The University of Louisville has received a $3 million grant from the Helmsley Charitable Trust to support its Owensboro Cancer Research Program.
U of L President James Ramsey says the funds will be boosted by an additional $1.5 million from the state Bucks For Brains program.
The research is focused on developing tobacco-based vaccines for the viruses that cause AIDS and cervical cancer.
Researchers hope that a plant-based vaccine will be cheap enough to be sold in developing countries with high rates of the illnesses.
(Story by WFPL intern Simon Levine)