Cancer Biology Faculty
Jerry Shay, PhD
Program Chair
Research Interests: Molecular mechanisms of human cellular aging and immortalization; the role of telomeres and telomerase in cancer
John M. Abrams, PhD
Research Interests: Molecular genetics of cell death in cancer
Steve Altschuler, PhD
Research Interests: Understanding the dynamic responses of cancer cells to drugs, and their molecular bases for drug-resistance
James Amatruda, MD, PhD
Research Interests: Defining novel cancer genes and understanding the developmental biology of tumors using the zebrafish system
Robert Bachoo, MD, PhD
Research Interests: Molecular mechanisms underlying brain tumors
David Boothman, PhD
Research Interests: Low dose radiation and cancer
Rolf A. Brekken, PhD
Research Interests: Tumor-host interactions in pancreatic cancer
Kathlynn Brown, PhD
Research Interests: Development of tumor targeting reagents for drug delivery and molecular imaging
James Brugarolas, MD, PhD
Research Interests: Molecular mechanisms of cell growth and proliferation control
Richard Bruick, PhD
Research Interests: Regulation of the mammalian hypoxic response pathway in cancer
Sandeep Burma, PhD
Research Interests: DNA damage by gamma rays and galactic cosmic rays: signaling, repair, and the cancer connection
Diego Castrillon, MD, PhD
Research Interests: PI3K/PTEN/AKT/FoxO pathways in cancer biology
David Chen, PhD
Research Interests: Radiation biology and DNA damage signaling
Melanie H. Cobb, PhD
Research Interests: Function and regulation of protein kinases in signal transduction pathways in breast cancer
Ian Corbin, PhD
Research Interests: Utilizing molecular imaging and nanomedicine techniques to better characterize, detect, and treat hepatocellular carcinoma
David R. Corey, PhD
Research Interests: Cancer therapeutics: Engineering proteins and nucleic acids for novel function
Ralph DeBerardinis, MD, PhD
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, PhD
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, PhD
Research Interests: Nuclear transport pathways as regulators of cell cycle, cancer, and antiviral response
Jinming Gao, PhD
Research Interests: Nanoparticles for cancer therapeutic drug delivery
Robert Gerard, PhD
Research Interests: Targeting of recombinant adenovirus vectors to tumors
Robert E. Hammer, PhD
Research Interests: Transforming growth factor beta signaling
Jer-Tsong (J.T.) Hsieh, PhD
Research Interests: Human cancer gene therapy; signaling defects in urogenital cancers
Lily Huang, PhD
Research Interests: Cytokine receptor; signal transduction; hematopoiesis; structure-function analysis of protein; cancer
Jin Jiang, PhD
Research Interests: Signal-transduction pathways in development and human disease; genetic control of organ growth and patterning; tumor suppressor genes
Ralf Kittler, PhD
Research Interests: Functions of cancer-relevant transcription factors and to translate this knowledge into new approaches for the detection and treatment of cancer
Beth Levine, MD
Research Interests: Role of autophagy in tumor suppression
Qing Richard Lu, PhD
Research Interests: Neural stem cell differentiation in CNS; glial development in CNS; oligodendrocyte myelination and neurological diseases
Lawrence Lum, PhD
Research Interests: How information from multiple signaling molecules, including Hh and Wg, integrate in development and cancer
Elisabeth Martinez, PhD
Research Interests: Discovery and characterization of novel chemical epigenetic modulators of gene expression with specific anti-cancer activity
Ralph Mason, PhD
Research Interests: Animal imaging in cancer
John Minna, MD
Research Interests: Molecular pathogenesis of human cancer; signal transduction in human tumors; cancer stem cells; targeted cancer therapy
Hamid Mirzaei, PhD
Research Interests: Investigation of ubiquitin-dependent mechanisms and their role in tumor progression.
Jerry Y. Niederkorn, PhD
Research Interests: Immune surveillance of intraocular tumors; immune modulation of cancer metastases
Chaitanya Nirodi, PhD
Research Interests: The role of receptor tyrosine kinases in the repair of radiation-induced DNA damage
Kathryn A. O'Donnell, PhD
Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Identification and characterization of cancer-associated genes using transposon-mediated mutagenesis
Tej Pandita, PhD
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, PhD
Research Interests: Mechanisms of neural development; trk receptors and neurotrophins; mouse models of neurological tumors
Gray Pearson, PhD
Research Interests: The molecular regulation of breast cancer progression using in vitro and in vivo models
Michael Roth, PhD
Research Interests: High throughput screening for novel cancer therapeutics; recognition and sorting of cell-surface glycoproteins
Theodora Ross, MD, PhD
Research Interests:
Pier Paolo Scaglioni, MD
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, PhD
Research Interests: To understand the mechanisms that regulate the mitotic division of the Golgi in mammalian cells as it related to cancer
Nima Sharifi, MD
Research Interests: Mechanisms of androgen receptor gain-of-function in “hormone refractory” prostate cancer; novel therapies designed to target the androgen receptor in prostate cancer
Stephen Skapek, MD
Professor
Research Interests: Research Interests: Tumor suppressor gene function; Angiogenesis; Skeletal muscle differentiation; Oncogene-induced senescence
Michael Story, PhD
Research Interests: Radiation biology/oncology; cancer genomics; intrinsic radiosensitivity
Philip Thorpe, PhD
Research Interests: Development of novel angiogenesis inhibitors and agents for inducing thrombosis of tumor blood vessels for cancer treatment
Yihong Wan, PhD
Research Interests: Regulation of the initiation, progression and bone metastasis of breast cancer by the micro-environment
Michael White, PhD
Research Interests: Molecular mechanisms for control of cell growth and differentiation
Woodring E. Wright, MD, PhD
Research Interests: The role of telomeres and telomerase in cellular senescence and cancer
Lani Wu, PhD
Research Interests: Understanding the dynamic responses of cancer cells to drugs and their molecular bases for drug-resistance
Yang Xie, PhD
Research Interests: Bioinformatics; Integrative Analysis; Predictive Models; Biomarkers in Cancer
Chun-Li Zhang, PhD
Research Interests: Role of neural stem cells in brain tumor development
Hui Zou, PhD
Research Interests: Misregulation of chromatid cohesion and separation in cancer