June 23, 2006 - Weber’s NIH Grant Focuses on Effects of Chemotherapy Drugs in Mice

LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ – Dr. Todd Weber, associate professor of biology at Rider University, has received a $190,737 three-year grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support his research on the effects of chemotherapy drugs on the production of nerve tissue cells in the adult mouse brain.

“Many of the drugs currently used to treat cancer and tumor formation in humans act by inhibiting cell division and survival of newborn cancer cells, which have mutated in a way to avoid mechanisms that normally keep these processes in check,” Weber said.

“However, these drugs produce common side-effects such as hair loss, digestive problems, immunosupression and anemia, which all result primarily from inhibition of normal, necessary replication and survival of new cells in the body,” he added.  “It stands to reason that any of these drugs which are capable of entering into the brain would also inhibit the cell proliferation normally observed in the hippocampus (one of the two ridges along each lateral ventricle of the brain) with potential negative implications for cognition and behavior.”

Weber said the experiments funded by this grant will address the impact of chemotherapy drugs on the normal processes of proliferation and survival of new cells in the hippocampus of mice by identifying newborn cells in brain tissue, as well as cells in which apoptosis (programmed death cell) has been triggered.

He and his student assistant, Robert Mignone of Staten Island, NY, a senior pre-med biochemistry major, will test drugs impairing these cellular processes for effects on cognition and behavior using spatial memory tasks and measuring depression-related behaviors.

“This work is relevant to public health given the contributions of impaired neurogenesis to cognitive and behavioral disorders,” Weber said.

Mignone has been working on experiments related to the grant for three semesters under fellowships from the New Jersey Commission on Cancer Research (NJCCR) and Merck-AAAS. 

He and Weber recently had a paper accepted for publication in the journal, Brain Research, that contains some of the preliminary data.

In addition, two local high school students, Lajhem Cambridge (Lawrenceville School) and Gerry Green (Pennsbury High, June ‘06 graduate, who will enroll at Rider in the fall), also did projects related to this research last summer through Project SEED. Cambridge will assist Weber again this summer.

Rider’s eight-member Rider biology faculty has enjoyed solid success in attracting grant funding to support their research or provide equipment for state-of-the-art technology infrastructure.  Over the years, they have received more than $3.6 million in grant support with $1,140,000 committed to current research, all with undergraduate researchers.

Since joining the Rider biology faculty in 2001, Weber has received more than $472,000 in grant funding to support his research. He also received a National Science Foundation grant to study the characteristics of the circadian activity (biological clock) of spiny mice and a NJCCR fellowship.

Recipient of a Ph.D. in physiology in 1995 from the University of Illinois, he previously taught at the University of Texas and the University of Houston before coming to Rider.  Most recently, he was named one of two Distinguished Teaching Award winners at Rider’s commencement ceremony May 12.  He has also helped Rider students organize blood and whole platelet drives on campus.