Research Will Provide Quick Diagnostic Tests for Oncologists to Improve Patient Outcomes

CLEVELAND – Dr. Anthony Berdis, assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry at Cleveland State University and member of CSU’s Center for Gene Regulation in Health and Disease (GRHD), has earned the distinction of having received CSU’s first-ever Faculty Innovation Fund (FIF) award for his proposal “Diagnostic Kits to Quantify Pro-Mutagenic Replication in Hyperproliferative Diseases.”

“These diagnostic tests will provide oncologists with essential information to make rapid clinical decisions in less than eight hours using standard drug treatments to improve patient outcomes,” said Dr. Berdis, who is chief scientific officer and co-founder of Red5 Pharmaceuticals, LLC.

In addition to providing funds for the development and commercialization of the diagnostic kits, the FIF award will allow Dr. Berdis to collect preliminary data needed to apply for external funding from the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program as well as for grants from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

Dr. Berdis currently has funding from the Department of Defense for his research project “Developing Inhibitors of Translesion DNA Synthesis as Therapeutic Agents against Lung Cancer.” In addition, Dr. Berdis has funding from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

The selection committee reviewing Dr. Berdis’ proposal consisted of distinguished CSU faculty, representatives from the Office of Research, the Technology Transfer Office and the Ohio Third Frontier-funded Wright Center for Sensor Systems Engineering at CSU, as well as external members from JumpStart, Case Western Reserve University and the former director of the National Institutes of Health Center for Scientific Review.

The Office of Research congratulates Dr. Berdis on his successful FIF proposal, and wishes his research team the best in their work on this exciting project.