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Dabo Swinney All In Foundation Supports Bioengineering

Brian Booth

Recently appointed assistant professor of bioengineering Dr. Brian Booth received another vote of confidence on October 17, 2016. For the third time, Tiger football coach Dabo Swinney’s All In Team Foundation funded Booth’s proposed breast cancer research. The foundation has been behind Booth from his first studies showing that tannic acid, a naturally occurring anticancer agent, kills ER+ and HER2+ breast cancer cells at a greater rate than normal breast cells.

According to Booth, “We are working to develop an injectable matrix of small collagen beads and tannic acid that will facilitate tissue regeneration following a lumpectomy. When a patient’s own cells grow on the matrix of beads, the anticancer agent will be released, killing any residual cancer cells and inhibiting tumor recurrence.” The first year of the new grant will allow the Booth lab to perform laboratory experiments to refine the matrix. In the grant’s second year, Booth’s lab will translate the results into preliminary animal experiments.

Booth describes graduate Lauren Jordan, who finished her M.S. degree in bioengineering working on this project with the support of Dabo’s All-In Team Foundation, with pride. “We have been able to present the research at international scientific conferences including the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting and the Biomedical Engineering Society Annual Meeting. We have published two scientific papers about our results so far, have another accepted for publication, and a fourth is currently being prepared for submission.” He added, “Potentially, this research could translate to other soft tissue cancers such as melanoma. The matrix will also be applicable to soft tissue regeneration such as after injury or trauma.”