Molecular Therapeutics of Cancer Scientific Program

The Molecular Therapeutics of Cancer Scientific Program focuses on understanding the molecular events leading to individual human cancers and how the molecular differences between tumors influence their behavior and response to therapy.   Further, the Program seeks to understand the role of inter-individual genetic variation in developing and treating cancer and to use this information to provide a rationale basis for developing novel diagnostic prevention and therapeutic strategies.  

For more information contact the Program leader, John Minna, MD.   

Program Themes

• Identify all of the genetic and epigenetic abnormalities underlying the pathogenesis of common human malignancies.
• Determine the frequency and the timing of their onset in pathogenesis.
• Determine molecular differences between tumors that correlate with important clinical variables (e.g. survival, metastases, response to treatment).
• Identify inter-individual genetic variation in the development of cancer and response to its treatment.
• Develop preclinical models to document the functional relevance of the various molecular changes.
• Develop ways to translate these findings into new methods for the early detection, prevention, imaging, prognosis, and selection for therapy for individual patients.
• Provide an interface for basic investigators, clinical scientists, and, as appropriate, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies to develop and perform early stage clinical trials.  
• Provide an interface with other cancer center programs and cores to facilitate these aims.
• Provide a forum for developing research funding for these studies.

How to Get Involved 

The Molecular Therapeutics of Cancer Scientific Program seeks additional physicians and scientists with broad understanding of molecular events leading to human cancers for further collaboration research projects.  

• Program meetings are attended by all investigators, postdoctoral fellows, students and scientist-level technical staff, and are held every Thursday at 9AM in the Hamon Center for Therapeutic Oncology Research (NB8.118).  
  
  

-- Program Members -- Ahn, PhD, Chul Anderson, MD, PhD, Larry Aquino, MD, Victor Bennett, MD, Michael Boothman, PhD, David Brown, PhD, Kathlynn Buchanan, MD, George Choy, MD, Hak Collins, MD, Robert DiMaio, MD, Michael Dowell, MD, Jonathan Euhus, MD David Evans, MD, Phil Frenkel, MD, Eugene Gao, PhD, Boning Gao, PhD, Jinming Garcia, MD, PhD, Christine Garner, PhD, Harold Gazdar, MD, Adi Gerard, PhD, Robert Gerber, MD, David Gimi, PhD, Barjor (Gimi) Girard, PhD, Luc Haley, MD, Barbara Hsieh, PhD, Jer-Tsong Huerta, MD, Sergio Huth, MD, James Kodadek, PhD, Thomas Leavey, MD, Patrick Leitch, MD, Ann Marilyn Lewis, PhD, Matthew Mansour, MD, John Martinez, PhD, Elisabeth Mason, PhD, Ralph Miller, MD, David Minna, MD, John Niederkorn, PhD, Jerry Nirodi, PhD, Chaitanya Peng, MD, PhD, Fangyu Pertsemlidis, PhD, Alexander Roehrborn, MD, Claus Sagalowsky, MD, Arthur Saha, PhD, Debabrata Scheuermann, PhD, Richard Schiller, MD, Joan Schindler, PhD, John Schwarz, MD, PhD, Roderich Sharifi, MD, Nima Shay, PhD, Jerry Sherry, PhD, Dean Smallshaw, PhD, Joan Story, PhD, Michael Sumer, MD, Baran Sun, PhD, Xiankai Takahashi, PhD, Masaya Timmerman, MD, Robert Uhr, MD, Jonathan Verma, MD, Udit Vitetta, PhD, Ellen Willson, MD, James Winick, MD, Naomi Xie, PhD, Yang Zhao, MD, PhD, Dawen