Northern Arizona University has received a major grant of $8.9 million from the National Cancer Institute to support ongoing research regarding cancer overall, and cancer and carcinogen exposure in Native Americans.

The grant funds ongoing research related to uranium exposure via uranium pit mines in the Cameron area, and helps support researchers trying to figure out some aspects of what drives cancer at a cellular level.

It includes NAU projects seeking to figure out why some chromosomes become broken or rearranged and cancerous, and why one protein changes shape, driving a chain reaction that supplies blood to help tumors grow.

The grants both continue some ongoing research and provide start-up money for others that might not have been conducted here otherwise.

Students will be sought for these research projects as well.

Read more about this story in Saturday's Arizona Daily Sun.