The University of Oklahoma today announced an historic $150 million gift from Harold Hamm, the largest single gift in university history, to lift the health of Oklahoma by advancing health education, research and discovery, strengthening the state’s health care workforce and accelerating the pursuit of breakthroughs against Oklahoma’s critical public health challenges.

Patients with ultra-high-risk multiple myeloma, an aggressive form of blood cancer, often respond poorly to standard treatments, including bone marrow transplant. A University of Oklahoma physician-researcher recently received $2.9 million in funding from the National Cancer Institute to study whether RedHill Biopharma’s drug opaganib, given after CAR T-cell therapy, can help the immune cells fight cancer more effectively.

A protein called Miro1 found at elevated levels in the skeletal muscle of people with type 2 diabetes may contribute to insulin resistance, potentially making it a target for future treatments that help the body regulate blood sugar, according to a study published today in Nature Communications. Researchers found that removing Miro1 restored the muscles’ response to insulin in preclinical models, while exercise reduced the protein’s levels in people with type 2 diabetes.

Nearly one in three Native Americans live with chronic pain, more than any other segment of the U.S. population. But providing in-person relief has long been complicated by financial and geographic barriers. A University of Oklahoma mHealth initiative seeks to reduce this pain imbalance.

One in eight Oklahomans has type 2 diabetes, and an estimated one-third of the state’s adult population has undiagnosed prediabetes. University of Oklahoma researchers are developing a digital outreach program to help people understand their risk and connect with resources to help prevent the disease.