The National Institutes of Health renewed a $2 million grant for Patrick Moore, director of the Molecular Virology Program at Pitt, on March 5. The renewal will allow Moore and his colleagues to continue research into the newest human cancer virus causing most Merkel cell carcinomas, a rare but deadly skin cancer.

According to UPMC’s website, Moore and Co-Director of the Molecular Virology Program Yuan Chang work with a team of researchers to link viruses to cancer.

In 2008, the team discovered the Merkel cell polyomavirus — the seventh human cancer virus identified and the second discovered by the team — under the original grant, which expires March 31.

The grant renewal will fund the group’s research until March 2019.

According to the UPMC news release, Moore said the work done through the initial grant was successful and led to new methods for doctors to diagnose and treat Merkel cell carcinoma.

Among the program’s discoveries was a protein that allows the normally harmless polyomavirus to transform healthy cells into cancerous cells. In the news release, Chang said viruses are important models for cancer research.

Chang said doctors have found that it may be possible to kill cancerous tumors by targeting virus pathways, a significant discovery because 20 percent of all cancers are related to infectious diseases.