John Wise Receives NIH Research Award Funding Research on how Chromium Causes Tumors
July 24, 2009
Dr. John Wise, director of USM’s Maine Center for Toxicology and Environmental Health, has received a $1.6 million award given by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to fund research on how chromium causes normal cells to develop into tumors.
The five-year grant, known as a Research Project Grant, or R01, is one of the oldest NIH grant programs and one of the more competitive, with a reported success rate of 5 percent. This R01 award is one of only six in the University of Maine System, and the second R01 received by Wise.
The grant makes it possible for Wise to continue his research into how chromium alters cell division, thereby causing normal cells to become tumor cells. Chromium is widely recognized as a carcinogen, but it remains a popular additive in industrial products such as road paint and anti-corrosives. Chromium is also used in boat paints, metal plating and fuel combustion. Wise’s research has shown even short-term exposure to chromium produces an abnormal number of chromosomes, yet it is still unknown how this results in cancer.
Wise’s research interests are in the areas of causes of cancer, metal toxicology, marine toxicology, and cell culture. Wise holds a Ph.D. in pharmacology from George Washington University. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Laboratory of Human Carcinogenesis at the National Cancer Institute and served as the senior toxicologist at Jonathan Borak and Company, an environmental and occupational medicine consulting firm. Prior to joining USM in 2002, he held faculty appointments in epidemiology and internal medicine at Yale, where he also directed a molecular toxicology lab.
A resident of Cape Elizabeth, Wise is a 1983 graduate of Portland High School.
The University of Southern Maine (USM) offers its 10,000 plus students more than 115 areas of undergraduate and graduate study. USM’s location in southern Maine, a region cited as one of the most liveable in the country, offers a range of educational, cultural and recreational opportunities.
