Fighting Cancer Through Research: LSU’s Role in Advancing New Treatments
February 27, 2025
By 2030, it’s projected that 2.3 million Americans will be affected by cancer each year. At LSU, our work will contribute to finding new cancer-fighting drugs. Fatima Rivas, LSU chemistry assistant professor, is driven to develop new cancer-fighting drugs, specifically targeting triple-negative breast cancer—an aggressive form with limited treatment options.
Read Rivas' perspective on how sustained research funding drives innovation, supports student researchers, and accelerates progress toward better cancer treatments.
– Photo: Katherine Seghers, LSU
Our research specifically focuses on triple-negative breast cancer, a particularly aggressive form that carries a high mortality rate largely because of limited effective treatment options available to patients. We’re focused on identifying new potential therapeutic agents to treat metabolic disorders and cancer. With NIH support, we've been able to develop several compounds that have demonstrated effectiveness against breast cancer in mouse models.
Our group includes a senior scientist, five graduate students, and five undergraduate students. Each member of our team brings unique skills to help achieve our mission. The students are integral. Each student focuses on a specific area of expertise, from organic chemistry and computational modeling to cellular studies, that creates a complementary team where our individual strengths combine to advance our collective research goals.
“ Any reduction in financial support will directly and negatively affect our research progress and outcomes. ”
Significant funding is required to reach goals; it’s essential for conducting our complex research, from maintaining basic infrastructure to operating advanced equipment and facilities. Any reduction in financial support will directly and negatively affect our research progress and outcomes. We depend on institutional core facilities funded through indirect support mechanisms. Without this infrastructure, our productivity would significantly decrease, and our research timeline would be extended.
Scientific progress demands both intellectual curiosity and sufficient resources to test hypotheses. These financial limitations will restrict the scope of work possible, hampering advancements in the field. Funding by the NIH has brought forth groundbreaking advances in organic chemistry - including click chemistry, asymmetric catalysis, and numerous synthetic organic reactions that have been instrumental in developing medications that are now used to treat patients worldwide.
A delay in our research creates a ripple effect that ultimately impacts patient care, even if those consequences aren't immediately visible. The extended timeline for developing new therapeutic options means patients must wait longer for potentially more effective treatments.