Dr. Patrick Moore, a researcher at The University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, has received the National Cancer Institute Outstanding Investigator Award. This honor is given to accomplished cancer researchers, and Dr. Moore was awarded $6.4 million to further his work researching the link between viruses and cancer. Dr. Moore is a professor and leader of the UPCI Cancer Virology Program, and he also holds the Pittsburgh Foundation Chair in Innovative Cancer Research at Pitt. He is one of only 60 people in the country to receive this award since it was created in 2014, and he is only the second from the UPCI. He and his wife and research partner, Yuan Chang, have identified two viruses that cause Kaposi sarcoma and Merkel cell carcinoma. The grant will help Dr. Moore to fund his research in understanding how the virus that causes Merkel cell carcinoma turns normal cells into cancer, investigating unusual ways that the virus that causes Kaposi sarcoma makes oncoproteins and identifying new ways to find viruses that cause cancer. “I am hopeful this research will help provide new insights into methods to reliably determine the role of viruses in human cancers and to uncover new common cancer pathways that are at work in both infectious and noninfectious tumors,” Dr. Moore says in a press release. “This is an exciting time in cancer research based on past discoveries, and I’m honored that the NCI has chosen to recognize my work with this award.”
4/08/2016