Research in the Casero Laboratory is focused on the role of polyamines in cancer cell proliferation and ways to exploit their metabolism and function as antiproliferative and chemopreventive targets. My laboratory has cloned two enzymes, spermidine/spermine N1-acetyltransferase and spermine oxidase, which are important in disease etiology and drug response, and appear to be the molecular links between inflammation, DNA damage, epigenetic changes, and carcinogenesis, and thus are promising targets for chemopreventive intervention. My laboratory is also exploring the ability of combining polyamine depletion with epigenetically-targeted drugs to enhance antitumor immune response, with encouraging results that indicate a promising new avenue to exploit the targeting of polyamine metabolism in the treatment of cancer.

The Cai lab focuses on understanding how transcription is dynamically regulated in normal and cancer cells. We discovered that transcription coactivator and oncoprotein Yes-associated protein (YAP) forms liquid-like condensates in the nucleus to activate transcription. We will investigate the pathways regulating YAP condensate formation and how they influence local chromatin structure and transcriptional activity, using cutting-edge super resolution techniques and live-cell imaging. YAP is over-expressed in many cancers, and YAP condensates in cancer cells are linked with malignancy, so this research aims to characterize how these condensates are regulated in normal and pathological states, and how they could be targeted in hope of treating cancer.

The Drummond-Barbosa lab investigates how whole-body physiology influences the activity of tissue-resident stem cells using the Drosophila ovary system. They are currently identifying adipocyte and brain factors that contribute to the control of germline stem cells and their differentiating progeny in response to changes in diet or other stimuli. 

Dr. Ewald has spent the past decade developing imaging, genetic, and 3D organotypic culture techniques to enable real-time analysis of cell behavior and molecular function in breast cancer. As a graduate student in Scott Fraser’s Lab at Caltech he utilized his physics training to develop and apply novel light microscopy approaches to reveal cellular interactions within intact tissues in real-time. During Dr. Ewald’s postdoctoral studies in Zena Werb’s Lab at UCSF, he developed novel 3D organotypic culture and imaging techniques to reveal the cellular mechanisms and molecular regulation of morphogenesis in primary normal and neoplastic mammary epithelia.  His laboratory seeks to understand how epithelial cancer cells escape their normal developmental constraints and acquire the ability to invade and disseminate into normal tissues.

Our lab is part of the Women’s Malignancy Program at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Our research is focused on cancer metastasis. Of all deaths attributed to cancer, 90% are due to metastasis, and treatments that prevent or cure metastasis remain elusive. Emerging data indicate that low oxygen tension (hypoxia), which occurs in most solid tumors, alters the biophysical and biochemical parameters of the extracellular matrix within a tumor. Our work is focused on how these alterations provide cells with a license to metastasize. We are a dynamic and creative lab group that always likes a good challenge. We use 2D and 3D model systems for in vitro investigations. We have also generated novel transgenic mice for metastasis studies in vivo. Our goal is to prevent any future deaths due to breast cancer.

Work in the Green lab is centered on the ribosome, and we are interested in deciphering the molecular mechanisms that are at the heart of protein synthesis and its regulation across biology. This focus allows us to still think about the earliest evolutionary steps that led to life on earth, but in a system where biological questions drive the experiments. My laboratory uses both biochemical and genomic approaches to get at these questions in bacterial and eukaryotic systems.

Dr. Stephanie Hicks’ research interests focus around developing statistical methodology, and open-source software for biomedical data analysis, which often contains noisy or missing data and systematic biases. Her research addresses statistical challenges in epigenomics, single-cell genomics, and spatial transcriptomics to improve quantification and understanding of biological variability. She has developed fast, accurate and widely used statistical methods and software for single-cell RNA-sequencing data analysis with applications that include investigating high-grade serous ovarian cancer, high-grade glioma childhood cancer, and chronic myeloid leukemia cancer.

The Leung Lab studies gene regulation using multi-disciplinary and quantitative imaging, genomics and proteomics approaches, to uncover novel roles of non-coding RNAs, biomolecular condensates, and post-translational modifications.

We develop technology, such as proteomic and informatic tools to dissect the roles of RNA structures and a post-translational modification called ADP-ribosylation. My lab seeks to translate our basic scientific findings to disease therapy, e.g., PARP inhibitors in cancers and macrodomain inhibitors to fight Chikungunya viral infection and COVID-19.

Research in the Matunis laboratory is focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms regulating the modification of proteins by the small ubiquitin-related modifier (SUMO) and the consequences of SUMOylation in relation to protein function, cell behavior and ultimately, human disease. Particular interests include understanding how SUMOylation regulates cell cycle progression, DNA repair, nuclear import and export, and cell stress response pathways. We study SUMOylation in mammalian cells, yeast and the malaria parasite, P. facliparum, using a variety of in vitro biochemical approaches, in vivo cellular approaches and genetics.

My laboratory is interested in the molecular mechanisms by which cells interpret signals from their environment that instruct them to proliferate, differentiate, or die by apoptosis.  A particular focus of the lab is the regulation of NF-κB, a pleiotropic transcription factor that is required for normal innate and adaptive immunity and which is inappropriately activated in several types of human cancer.

Dr. Tran and his laboratory have been continuously funded by the federal government (NIH and DoD) and foundations for a decade to study tumor cell epithelial plasticity programs such as the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and the implications these programs have on tumorigenesis, metastasis, metabolism, cancer treatment resistance and radiation-induced fibrosis. Our research utilizes a variety of transgenic mouse models, non-invasive imaging as well as traditional molecular, biochemical and cell biology approaches. Another major focus of the laboratory is the use of inducible mouse models to simulate molecularly targeted therapies for malignancies and radiation-induced late effects. The laboratory also studies novel targeted agents as tumor selective radiosensitizers to increase the therapeutic ratio of clinical radiotherapy.

My group currently focuses on identifying genetic alterations in cancer affecting sensitivity and resistance to targeted therapies, and connecting such changes to key clinical characteristics and novel therapeutic approaches. We have recently developed methods that allow non-invasive characterization of cancer, including the PARE method that provided the first whole genome analysis of tumor DNA in the circulation of cancer patients. These analyses provide a window into real-time genomic analyses of cancer patients and provide new avenues for personalized diagnostic and therapeutic intervention.

Our research focuses on the role of transcriptional and epigenetic regulators in normal and cancer development, and in therapeutic response. We are passionate about asking clinically relevant questions, translating basic laboratory findings into therapeutic applications to benefit cancer patients, and providing new insights into how epigenetic regulators regulate transcription and dictate cell identity. The Toska lab uses a multidisciplinary approach integrating biochemistry, cell signaling, genomics and epigenomics at bulk and single cell level, organoid technology, and mouse genetics.

Our laboratory is interested in investigating the signal transduction and gene regulation in bacterial infection- and genotoxic stress-associated colonic inflammation and tumorigenesis, using a combination of genetic, immunological, molecular, and cellular approaches. We are studying the molecular/cellular mechanisms and pathophysiological significance of the novel and critical pathogen-host interactions and DNA damage responses that can be mechanistically linked to colon cancer etiology in mice and humans. 

The Wang lab is interested in the biological basis for protein and RNA homeostasis in neurodegeneration. We hope to solve problems that not only have biological significance but also have important implications for understanding and treating disease. Our work focuses on three main areas: discovering key regulators of protein quality control, uncovering novel players in the regulation of RNA homeostasis, and revealing the mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases including those caused by repeat expansions.

The Wu lab is an interdisciplinary team working on the structure and function of chromatin, the native state of eukaryotic DNA in association with histone proteins, regulatory factors, enzymes and RNA molecules. We strive to understand how chromatin, also called the epigenome, regulates the expression of genetic information in a cell- and tissue-specific manner. This knowledge is central to understanding the molecular basis of cell growth and differentiation, as well as the role of chromatin dysfunction in human diseases.