Cancer Biology Faculty
Jerry Shay, Ph.D.
Program Chair
Research Interests: Molecular mechanisms of human cellular aging and immortalization; the role of telomeres and telomerase in cancer
John M. Abrams, Ph.D.
Research Interests: Molecular genetics of cell death in cancer
Steve Altschuler, Ph.D.
Research Interests: Understanding the dynamic responses of cancer cells to drugs, and their molecular bases for drug-resistance
James Amatruda, M.D., Ph.D.
Research Interests: Defining novel cancer genes and understanding the developmental biology of tumors using the zebrafish system
Robert Bachoo, M.D., Ph.D.
Research Interests: Molecular mechanisms underlying brain tumors
David Boothman, Ph.D.
Research Interests: Low dose radiation and cancer
Rolf A. Brekken, Ph.D.
Research Interests: Tumor-host interactions in pancreatic cancer
Kathlynn Brown, Ph.D.
Research Interests: Development of tumor targeting reagents for drug delivery and molecular imaging
James Brugarolas, M.D., Ph.D.
Research Interests: Molecular mechanisms of cell growth and proliferation control
Richard Bruick, Ph.D.
Research Interests: Regulation of the mammalian hypoxic response pathway in cancer
Sandeep Burma, Ph.D.
Research Interests: DNA damage by gamma rays and galactic cosmic rays: signaling, repair, and the cancer connection
Diego Castrillon, M.D., Ph.D.
Research Interests: PI3K/PTEN/AKT/FoxO pathways in cancer biology
Benjamin Chen, Ph.D.
Research Interests: Radiation Biology; DNA damage response in somatic stem cells to tissue homeostasis and cancer initiation
David Chen, Ph.D.
Research Interests: Radiation biology and DNA damage signaling
Melanie H. Cobb, Ph.D.
Research Interests: Function and regulation of protein kinases in signal transduction pathways in breast cancer
Ian Corbin, Ph.D.
Research Interests: Utilizing molecular imaging and nanomedicine techniques to better characterize, detect, and treat hepatocellular carcinoma
David R. Corey, Ph.D.
Research Interests: Cancer therapeutics: Engineering proteins and nucleic acids for novel function
Ralph DeBerardinis, M.D., Ph.D.
Research Interests: The DeBerardinis laboratory studies metabolic pathways that support tumor cell growth and is developing methods to exploit tumor metabolism to improve imaging and therapy in cancer.
Jef De Brabander, Ph.D.
Research Interests: Synthesis of natural products and other molecular architectures and interrogation of their mode-of-action, using molecular pharmacology and biochemistry for the development of novel cancer therapeutics
Beatriz Fontoura, Ph.D.
Research Interests: Nuclear transport pathways as regulators of cell cycle, cancer, and antiviral response
Rene Galindo, M.D., Ph.D.
Research Interests: Molecular mechanisms of pediatric sarcoma tumorigenesis and developmental skeletal muscle patterning
Jinming Gao, Ph.D.
Research Interests: Nanoparticles for cancer therapeutic drug delivery
Robert Gerard, Ph.D.
Research Interests: Targeting of recombinant adenovirus vectors to tumors
Amyn Habib, M.D.
Research Interests: Interactions between inflammatory and oncogenic signaling pathways with a focus on glioblastoma (GBM) as our cancer model
Robert E. Hammer, Ph.D.
Research Interests: Transforming growth factor beta signaling
Jer-Tsong (J.T.) Hsieh, Ph.D.
Research Interests: Human cancer gene therapy; signaling defects in urogenital cancers
Lily Huang, Ph.D.
Research Interests: Cytokine receptor; signal transduction; hematopoiesis; structure-function analysis of protein; cancer
Jin Jiang, Ph.D.
Research Interests: Signal-transduction pathways in development and human disease; genetic control of organ growth and patterning; tumor suppressor genes
Qiu-Xing Jiang, Ph.D.
Research Interests: Structure and function of large membrane assemblies, including ion channels and transporters using electron cryo-microscopy and crystallographic analysis to generate 3D structures and perform functional studies in in vitro or in vivo systems
Ralf Kittler, Ph.D.
Research Interests: Functions of cancer-relevant transcription factors and to translate this knowledge into new approaches for the detection and treatment of cancer
Erik Knudsen, Ph.D.
Research Interests: Tumor suppressor pathways in breast cancer etiology, disease progression and therapeutic response
Beth Levine, M.D.
Research Interests: Role of autophagy in tumor suppression
Qing Richard Lu, Ph.D.
Research Interests: Neural stem cell differentiation in CNS; glial development in CNS; oligodendrocyte myelination and neurological diseases
Lawrence Lum, Ph.D.
Research Interests: How information from multiple signaling molecules, including Hh and Wg, integrate in development and cancer
Elisabeth Martinez, Ph.D.
Research Interests: Discovery and characterization of novel chemical epigenetic modulators of gene expression with specific anti-cancer activity
Ralph Mason, Ph.D.
Research Interests: Animal imaging in cancer
Joshua Mendell, M.D., Ph.D.
Research Interests: Regulation and function of microRNAs and other noncoding RNAs in normal physiology and cancer.
John Minna, M.D.
Research Interests: Molecular pathogenesis of human cancer; signal transduction in human tumors; cancer stem cells; targeted cancer therapy
Hamid Mirzaei, Ph.D.
Research Interests: Investigation of ubiquitin-dependent mechanisms and their role in tumor progression.
Sean Morrison, Ph.D.
Research Interests: Normal and cancer stem cells
Saikat Mukhopadhyay, M.D., Ph.D.
Research Interests: Role of primary cilia in normal development and cancer, Functional proteomics in ciliary diseases, Ciliary signaling pathways
Jerry Y. Niederkorn, Ph.D.
Research Interests: Immune surveillance of intraocular tumors; immune modulation of cancer metastases
Kathryn A. O'Donnell, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Identification and characterization of cancer-associated genes using transposon-mediated mutagenesis
Tej Pandita, Ph.D.
Research Interests: Revealing how chromatin modification plays a role in DNA Damage Response, the information that will provide health professionals a molecular diagnostic approach to predict the suitability and response of an individual for radiotherapy
Luis F. Parada, Ph.D.
Research Interests: Mechanisms of neural development; trk receptors and neurotrophins; mouse models of neurological tumors
Gray Pearson, Ph.D.
Research Interests: The molecular regulation of breast cancer progression using in vitro and in vivo models
Ryan Potts, Ph.D.
Research Interests: Role of ubiquitin ligases in tumor initiation and progression, vesicular trafficking, and genome stability.
Theodora Ross, M.D., Ph.D.
Research Interests: The Ross laboratory investigates how dysfunctional endocytosis, tyrosine kinase oncogenes and the BRCA1/2 tumor suppressor genes lead to transformation of normal cells into cancer cells.
Michael Roth, Ph.D.
Research Interests: High throughput screening for novel cancer therapeutics; recognition and sorting of cell-surface glycoproteins
Pier Paolo Scaglioni, M.D.
Research Interests: Characterization of the function of the PML tumor suppressor; mechanisms of K-RAS induced Tumorigenesis; role of oncogene induced replicative senescence in tumor suppression; mouse models of lung cancer
Joachim Seeman, Ph.D.
Research Interests: To understand the mechanisms that regulate the mitotic division of the Golgi in mammalian cells as it related to cancer
Stephen Skapek, M.D.
Professor
Research Interests: Research Interests: Tumor suppressor gene function; Angiogenesis; Skeletal muscle differentiation; Oncogene-induced senescence
Michael Story, Ph.D.
Research Interests: Radiation biology/oncology; cancer genomics; intrinsic radiosensitivity
Research Interests: Regulation of the initiation, progression and bone metastasis of breast cancer by the micro-environment
Zhigao Wang, Ph.D.
Research Interests: Molecular mechanisms of necrotic cell death; development of chemical inhibitors and activators of necrotic cell death.
Michael White, Ph.D.
Research Interests: Molecular mechanisms for control of cell growth and differentiation
Woodring E. Wright, M.D., Ph.D.
Research Interests: The role of telomeres and telomerase in cellular senescence and cancer
Lani Wu, Ph.D.
Research Interests: Understanding the dynamic responses of cancer cells to drugs and their molecular bases for drug-resistance
Yang Xie, Ph.D.
Research Interests: Bioinformatics; Integrative Analysis; Predictive Models; Biomarkers in Cancer
Hao Zhu, M.D.
Research Interests: Genetic and cellular mechanisms of organ regeneration and dysregulation of these mechanisms in liver cancer.