A University at Buffalo cancer researcher has received a $300,000 grant from King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to continue her research on a vaccine for breast cancer.

Kate Rittenhouse-Olson, a professor of biotechnical and clinical laboratory sciences in UB’s School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, is collaborating with a researcher from King Saud University, who worked with Rittenhouse when he was a graduate student at UB.

Her work with Adel Almogren, a professor of pathology and immunology at the Saudi university, resulted in research on the development of a novel vaccine approach that may be able to decrease the number of cancer cells, or the size of the tumor in cancer patients.

The Saudi grant will advance their work, with the goal of perfecting the vaccine in an animal model for ultimate use in humans. Almogren and Rittenhouse-Olson will travel between the U. S. and Saudi Arabia throughout their research, which may garner additional support from the Saudis as work progresses.

“This is a very promising vaccine target,” said Rittenhouse-Olson, “because if we are successful, it could be important to breast, colon, bladder and prostate cancer patients.”

After their work was described in a paper published last August, Rittenhouse-Olson, her husband, UB professor James Olson, and colleagues Susan Morey and Jamie Heimburg-Molinaro, were invited to King Saud University to meet the Saudi king.

The Genesee County Chamber of Commerce has announced the winners of its annual business achievement and community service honors to be presented March 6 at the Chamber’s 36th annual awards dinner in the Batavia Holiday Inn.

The winners are: business of the year, Rose Garden Bowl/Viking Valhalla Restaurant, Bergen; agricultural business, Yancey’s Fancy/Kutter’s Cheese Factory, East Pembroke; innovative enterprise, the Batavian, an online local news service; special service recognition, Batavia Area Jaycees; special recognition, Rochester Red Wings Community Baseball, owner of the Batavia Muckdogs; and Geneseean of the Year, Myron “Buddy” Brasky Jr.,Batavia High School coach.

D’Youville College will honor three local health care professionals at its 15th annual Health Awards Dinner on Feb. 25. Honorees are Dr. Joseph M. Anain Sr., Dr. Paul M. Anain and Dr. James M. T. Foster. The event will begin at 6:30 p. m. in Salvatore’s Italian Gardens, 6461 Transit Road at Genesee Street, Lancaster.

The dinner was established by the college in 1995 to recognize individuals in Western New York who have made significant contributions to health care.

Anain Sr. is a noted vascular surgeon and a pioneer in the field. His career at Sisters Hospital in Buffalo began more than four decades ago following fellowships at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He started the first diagnostic angiography suite at Sisters Hospital in 1967, and performed the first endoluminal aortic stent graft in Western New York for the treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysm.

He has performed thousands of procedures, becoming one of the nation’s leading vascular and endovascular surgery specialists. A graduate of the University of Cordoba, he is a founding member of the Vascular and Endovascular Center of Western New York.

Anain, his son, is a partner at the center and is a board-certified vascular surgeon. He is the chief of vascular surgery and assistant chief of surgery at Sisters Hospital and served as president of the medical staff at the hospital and as president of the Western New York Vascular Society. A graduate of the University at Buffalo, he completed his residency at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and fellowships at the University of California at Los Angeles and UB.

Foster is the chief medical officer of Women & Children’s Hospital of Buffalo and chief of anesthesiology for the Kaleida Health System. He serves as a clinical associate professor of anesthesiology at UB and at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. Foster earned his medical degree at London Hospital Medical College, University of London, England, and is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in anesthesia. He also is certified by the American Board of Anesthesiology. He earned a master’s degree from Canisius College.