Mark G. Alexandrow, PhD – Associate Member
The Alexandrow Lab studies the mechanisms involved in the assembly and activation of the replicative CMG helicase, how deregulation of this process promotes tumorigenesis, and how the CMG helicase offers innovative targeting for chemotherapeutic drug development.
Antonio Amelio, PhD - Vice Chair for Research and Associate Member, Tumor Biology and Head and Neck Oncology
We use an interdisciplinary approach that integrates a combination of bioinformatics, genetically engineered cell line and animal models, pharmacologic and molecular genetic analyses, and synthetic biology approaches to investigate tumor development and progression and identify therapeutic vulnerabilities.
Jennifer Binning, PhD – Assistant Member
The Binning lab uses biochemistry and structural biology to study how oncoviruses such as Human Papillomavirus (HPV) hijack host ubiquitin machinery to support viral replication and drive tumorigenesis. By exploring the link between human disease states and dysregulation of ubiquitin pathways, we aim to identify new pathogenic mechanisms that will guide the development of diagnostics and therapeutics.
Andrew S. Brohl, MD - Associate Member, Sarcoma Department
Dr. Brohl is a physician scientist with a research interest in rare cancer biology and treatment. I am a firm believer in pursuing research leads initially discovered in rare cancer as there is a long historical track record of rare disease research leading to important insights that are applicable more broadly. My educational and research background is largely in data science, particularly in the analysis and interpretation of "omics" data. I have led seminal genomics efforts in a number of rare cancers including Ewing sarcoma, MPNST, EWSR1-PATZ1 fusion sarcoma, Merkel cell carcinoma, and undifferentiated embryonal sarcoma of the liver (UESL).
Jiandong Chen, PhD – Senior Member
The Chen Lab investigates the function, regulation, and therapeutic targeting of the p53 tumor suppressor pathway.
Y. Ann Chen, PhD - Associate Member
Dr. Chen’s research has been focused on developing statistical methods and computational tools to incorporate multiple omics sources, select biologically relevant markers, and predict clinical outcomes in a unified framework. Her work on Bayesian methodological development of data integration for regulatory network inference and pathway and gene selection for cancer survival prediction facilitates the identification of deregulated pathways with therapeutic relevance in subsets of human cancer.
John L. Cleveland, PhD – Division Chair, Senior Member
Major research interest in the molecular pathogenesis of cancer, interrogating the regulation and role of oncogenes and tumor suppressors in controlling cancer cell growth and survival, and in defining new targets that play essential roles in the development and maintenance of cancer.
W. Douglas Cress, PhD – Senior Member
The Cress Lab is interested in the molecular biology of lung adenocarcinoma.
Gina M. DeNicola, PhD - Assistant Member
Dr. DeNicola's research is focused on understanding how cells meet energetic and anabolic needs for growth and proliferation, and the mechanisms governing the regulation of tumor metabolism in vivo. The DeNicola laboratory investigates the influence of both genomic alterations and the microenvironment on cellular metabolism in vivo.
Derek Duckett, PhD - Senior Member
Research in the Duckett lab is focused on identifying novel anti-cancer targets, developing small molecule probes against these targets and interrogating how their altered signaling drives tumor progression, metastasis and therapy resistance.
Steven Eschrich, PhD – Senior Member
The Eschrich Lab uses Bioinformatics and Machine Learning methods to answer translational research questions within cancer research, with a focus on Lung Cancer and Radiation Oncology. Methodological work includes reproducible research pipelines, normalization techniques and machine learning models from molecular data.
Elsa R. Flores, PhD – Department Chair and Senior Member
The Flores Lab utilizes mouse models to identify therapeutic vulnerabilities of the p53 pathway in cancer.
Brooke Fridley, PhD - Senior Member
Dr. Brooke Fridley's research is in the areas of statistical genomics, molecular epidemiology of cancer, cancer genomics, and pharmacogenomics. She has extensive experience as a collaborating statistician, particularly in the design and analysis of studies involving multiple types of ‘omic data. Recently, she has been particularly involved in developing analysis methods and tools for spatial transcriptomic studies, multiplex immunofluorescence data, and network-based module detection for integrative analyses.
Anna R. Giuliano, PhD - Senior Member
Her work focuses on the relationship between human papillomavirus (HPV) infections and cervical cancer in women, which has evolved over the past several decades to encompass HPV and penile, anal, and oral cancers in men. Research includes the rate at which HPV infections are acquired and cleared, the proportion that progress to disease, and also to HPV vaccine protection against multiple diseases in women and men.
Ana Gomes, PhD - Assistant Member
The Gomes Laboratory studies how age-driven metabolic and epigenetic changes drive tumor progression and metastasis formation. Active areas of research currently include defining the mechanisms by which aging (1) promotes aggressive properties of cancer cells and reprograms the cellular components of the tumor microenvironment, (2) promotes resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs and targeted therapies, and (3) deregulates the immune system to promote immune evasion and resistance to immunotherapies. Ultimately the goal of the Gomes Lab is the discovery of novel and physiologically relevant pathways that can be leveraged for the development of more efficacious therapeutic strategies for aggressive cancers.
Eric B. Haura, MD – Senior Member
Our lab uses proteomic tools to characterize kinase pathways and networks in cancer cells to discover novel therapeutic strategies using kinase inhibitors.
Alex M. Jaeger, PhD - Assistant Member
The Jaeger Laboratory investigates mechanisms that regulate tumor antigen presentation. Major research interests include: (1) identification of cancer-specific peptides presented by MHC-I and MHC-II, (2) characterization of cellular pathways that influence antigen presentation, and (3) development of high throughput screening tools to evaluate peptide immunogenicity. Using both biochemical techniques and sophisticated mouse models, our group aims to uncover the full spectrum of antigens that can be used to design and develop novel immunotherapies for cancer.
Aleksandra Karolak, PhD - Assistant Member, Machine Learning
We use various computational approaches led by machine learning to enhance our understanding of cancer development, phenotypic progression, and variability in the response to treatment. Particularly, we are interested in how epigenetics, DNA structure, mutagenesis, protein modifications and interactomes can inform and support diagnosis, clinical decisions, as well as drug discovery and treatment optimization.
Florian A. Karreth, PhD – Assistant Member
The Karreth Lab creates mouse models to elucidate the functions of cancer-associated proteins and non-coding RNAs in melanoma and ovarian cancer.
John M. Koomen, PhD – Associate Member
The Koomen Lab uses mass spectrometry-based techniques to better understand cancer biology, evaluate hypotheses derived from basic science experiments in human tumors, and contribute to the development of novel strategies for patient assessment and treatment.
Eric K. Lau, PhD – Assistant Member
The Lau laboratory studies how the modification of cellular proteins by the dietary sugar L-fucose (a.k.a., fucosylation) regulates signaling and cell:cell interactions. Active investigations currently include how specific fucosylated proteins regulate (i) RNA biology and (ii) tumor:immune cell interactions and efficacy of immunotherapies in melanoma, and (iii) integrin signaling in breast cancer. Ultimately, our goal is to use our newfound knowledge to improve patient stratification and efficacy of therapeutic modalities.
Conor Lynch, PhD - Associate Member
The goal of our laboratory is to understand how metastatic prostate cancer cells interact with the bone microenvironment to establish and grow as secondary cancers using in vivo and in vitro techniques. The lab has made major inroads into defining how matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) contribute the prostate cancer progression in bone.
Karen M. Mann, PhD – Assistant Member
The Karen Mann Lab aims to define and characterize cooperating molecular events driving cancer progression, metastasis and drug resistance, with a focus on pancreatic cancer and myeloid leukemia.
Andriy Marusyk, PhD - Assistant Member
Our mission is to understand the development of therapy resistance from eco-evolutionary angle, considering both changes occurring in tumor cells, as well as influences of tumor microenvironment. Then, we aim use this knowledge to design new therapeutic approaches, aimed at forestalling the ability of tumors to evolve resistance.
Patsy McDonald, PhD - Associate Member
Our laboratory is focused on identifying G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) that may serve as novel, tractable, anti-diabetes and anti-cancer drug targets, developing selective molecular probes of these targets and, where possible, optimizing these probes to generate in vivo lead molecules for testing in pre-clinical models. Our ultimate goal is to translate these findings into diabetes and cancer clinical trials.
Alvaro Monteiro, PhD - Senior Member
The main theme of the Monteiro lab is the integration of epidemiological, genomic, and proteomics datasets to explore the role of genetic variation on cancer predisposition, development, and treatment.
David Morse, PhD
Our research projects are focused on the identification and validation of cell-surface markers for cancer, discovery of ligands or antibodies specific for binding validated markers, and the development of cancer targeted conjugates for imaging and therapy. Recent work has focused on the development of fluorescence molecular imaging agents for intraoperative guidance during fluorescence-guided surgery and the development of targeted alpha-particle emitting radiopharmaceuticals for therapy. The ultimate goal is to translate novel cancer-targeted conjugates into the clinic for use in cancer diagnosis and staging, intraoperative margin detection and the targeted delivery of therapy.
Thordur Oskarsson, PhD - Assistant Member
Research in the Oskarsson lab is focused on cancer metastasis. Particularly, we study the molecular crosstalk between metastatic cancer cells and the microenvironment in secondary organs. Our aim is to determine how these interactions promote progression of metastasis and resistance to therapy.
Eric Padron, MD - Associate Member
Our research interests focus on understanding the molecular and genetic pathway of chronic myelomonocytic leukemia to better design targeted agents for study in the clinic.
Jong Park, PhD – Senior Member
Dr. Park and his laboratory team are interested in genetic and epigenetic variations associated with prostate cancer recurrence. In addition, Dr. Park is also interested in health disparity on risk for prostate cancer, among African American men.
Sanjay Premi, PhD - Assistant Member
Dr. Premi's team explores the pathophysiology of melanin-chemiexcitation pathway in skin cancer development, progression, and drug-resistance. One of their immediate goals is to characterize stress mediated, non-classical regulation of gene expression, protein modifications, and resistance against targeted therapy in melanoma.
Gary W. Reuther, PhD – Associate Member
The Reuther Lab utilizes molecular, cellular, and genetic approaches to identify novel therapies that could improve the lives of patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms.
Kenneth H. Shain, MD, PhD - Associate Member
Dr. Shain’s translational research has focused on the mechanisms by which components of the bone marrow microenvironment influence myeloma biology, survival, and drug response.
Inna Smalley, PhD - Assistant Member
Our lab studies the roles of tumor heterogeneity and the microenvironment in metastasis and drug resistance. We have a big interest in melanoma biology and central nervous system metastases from melanoma, lymphoma, and breast cancer.
Keiran S. Smalley, PhD - Senior Member
The focus of the Smalley lab is upon melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. We use advanced proteomics, single cell RNA-seq and mouse models to develop novel melanoma therapies which we then translate into the clinic. Current projects in the lab are focused upon immunotherapy/targeted therapy sequencing, melanoma brain metastases, acral melanoma and uveal melanoma.
Jamie Teer, PhD– Associate Member
Dr. Teer's research interests are focused on developing methods to analyze, interpret and visualize massively-parallel sequencing information in cancer genetics. This includes developing and applying computational methods and graphical tools to better detect genetic variations from sequencing data, understand the functional context of sequence changes, and visualize the results of large-scale genomics studies.
Kenneth Y. Tsai, MD, PhD – Associate Member
The Tsai Lab has the collective goals of identifying, testing, and validating novel targets for the targeted chemoprevention and treatment of skin cancer.
Lixin Wan, PhD – Assistant Member
The Wan Lab is dedicated to understanding how cancer cells hijack protein post-translational modification machinery to rewire the central signaling pathways for proliferation advantage and drug resistance.
Liang Wang, PhD - Senior Member
My personal interest has been to apply genetics and genomics approach to identifying new biomarkers that may serve as novel diagnostic or prognostic tools of cancer status, that may be used as disease surrogates to track the efficacy of novel treatment strategies or that may provide new targets for the treatment of human cancers. Specifically, my laboratory is focusing on two major projects: Blood-based Genomic Biomarkers for Cancer Diagnosis and Prognosis (Liquid Biopsy) and Germline Genetic Variants Responsible for Aggressive Prostate Cancer.
