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Biochemist Gregg Fields, Ph.D., studies collagen and how it might aid in spreading cancer in the body.
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SAN ANTONIO (Nov. 18, 2008) — Gregg B. Fields, Ph.D., a biochemist who studies the body’s connective tissue to understand how primary tumors spread to secondary sites, has joined the Department of Biochemistry at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. He is also a member of the Cancer Therapy & Research Center (CTRC) at the UT Health Science Center.

Dr. Fields, who brought his laboratory team and several million dollars in research grants to San Antonio from Florida Atlantic University, is the second Robert A. Welch Foundation Distinguished Professor in Chemistry at the Health Science Center. Dr. Fields joins Bettie Sue Masters, Ph.D., also a professor in the Department of Biochemistry, who has held the Welch Foundation distinction for more than 15 years.

Research focuses on collagen
Dr. Fields studies collagen, which accounts for 60 percent of the body’s overall protein content. Collagen provides the support system for skin, bone, tissues and blood vessels. “Collagen is an important barrier that creates compartments within the body,” he said. “If something spreads in the body, it often has to move through collagen. Tumor cells figure out a way to chew holes in collagen and, once they do, cancer spreads and patients’ survival rates decrease. It is imperative to understand how this process occurs.”

His laboratory constructs synthetic minicollagens, which may either activate or turn off certain components that enhance the spread of tumors. These include receptors (portals of entry on the surface of cells) amplified in tumors, and proteases (enzymes that act like molecular scissors) that damage collagen. It may also be possible to precisely deliver cancer drugs using the minicollagens, Dr. Fields said.

Work centers on breast, skin and other cancers
Dr. Fields moved to San Antonio to work closely with a medical school (the UT Health Science Center School of Medicine), a cancer center (the CTRC) and the university’s Research Imaging Center. He said the minicollagen research has high applicability to breast cancer, skin cancer and other types of tumors. He looks forward to working with the CTRC to develop more candidate anti-cancer drugs locally.

His team’s recruitment strengthens the chemistry portion of drug-discovery research at the CTRC, which is one of a few elite cancer centers in the country to be named a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center and is one of only three in Texas.

Welch chair supports eminent scientists
The Welch Foundation endows about 30 chairs in Texas. According to the foundation, “The purpose of an endowed chair is to provide a faculty position for an eminent scientist, thus further increasing the basic scientific research in chemistry and other sciences in Texas.”

“The Welch chair is one of those honors that is recognized throughout the country,” Dr. Fields said. “Other states would love to have programs like this.”

The Welch Foundation, established in 1954 and based in Houston, has now generously awarded $9 million in grants and endowments to the Health Science Center.

Dr. Fields’ recruited from Florida Atlantic University
Originally from New York City, Dr. Fields received his Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from the University of Florida in 1982 and his Ph.D. in chemistry from Florida State University in 1988. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Ken Dill, Ph.D., at the University of California, San Francisco.

From 1991 to late 1997, Dr. Fields was a faculty member at the University of Minnesota. He then joined Florida Atlantic University’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, where he served as chairman for eight years. In 2006 he became a member of the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center in Miami and the H. Lee Moffitt Comprehensive Cancer Center and Research Institute in Tampa.

Dr. Fields’ wife, Jeni Lauer-Fields, Ph.D., has managed his laboratory for 14 years. The couple has two children, Kyra and Jordan.

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The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is the leading research institution in South Texas and one of the major health sciences universities in the world. With an operating budget of $668 million, the Health Science Center is the chief catalyst for the $16.3 billion biosciences and health care sector in San Antonio’s economy. The Health Science Center has had an estimated $36 billion impact on the region since inception and has expanded to six campuses in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen and Edinburg. More than 24,000 graduates (physicians, dentists, nurses, scientists and other health professionals) serve in their fields, including many in Texas. Health Science Center faculty are international leaders in cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, aging, stroke prevention, kidney disease, orthopaedics, research imaging, transplant surgery, psychiatry and clinical neurosciences, pain management, genetics, nursing, dentistry and many other fields. For more information, visit www.uthscsa.edu.