The DMC Foundation has awarded Michael Wilson, Ph.D., a $75,000 grant for the study, “Obesity impacts the endometrial cancer tumor microenvironment.” His research team focuses on immune cell populations associated with endometrial tumors and how obesity impacts both the abundance and the characteristics of these cell types.

“Obesity is a risk factor for many types of cancer, but endometrial cancer is unique in that the majority of patients are obese, so we want to understand the reasons for this,” said Dr. Wilson, an assistant professor of the Wayne State University School of Medicine’s Department of Oncology and member of the Molecular Therapeutics Research Program at Karmanos. “This grant allows our research team to test endometrial cancer tumors further to identify unique factors within the tumors of endometrial cancer patients with obesity. Our long-term goal is to identify preventative treatments for obesity-driven endometrial cancer and reduce the incidence of this disease.”

The project is a collaboration between Dr. Wilson’s lab; Katherine Gurdziel, Ph.D., director of the WSU Genome Sciences Core; and Julie Boerner, Ph.D., director of the Biobanking and Correlative Sciences Core and member of the MT Research Program at Karmanos. Sanjeev Ganesh, a WSU Cancer Biology Program master’s candidate, and Jessica Long, a second-year M.D. and Ph.D. student in WSU’s Biomedical Graduate Program, will assist with the project.

The study began July 1 and is expected to run for a year, ending June 30, 2024.

The DMC Foundation is a supporting organization of the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan. The foundation supports health-related research, education and community benefit activities that promote the well-being of metropolitan Detroiters.