A newly recruited Texas A&M University chemist is among the scientists and product development research projects selected last week by the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) to receive a total of $51.8 million in grants to bolster the state’s fight against cancer.
Dr. Lauren D. Hagler is one of 10 statewide recipients of a $2 million First-Time, Tenure-Track Faculty Member recruitment grant — a one-time award intended to help bring cancer scientists and emerging researchers to academic institutions across Texas. A rising star and recipient of a prestigious Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University, Hagler is set to join the Texas A&M Department of Chemistry in September as an assistant professor.
“These grants, like all CPRIT grants, represent the leading edge of cancer research in Texas,” said CPRIT CEO Wayne Roberts. “They have been thoroughly reviewed, both by CPRIT and cancer expert peers across the country, and will push the boundary of innovative cancer research forward for the benefit of all Texans.”
Hagler is among the more than 200 First-Time, Tenure-Track Faculty — one of four classifications designated as CPRIT Scholars — who have relocated to Texas institutions as a result of the program since it began in 2009. She is the fourth CPRIT Scholar within the College of Arts and Sciences, joining fellow chemist Dr. Jonathan Sczepanski (2015) and the Department of Biology’s Dr. Wanhe Li (2022) in earning selection in the First-Time, Tenure Track Faculty category and fellow chemist Dr. Alison Fout (2023), who is one of the 30 Rising Stars recruited thus far to the Lone Star State.
Hagler plans to use her CPRIT grant to develop a research program at the interface of RNA biophysics and drug discovery to reveal core principles of RNA-mediated gene expression and uncover novel disease targets in oncology.
“The Department of Chemistry is extremely excited to have Dr. Hagler join our faculty in the fall and delighted that CPRIT has recognized her tremendous potential,” said Dr. Simon W. North, John W. Bevan Professor of Chemistry and head of Texas A&M Chemistry. “Her expertise in quantitative biophysics, chemical biology and high-throughput genomics will augment our ongoing efforts at the intersection of chemistry and biology.”
Hagler, who was born and raised in Birmingham, earned her bachelor of science in chemistry in 2015 from the University of Alabama and her Ph.D. in organic chemistry in 2020 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she combined organic synthesis and chemical biology to develop RNA- and DNA-targeting drugs under the mentorship of Prof. Steve Zimmerman. As an HHMI Hanna H. Gray Postdoctoral Research Fellow under the guidance of Prof. Dan Herschlag at the Stanford School of Medicine and Prof. Silvi Rouskin at Harvard Medical School, Hagler’s work blended fundamental biochemistry and genomics to study RNA-protein interactions in cells using predictive modeling.
In her independent laboratory at Texas A&M, Hagler will continue taking an interdisciplinary approach combining quantitative biophysics, chemical biology and high-throughput genomics to develop predictive models for the molecular behavior and biological consequences of RNA modifications on gene expression while also designing new therapeutics and chemical probes for RNA-mediated diseases and processes.
To date, CPRIT has awarded more than $3 billion in grants to Texas research institutions and organizations through its academic research, prevention, and product development research programs. To be eligible to receive CPRIT funds, applicants must be Texas-based entities, including public or private institutions of higher education, academic health institutions, universities, government organizations, non-governmental organizations, other public or private companies, or individuals residing in Texas.
Learn more about the Hagler Lab or CPRIT.