My laboratory focuses on the molecular pathogenesis of primary brain tumors. Our current focus is to understand how genetic aberrations in growth factor signaling promote the initiation, progression, and/or maintenance of glioblastoma. Through surveys of the cancer genome in primary tumor samples (high throughput sequencing and gene copy number arrays), we have identified a number of mutations in signal transduction pathways and are now characterizing their biochemical and biological properties using isogenic cell lines models and mouse models of glioma. Our goal is to integrate these findings into a molecular classification of glioblastoma which will inform genotype-based evaluation of novel agents targeting these pathways in patients.
