Research

Advances in CRISPR/Cas9 technologies have enabled large-scale multiplexed investigation of therapeutic targets and genetic interactions across normal and disease contexts. We develop and use large-scale functional genomics coupled with multi-modal single cell and spatial readouts (e.g. in vivo perturb-seq, snARC-seq) to identify and characterize targets that improve the therapeutic efficacy of cancer therapies in brain tumors. We are especially interested in pursuing new combination therapeutics for both adult and pediatric gliomas.

The ability of cancer cells to repair DNA damage caused by radiation therapy is a major barrier to effective treatments for patients with brain tumors. We are interested in targeting known and novel vulnerabilities (including non-coding genes) involved in the DNA damage response to improve therapeutics against brain tumors such as adult glioblastoma and pediatric diffuse midline glioma, among the deadliest primary brain tumors. We use a combination of functional genomics, clinical genomics on patient tumors, computational modeling, animal models, organoids, and molecular biology to pursue this.