Research
Ongoing projects:
Drug resistance in patient samples
We're collaborating with MD Anderson clinicians to study dozens of patient samples, both tissue and blood, to identify drug resistance mechanisms in two drug classes that have not had clinical resistance previously described. We are also wrapping up a project on MEKi+CDK4i resistance in melanoma, but are also interested in extending our findings there.
Targeting PKCa in melanoma in combination with MEK inhibition
MEK inhibitors may be useful against NRAS- and NF-mutant melanoma, but determining which drug to pair it with is not always straightforward. We've identified PKCa as a promising combination drug target based on protein assays which find it highly expressed in intrinsically resistant melanomas. This work is supported by the Melanoma Research Alliance Young Investigators Award.
Exploring therapeutic roles of chemokines in melanoma
Our mouse model of melanoma has yielded insights into the role of chemokines in response to therapy. We're currently following up our lead chemokines to determine how if and how they can be modulated to improve therapy responses.
Understanding how chromatin modifiers works in cholangiocarcinoma and melanoma
How ARID1A, ARID2, PBRM1, and BAP1, frequently mutated tumor suppressor genes, function is of great interest, as it could lead to improved therapies targeting their vulnerabilities. We are generating new models and will aim to catalog and understand how these genes are similar and different from each other.
Establish new models and cell lines for cholangiocarcinoma
Very few such cell lines exist in the entire world, so we're attempting to create a cell line bank at MD Anderson. We are also creating a new cholangio model using both human and mouse modeling.
Join Our Lab
Our laboratory is open to graduate students with a specific interest in gene expression and with a bioinformatics background. Please contact us for more information.