How do you fight cancer? Succinctly described as a “many-headed monster, which, each time a neck is severed, sprouts a head even fiercer and cleverer than before. You are fighting that which is unfixed, mutating, indestructible.”1 With the advent of new technologies that allow us to resolve cancer down to individual cells, we are beginning to appreciate the heterogeneity of cancer that facilitates the ever-changing interactions between cancer cells, their niche, and the surrounding environment. Our hope is that cancer is not indestructible and the scientists in the Cancer and Cell Biology (CCB) Focus Area In CMB actively investigate ways to stop cancer by exploring all aspects of cancer initiation and progression, early detection, environmental causes, and response to therapies baked in-house and abroad.
Backed by the National Cancer Institute-designated UCI Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and the UCI Cancer Research Institute, the CCB Focus Group provides an abundance of resources to gain expertise in many areas of cancer research and a forum to share our research with the community. With access to scientists and clinicians from more than 32 departments across six schools at UCI, many opportunities exist for interactive and collaborative research in cancer discovery, clinical investigation, and population-based cancer research.
1) Professor Snape. HBP9.
- Scott Atwood, satwood@uci.edu, Developmental & Cell Biology
Cell fate decisions in skin cancer, skin and hair follicle development, and stem cells. - Lee Bardwell, bardwell@uci.edu, Developmental and Cell Biology
Cell signaling pathways deregulated in cancer, with a focus on mitogen-activated protein kinases - Claudia Benavente, claudia.benavente@uci.edu, Developmental & Cell Biology
Understanding epigenetic deregulation in pediatric cancer tumorigenesis - Michael W. Berns, mwberns@uci.edu, Developmental & Cell Biology and Surgery
Laser microsurgery of cells, embryos, and tissues - Alexander Boiko, aboiko@uci.edu, Molecular Biology and Biochemistry
Isolation and Characterization of Tumor Initiating Cells from melanoma patients - Daniela Bota, dbota@uci.edu, Neurology and Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
The mechanisms of chemotherapy-induced cognitive damage, and differential mechanisms governing glioma stem cell versus neural stem cell differentiation - Remi Buisson, rbuisson@uci.edu, Biological Chemistry
Genomic instability, DNA repair and mutagenesis in cancer - Jefferson Y. Chan, jchan@uci.edu, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
Regulation of genes associated with oxidative stress - Dongbao Chen, dongbaoc@uci.edu, Obstetrics and Gynecology and Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
Angiogenesis and perinatal vascular biology - Phang Lang Chen, plchen@uci.edu, Biological Chemistry – Cancer Biology
Critical role of tumor suppressor genes in the genesis and progression of cancer - Steven Chessler, s.chessler@uci.edu, Medicine and Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
Cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying insulin secretion, pancreatic islet function, and beta cell failure in diabetes. - Aimee Edinger, aedinger@uci.edu, Developmental and Cell Biology
Cancer bioenergetics, growth factor- and nutrient-dependent signaling, autophagy, intracellular trafficking - Robert Edwards , redwards@uci.edu, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, In Residence
Pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease - Mark Fisher, mfisher@uci.edu, Neurology and Anatomy & Neurobiology, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
Mechanisms of stroke, vascular neurobiology, blood-brain barrier - Angela Fleischman, agf@uci.edu, Medicine and Biological Chemistry
- David A. Fruman, dfruman@uci.edu, Molecular Biology & Biochemistry
Targeting survival pathways in leukemia and lymphoma cells - Anand Ganesan, aganesan@uci.edu, Dermatology and Biological Chemistry
Identify the key molecular regulators of melanin production, melanoma cell survival, and melanoma chemoresistance in human cells - Christopher C.W. Hughes, cchughes@uci.edu, Molecular Biology & Biochemistry
Molecular biology of developmental and tumor angiogenesis - Peter Kaiser, pkaiser@uci.edu, Biological Chemistry
Cell cycle control; regulation of proteins by ubiquitination - Kai Kessenbrock, kkessenb@uci.edu, Biological Chemistry
Microenvironmental Control of Stem Cells and Cancer - Mei Kong, meik1@uci.edu, Molecular Biology & Biochemistry
Nutritional microenvironment in tumor development and drug response, metabolism and epigenetics, protein phosphatase regulation in diabetes and obesity - Young Jik Kwon, kwonyj@uci.edu, Molecular Biology & Biochemistry, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chemical Engineering & Materials Science, and Biomedical Engineering
Cancer-targeted therapeutics, Engineered viral vectors for gene therapy, Cancer Vaccine - Devon Lawson, dalawson@uci.edu, Physiology & Biophysics
Mechanisms of Cancer Metastasis - Selma Masri, smasri@uci.edu, Biological Chemistry
Circadian Clock disruption and its links to cancer, stem cell biology and metabolism - Michael McClelland, mmcclell@uci.edu, Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
Evolution of Salmonella pathogenesis; bacterial therapy for cancer; cancer genomics and prognostics - Reginald “Reggie” McNulty, rmcnulty@uci.edu, Molecular Biology & Biochemistry
Macromolecular assemblies in inflammation and cancer using Cryo-EM and other approaches - Dan Mercola, dmercola@uci.edu, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
Translational research in prostatic cancer - Edward L. Nelson, enelson@uci.edu,Medicine and Molecular Biology & Biochemistry
Tumor immunology, dendritic cell biology, and anti-tumor immunotherapeutics - A. Olga Razorenova, olgar@uci.edu, Molecular Biology & Biochemistry
Internal (oncogenes/tumor suppressor genes) and external (tumor microenvironment)
factors regulating tumor progression and metastasis. - Christine Suetterlin, suetterc@uci.edu, Developmental and Cell Biology
Centrosome regulation, cilia formation and length control, host-pathogen interaction - Wenqi Wang, wenqiw6@uci.edu, Developmental & Cell Biology
Signaling network in organ size control and cancer development
- Marian L. Waterman, mlwaterm@uci.edu, Microbiology & Molecular Genetics
Regulation of LEF-1 gene expression in lymphocytes and cancer
Faculty – Secondary Affiliation
- Bruce Blumberg, blumberg@uci.edu, Developmental and Cell Biology
Gene regulation by nuclear hormone receptors in vertebrate development and adult physiology - Dae Seok Eom, dseom@uci.edu, Developmental & Cell Biology
Specialized cellular projection-mediated cell-to-cell signaling - Steven A. Goldstein, sgoldst2@uci.edu, Physiology & Biophysics
Ion channels in health and disease - Shane Gonen, gonens@uci.edu, Molecular Biology & Biochemistry
Electron cryo-microscopy (Cryo-EM); Membrane proteins; Protein complexes; Computational protein design - Klemens Hertel, khertel@uci.edu, Microbiology & Molecular Genetics
Regulation of gene expression by alternative splicing - Lan Huang, lanhuang@uci.edu, Physiology & Biophysics and Developmental & Cell Biology
Proteomics analysis using mass spectrometry and bioinformatics to elucidate protein structure and function, with initial emphasis on the 26S proteasome functional specificity - Wei Ling Lau, wllau@uci.edu, Physiology & Biophysics
Vascular calcification, cerebral microbleeds, and chronic inflammation in chronic kidney disease - Chang Liu, ccl@uci.edu, Biomedical Engineering, Chemistry, and Molecular Biology & Biochemistry
Engineered genetic systems for rapid evolution, chemical biology, synthetic biology, and cell biology - Melissa Lodoen, mlodoen@uci.edu, Molecular Biology & Biochemistry
Modulation of host immunity by Toxoplasma gondii - Naomi Morrissette, nmorrriss@uci.edu, Molecular Biology & Biochemistry
Genetic, cell biological and structure-function studies of tubulin and microbutules in Apicomplexan parasites - Jennifer Prescher, jpresche@uci.edu, Chemistry, Molecular Biology & Biochemistry, and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Probing biological systems with chemical tools and noninvasive imaging - Sha Sun, shasun@uci.edu, Developmental & Cell Biology
Long noncoding RNAs in epigenetic programming - Ming Tan, mingt@uci.edu, Microbiology & Molecular Genetics, and Medicine
Chlamydia infections: Gene regulation and host pathogen interactions - Katherine L Thompson-Peer, ktpeer@uci.edu, Developmental & Cell Biology
Neuronal regeneration after injury; dendrite regeneration - Roberto Tinoco, rtinoco@uci.edu, Molecular Biology & Biochemistry
Adaptive Immune Responses; cellular and molecular mechanisms that promote T cell exhaustion during chronic viral infection and cancer - Francesco Tombola, ftombola@uci.edu, Physiology and Biophysics
Molecular mechanisms of voltage-gated ion channel function - Gregory A. Weiss, gweiss@uci.edu, Chemistry and Molecular Biology & Biochemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Evolving viruses for early cancer detection sensors - Qin Yang, qiny3@uci.edu, Medicine and Physiology & Biophysics
Cellular and molecular mechanisms for insulin resistance and energy expenditure in obesity and type 2 diabetes - Kyoko Yokomori, kyokomor@uci.edu, Biological Chemistry
Molecular mechanisms of chromosome dynamics and gene regulation