The Southern

CARBONDALE - Daniel Dyer, professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochimistry, is working on establishing an endowed professorship and local endowed research center to research the very condition that has befallen him.

Dyer was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), an aggressive type of brain cancer and he is hoping to establish a center for brain chemistry research at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. To realize this goal, he has to raise as much as $6 million.

Dyer, who was the first professor at SIUC to win a CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation in 2001, will try to gain support throughout the university. He will also have to modify his research from his previous work on materials chemistry.

"Dr. Dyer is a young faculty member who is highly successful in his own teaching and research career and was just promoted to full professor in his department," Dean of the College of Science Jay Means said in an SIUC press release. "At 42, his research also extends to numerous collaborative efforts with his younger colleagues. These collaborative efforts are now leading to breakthroughs in basic macro-molecular sciences and biomolecular sciences that are innovative and have many applications. He is an outstanding mentor of graduate students."

Dyer first noticed the symptoms in the winter when he began having trouble spelling words. Being a new parent, he thought that disrupted sleep patterns were to blame. However, symptoms worsened and an MRI revealed a four-inch tumor in the part of the brain that controls speech and fine motor skills. He then underwent a successful surgery at Washington University in St. Louis that managed to remove the tumor.

However, even though the tumor is gone, he has an aggressive form of GBM that often returns.

"I'm making the assumption that after I go through chemotherapy and the six-week radiation course that I'm going to be among that percentage who survive," Dyer joked in the press release. "I'm young, and my brain's always been above average, so I'm counting on being in that percent that make it."

He plans to use his medical leave to make presentations to potential donors and set up a program that can not only help him, but others with the condition and the university. Dyer hopes to eventually employ as many as 10 professors and their research groups for the center, which he is calling "The Southern Illinois Institute for Brain Chemistry."

"We want it here because this is where the University's physical sciences are conducted," Dyer said in the news release.

In addition to spending medical leave with potential donors, Dyer also plans to use his time getting treatment in St. Louis to learn everything he can from researchers there. He will also work with the SIU Foundation to plan fund-raising and with the administration to formulate plans.

"It's a lot to do," Dyer said in the news release. "It's a very large goal. And I'm literally fighting for my life here."

- SIUC University Communications