From Staff ReportsEDMOND — A University of Central Oklahoma dean has received the first and only National Institutes of Health (NIH) Research Project Grant (R01) awarded to a nonresearch institution in Oklahoma, UCO officials have announced. For more than two decades, Wei Chen, professor of biomedical engineering and dean of the College of Mathematics and Science, has dedicated his research to developing a new type of cancer treatment to treat late-stage, metastatic cancers. The NIH, through its National Cancer Institute, awarded Chen a five-year R01 grant, totaling $1,374,355, to support the continuation of his work on his cancer treatment method, laser immunotherapy (LIT). LIT uses the combination of local laser irradiation and the local administration of an immunological stimulant to treat tumors.Read more on NewsOK.com