Much of the cutting edge research we do at the Department of Oncological Sciences takes place in the laboratory. What follows is a list of the many labs, which explore the way cancer works in the body and determine how we can use that knowledge to improve diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of the disease.
Research Laboratories
The Aaronson laboratory is involved in cancer gene discovery and function with the goal of identifying novel targets for therapy. Topics currently under investigation include growth factors and receptors, Wnt and Hippo developmental pathways deregulated in cancer as well as the p53 tumor suppressor gene.
The Arriaga Laboratory focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms of prostate cancer development and progression to metastasis. By understanding how these mechanisms confer particular vulnerabilities to metastatic tumors, the laboratory strives to develop novel treatment strategies that can improve patient care.
The Bernstein Laboratory studies histone variant proteins and their relation to cancer. The lab’s long-term goal is to understand the chromatin changes that take place at the molecular level during the transformation process of ‘normal cells’ to ‘cancer cells’ and during the reprogramming of somatic cells to stem cells.
Bogunovic Laboratory
The Bogunovic Laboratory focuses on the study of human immunogenetics and aims to improve the understanding of the human immune system by studying individuals with rare auto-inflammatory syndromes and infectious diseases.
The Bowcock lab investigates the genetic differences or spontaneous changes in genes that lead to disease and are interested in understanding the genetic basis disease and cancer.
Learn about the Bowcock Laboratory
Burakoff Laboratory
The Burakoff Laboratory studies: (1) cellular and molecular immunology, (2) T cell activation and signal transduction, and (3) transplantation immunology.
The Chipuk Laboratory deciphers the interplay between mitochondria and cell death signaling.
Chowell Laboratory
The Chowell Laboratory applies approaches from computational biology and machine learning to unravel the molecular determinants of response to immune checkpoint blockade therapy, understand the co-evolution of tumor cells and the human immune system during cancer evolution, and learn the complex rules that govern T cell epitope recognition and immune escape.
We study signal transduction networks at multiple levels: structurally, biochemically, within cells, and also within whole animals. A goal of the lab is to build the tools that will allow us to modulate signaling networks within the context of cells and whole animals for therapeutic applications.
The Dominguez-Sola Laboratory is interested in understanding how cancer initiation shapes the biological features and natural history of this disease.
Ferrari de Andrade Laboratory
The Ferrari de Andrade Laboratory develops and dissects monoclonal antibodies that inhibit proteolytic cleavage of extracellular proteins.
The Fisher Laboratory studies the regulation of cell division and gene expression by a network of cyclin-dependent kinases.
Gnjatic Laboratory
The Gnjatic Laboratory focuses on human immune responses to cancer in an antigen-specific manner, define new targets for the development of cancer immunotherapies, and ask how these immunotherapies work and why they may fail.
Learn about the Gnjatic Laboratory
We are currently interested in the function in development and disease of Protein MethylTrasnferases (PMTs) and in modulation of Alternative Splicing using Splice switching Antisense Oligonucleotide (AON)-based approaches.
Recent advances in our understanding of glioma biology have elucidated a complex tumor microenvironment consisting of both neoplastic and non-neoplastic cells.
Learn more about the Hambardzumyan Laboratory
The Horowitz Lab investigates the effects of genetic variation on the effector and immunoregulatory roles of NK cells in patients with cancer receiving immunotherapies.
http://labs.icahn.mssm.edu/horowitzlab/amir-horowitz/
Jin Laboratory
The Jin Laboratory focuses on three main research topics: (1) discover selective inhibitors of histone methyltransferases (HMTs), (2) discover biased ligands of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), and (3) discover novel degraders targeting oncogenic proteins.
The Kamphorst lab focuses on T cell differentiation with a specific interest on situations of chronic antigen stimulation, such as in cancer.
Learn about the Kamphorst Laboratory
Lagana Laboratory
The Lagana Laboratory develops and applies computational tools for integrative analysis of multi-omics data to investigate the role of coding and non-coding alterations on multiple myeloma pathogenesis and progression, understand clinical implications of tumor clonal heterogeneity, inform patient risk stratification, and develop personalized therapy selection approaches guided by network genomics.
The Lujambio Laboratory studies mechanisms of liver cancer initiation and liver cancer maintenance, specifically how genetic alterations in cancer cells contribute to tumorigenesis, alter treatment response, and create vulnerabilities that may be targeted therapeutically.
We apply approaches from information theory, statistical mechanics and machine learning to understand how the immune system and other biophysical phenotypes affect the evolution of viruses and cancer.
Learn about the Luksza Laboratory
The Manfredi Laboratory investigates, the role of p53 in cell cycle checkpoints, the C-terminal basic region of p53 in transcriptional regulation and tumor suppression, and the transcriptional regulation of apoptosis.
Learn about the Manfredi Laboratory
The Merad Laboratory studies the mechanisms that regulate the development and function of dendritic cells and macrophages, and their contribution to the induction of immune responses against pathogens and tumor cells in vivo.
Our laboratory studies prostate and bladder cancer focusing on key clinical challenges encompassing cancer stem cells, metastasis, therapeutic resistance and methods to overcome resistance such as immunotherapy.
Learn about the Mulholland Laboratory
Ochando's laboratory investigates the immunological mechanisms of tumor acceptance mediated by MDSC, which can be exploited to prevent allograft rejection in transplantation.
Learn about the Ochando Laboratory
Our research focuses on two related aspects of the biology that controls the integrity of the genome 1) Cell division cycle and signaling pathways 2) Determinants of chromosome structure
The Pan Lab investigates the role of ubiquitin signaling in cancer biology using biochemical, molecular biology and chemical biology approaches.
The Papapetrou Laboratory uses human pluripotent stem cells to understand the mechanisms of malignant and non-malignant genetic blood diseases and to develop new therapies.
The Parsons Laboratory seeks to identify the underpinnings of cancer and to use this information to improve cancer prevention and treatment. The lab employs a multidisciplinary approach to study cancer by combining molecular pathology and genetic studies of human tumor biopsies, human and mouse tumor models, metabolism, epigenetics, and biochemistry of signaling.
We employ the synergistic systems of in vivo Drosophila (fruit fly) genetics, tissue culture, and in vitro biochemistry to investigate (1) Ras signaling, (2) the Hippo Tumor Suppressor Pathway, and (3) to develop fly models of human disease.
The Poulikakos Laboratory investigates kinase regulation and oncogenic signaling using small molecule inhibitors. We exploit the selectivity of these compounds to interrogate the complexity of growth factor signaling networks that promote transformation, tumor maintenance and drug resistance.
Our laboratory is interested in the study of genes that govern cell homeostasis and how these controls are dysregulated during the neoplastic process. We use a combination of biochemical, molecular, synthetic chemical and structural biological approaches, and in close collaboration with the clinical community, develop and test small molecule anti-cancer compounds.
Members of the Skobe lab conduct groundbreaking molecular research linking the dynamic relationship between the lymphatic system and cancer metastasis.
Learn about the Skobe Laboratory
The Vabret Laboratory studies the immunogenicity of transposable elements
The Wagenblast Laboratory focuses on understanding how a normal blood stem cell can become cancerous. The goal of the lab is to uncover insights into the genetic, cellular and developmental mechanisms of leukemia, with a particular focus on childhood leukemia, and identify therapeutic vulnerabilities of the disease.
Learn more about the Wagenblast Laboratory
The Yu Laboratory identifies the molecular determinants/therapeutic targets in tumor microenvironment that play essential roles in the cancer initiation and progression, therapeutic resistance of cancer cells, and maintenance of cancer stem cell niche; to understand the underlying mechanisms of their effects; and to develop therapeutic agents and combinations that can effectively inhibit the functions/activities of these therapeutic targets.