State Rep. Davis tours K.C. Nicolaou Research Accelerator

Chair of House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Article II sees lab where cutting-edge cancer treatment research is underway

Texas state Rep. Sarah Davis, R-West University Place, who chairs the Subcommittee on Article II of the House Committee on Appropriations, recently received an in-depth tour of Rice’s K.C. Nicolaou Research Accelerator in the BioScience Research Collaborative. Nicolaou, the Harry C. and Olga K. Wiess Professor of Chemistry at Rice, led the tour. He and Davis discussed the role a $6 million grant from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) had in his joining the Rice faculty and his research on the total synthesis of Taxol, one of the best-selling cancer drugs ever manufactured. In addition to being a vocal advocate for continuation of CPRIT funding, Davis is a breast cancer survivor who received Taxol treatments during her course of therapy. The tour came about following the April announcement of the partnership between AbbVie and Rice to establish the research accelerator to focus on synthesizing novel cytotoxic agents for use in the fight against cancer. Pictured: (From left) Nicolaou, Davis, Paul Cherukuri, executive director of the Institute for Bioscience and Bioengineering, and Yousif Shamoo, vice provost for research.