recipient of a grant from the Mary Kay Foundation. Previous UT Southwestern research funded by the Mary Kay Foundation includes work on a method to inhibit bone metastases from breast cancer and research on predicting treatment responses in cervical cancer. 

There will be approximately 300,000 new cases of breast cancer diagnosed in the United States this year, according to the American Cancer Society. With improved screening and treatment, survival rates have increased dramatically so that today the 5-year survival rate for newly diagnosed patients is more than 90 percent, according to the National Cancer Institute. Still, some 40,000 deaths are expected this year and new treatment options for certain types of difficult-to-treat breast cancers are needed. 

The grant was one of a dozen $100,000 grants awarded in October by the Mary Kay Foundation to support research on cancers that affect women. More than 150 research centers competed for those 12 grants. Since 1996, the Foundation has awarded $28 million in grants to universities and research centers.  

Dr. Cobb holds the Jane and Bill Browning Jr. Chair in Medical Science.