Aneuploidy has been recognized as a hallmark of cancer for more than 100 years, yet no general theory has emerged to explain the recurring patterns of aneuploidy in cancer. Dr. Elledge’s laboratory developed the Tumor Suppressor and Oncogene (TUSON) Explorer, a computational method that analyzes the patterns of mutational signatures in tumors and predicts the likelihood that any individual gene functions as a tumor suppressor gene (TSG) or an oncogene (OG).
Infection causes 1 in 5 cancers worldwide. Many tumor suppressors, such as p53, have dual functions to prevent tumor cell growth and to inhibit viral replication. These molecules may have evolved from a primordial unicellular eukaryotic antiviral defense system that inhibited DNA synthesis and initiated programmed cell death in response to viral infection. Two cancer viruses found by our lab, Kaposi’s sarcoma herpesvirus and Merkel cell polyomavirus, provide examples of how virus targeting in a cell can be used to understand important circuits controlling tumor cell growth.
Dr. McCullough’s research interests primarily focus on: 1) understanding sex differences in ischemic cell death 2) age related inflammation and 3) social factors in stroke recovery.
Basic molecular and animal studies in males and females have direct translational relevance, as treatments have revealed the efficacy in one sex has paradoxically shown a detrimental effect in the other sex. This is now increasingly recognized in clinical stroke populations.
Atul Gawande, M.D., M.P.H. Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Dr. Gawande is a surgeon, writer, and public health researcher. He practices general and endocrine surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. He is Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Samuel O. Thier Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School. He is also Executive Director of Ariadne Labs, a joint center for health systems innovation, and Chairman of Lifebox, a nonprofit organization making surgery safer globally. Dr.
Dr. Ramos is recognized as a leading expert in the study of gene-gene and gene-environment interactions and genomic medicine. His research program integrates diverse approaches, ranging from molecular genetics to population-based public health studies in efforts to understand the genetic and genomic basis of human disease and to advance the goals of precision medicine.
Dinshaw J. Patel, Ph.D. Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Structural biology of gene regulation (riboswitches, ribozymes and RNA silencing), epigenetic regulation (writers, readers and erasers of histone and DNA methylation marks), and immune regulation (cGAS-cGAMP-STING pathway).
Feng Zhang, Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Our research focuses on the development and application of novel molecular technologies for studying the nervous system. Given the complexity of the brain, it is important to develop both precise perturbation as well as quantitative readout methodologies so that we can systematically reverse-engineer how the brain is functionally organized.
This page was last updated on Tuesday, August 10, 2021
