Molecular Genetics and Epigenetics Program Members
Program Leaders
Anindya Dutta,
PhD, Program Co-Leader
Byrd Professor, Department of
Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics
Chromosomal rearrangements in prostate cancer; developing methods for
detecting translocations; regulation of cell cycle by microRNAs;
genomics of DNA replication.
James M. Larner, MD, Program
Co-Leader
Professor and Chair, Department of Radiation
Oncology
Molecular basis of resistance to γ-radiation; development of techniques
for target-tissue sensitization to ionizing radiation; development of
therapeutic focused ultrasound.
Full Program Members
Tarek A. Abbas,
PhD
Research Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry and
Molecular Genetics
Regulation of DNA replication and repair by post-translational
modification and proteasome activity.
Roger Abounader, MD,
PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology
Roles and targeting of c-Met in brain tumors; c-Met/PTEN interactions
in gliomas; PTEN/mutant-p53 interactions in gliomas; microRNAs in brain
tumors.
Mazhar Adli,
PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry and
Molecular Genetics
Epigenetics, Epigenomics, Genomics, Chromatin, DNA sequencing, ChIP-Seq, Leukemia
David T. Auble,
PhD
Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular
Genetics
Chromatin remodeling during sensing and repair of DNA damage.
Stefan Bekiranov, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of
Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics
Developing algorithms for analysis of microarray and sequence data from
genomic analysis.
Ann L. Beyer,
PhD
Professor, Department of
Microbiology
Basic mechanisms of ribosome biogenesis and RNA processing, potential
chemotherapeutic targets.
Daniel J. Burke, PhD
Professor, Department of
Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics
Molecular mechanisms of spindle checkpoints and their failure in
cancer; yeast-based drug screens.
Patrick J. Concannon,
PhD
Professor, Department of
Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics and Public Health
Sciences
Population-based studies on linkage between DNA repair genes and risk
of contrateral breast cancer.
Thao Dang, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Medicine,
Hematology/Oncology
Notch signaling in lung cancer; Notch 3 and the associated gamma
secretases as therapeutic targets in lung and other cancers.
Jaroslaw
Dziegielewski, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Radiation
Oncology
Signal transduction pathways activated by radiation damage for target
tissue sensitization to ionizing radiation.
Daniel R. Foltz, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of
Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics
Mechanism of assembly of centromeric chromatin; role of
mitosis-specific histone chaperones in cell cycle progression.
Patrick A. Grant, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of
Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics
Mis-regulation of SAGA and SAGA-like chromatin remodeling complexes in
cancer.
Ira M. Hall, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of
Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics
Measurement of acute copy number variation of genes during cancer
progression.
Marie-Louise Hammarskjold,
MD, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of
Microbiology
Alternative splicing and export of RNAs in HIV-infected cells;
relevance to HIV-associated neoplasms.
David R. Jones,
MD
Professor, Department of Surgery
Molecular biological investigations leading to targeted therapies in
primary lung cancer.
Jae K. Lee, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of
Public Health Sciences
Computational statistical applications for analyzing gene expression
data for predicting responses to chemotherapy.
Ming D. Li, PhD
Professor, Department of
Psychiatry
Genetic linkage and association analysis to understand how tobacco
smokers become addicted and why they cannot quit their smoking
habit.
Aaron J. Mackey,
PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of
Public Health Sciences
Clinical
Informatics
Statistical models and machine-learning algorithms for large-scale
genomics data.
Jaime Mata, PhD
Assistant Professor of Radiology, Assistant Director of the Center
for HPG MR
Early detection and evaluation of treatment efficacy in animal
models of lung cancer using novel MRI contrast agents.
Marty W. Mayo, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of
Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics
NFΚB involvement in the suppression of apoptosis in non-small-cell lung
cancer and in the epithelial-mesenchymal transition.
Deric Park, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Neurosurgery
Differentiation and targeted agents in malignant gliomas; clinical
treatment of gliomas and chordomas.
Kwon-Sik Park,
PhD
Assistant Professor of Microbiology, Immunology, & Cancer
Biology
The cellular and molecular mechanisms of progression and
chemo-resistance of lung cancer.
Bryce M. Paschal,
PhD
Professor, Department of
Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics
Role of the androgen receptor and signal transduction pathways in
prostate cancer progression.
William R. Pearson,
PhD
Professor, Department of
Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics
Identification of protein homologs by developing novel computational
algorithms; regulation of GST gene expression.
Benjamin W. Purow,
MD
Associate Professor, Department of Neurology
Molecular basis of Notch signaling; potential therapeutic targets for
malignant gliomas.
Aaron Quinlan, PhD
Assistant Professor, Public Health Sciences
David Schiff, MD
Professor, Department of Neurology
Clinical trials in brain cancer.
Timothy N. Showalter, MD
Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology
Prostate cancer and radiation therapy.
Jeffrey S. Smith, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of
Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics
Role of the NADH-dependent deacetylase, sirtuin, in modulating gene
expression in aging and carcinogenesis.
M. Mitchell Smith,
PhD
Professor, Department of
Microbiology
Role of histone tails in replication and maintenance of genome
integrity; SNF/SWI complex in chromatin remodeling and interaction with
the adenovirus E1A oncoprotein.
P. Todd Stukenberg,
PhD
Professor, Department of
Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics
Role of aurora kinases in the G2/M checkpoint and mitosis, and
dysfunction in aneuploidy.
Sharon Teraoka, PhD
Assistant Professor, Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics
David Wotton, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of
Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics
Regulation of cell proliferation by the tumor suppressor TGF-β; animal
models for prostate cancer.
Hui Zong,
PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology,
Immunology, & Cancer Biology
Mouse Genetic Mosaic Modeling of Human
Cancers
Associate Program Members
Paul N. Adler, PhD
Professor, Department of
Biology
Planar signaling, polarity, and morphogenesis, and derangements during
tumorigenesis.
Dan A. Engel, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of
Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics
Adenovirus E1A oncogene and its interaction with cellular tumor
suppressors (e.g., RB and P300).
Melissa A. Henriksen,
PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of
Biology
Defining epigenetic controls that contribute to tumorigenesis and
cancer stem cell plasticity in neuroblastoma.
James Mandell,
MD
Associate Professor, Department of Pathology
Astroglial activity in degenerative and malignant brain tumors.
