Cancer Biology
About
Research in Cancer Biology at UVA focuses on cutting-edge basic, translational, and clinical research in a highly collaborative environment. Our research is significantly enhanced by being part of an NCI-Designated Comprehensive Cancer Center whose mission is in part to discover the fundamental causes of cancer and develop new knowledge into tools for cancer treatment, diagnosis, and prevention. For over 35 years the University of Virginia Cancer Training Program has been preparing students for productive careers in academia, industry and education. Students pursue research under world-renowned faculty in areas such as cancer cell signaling, genetics and epigenetics, chemical and structural biology, immunology and immunotherapy, inflammation and cancer, and interactions between tumor cells and non-transformed stromal components of the tumor microenvironment.
Integration of student training with the UVA NCI-designated Cancer Center provides an exceptional opportunity to prepare students for leadership roles in all aspects of cancer research and to ultimately shape the future of this rapidly expanding area of biomedical research. Students work closely with research teams in women’s oncology, lung cancer, gastrointestinal cancers, hematopoietic malignancies and stem cell research. This research is augmented by state-of-the-art research and clinical facilities that deliver new and innovative therapies to patients.
Faculty
Abbas, Tarek A.
The Ubiquitin System and Human Cancer
Abounader, Roger
Basic and translational brain tumor research
Ai, Huiwang
Molecular Biosensors; Spatiotemporal Regulation of Biological Signaling; Protein Engineering for Imaging, Diagnostics, and Therapeutics
Bauer, Todd
Tumor cell migration, invasion, metastasis, growth factor signalling
Bekiranov, Stefan
Physical Modeling of Microarray Hybridization; Analysis of Genomic Tiling Array Data; Bioinformatics; Computational Biology; Regulatory Networks
Bielinsky, Anja Katrin
Genome instability syndromes in cancer and immune deficiencies
Bouton, Amy H.
Signaling Pathways and Breast Cancer
Bullock, Timothy N.
Pathways to enhance T cell function in tumors.
Bushweller, John H.
Drug Development Targeting Transcription Drivers in Cancer; Structure/Function Studies of Transcription Factor Drivers in Cancer
Caliari, Steven
Engineering biomaterials as cellular microenvironments
Casanova, James E.
Role of Arf family GTPases in vesicular transport and cytoskeleton assembly.
Cell Biology of bacterial pathogenesis.
The innate immune response to bacterial infection.Chalfant, Charles Edward
Hematology and Oncology, Cell Biology, Lipid Signaling, Cancer Cell Signaling, and RNA Biology
Cross, Janet V.
Contribution of the Inflammatory Microenvironment to Tumor Initiation, Progression and Metastasis; Molecular Mechanisms of Cancer Chemoprevention
Dolatshahi, Sepideh
Systems Immunology, Cancer Systems Biology, , Neonatal and Maternal Immunology
Dudley, Andrew
Tumor microenvironment and mechanisms of tumor neovascularization
Dwyer, Noelle
Neural Development; Cell Division in Neural Stem Cells; Axon Outgrowth and Guidance
Ebrahim, Seham
Cytoskeletal architecture, dynamics and roles in cellular physiology and disease; High-resolution live cell and tissue imaging
Elliott, Michael R.
Macrophage effector functions in inflammation and immunotherapy
Engelhard, Victor H.
Identification of MHC-restricted tumor antigens / Control of T cell homing to tumors / Tertiary lymphoid structures and intratumoral immunity
Erickson, Loren D.
Immune mechanisms of pathogenic antibody production in allergy and autoimmunity
Fallahi-Sichani, Mohammad
Cancer systems biology, Single-cell quantitative biology, Computational modeling
Fox, Jay W.
Basement Membrane Structure and Metalloproteinases
Garcia-Blanco, Mariano A.
RNA-protein interactions in antiviral immunity and autoimmune diseases.
Garrett-Bakelman, Francine
Acute Myeloid Leukemia: molecular and cellular biology events which mediate aberrant epigenetic and transcriptional mechanisms during disease establishment and progression
Gioeli, Daniel
Signal transduction in cancer cells
Goldfarb, Adam N.
Hematopathology and Understanding the Molecular Basis of Hematopoiesis and Leukemogenesis
Guler, Jennifer
Mechanisms of Genetic and Metabolic Adaptation in the Malaria Parasite, Plasmodium falciparum
Halme, Adrian J.
Regeneration and Systemic Responses to Tissue Damage
Hammarskjöld, Marie-Louise
Post Transcriptional Gene Regulation and the Molecular Biology of Human Retroviruses
Harris, Thurl E
Molecular mechanisms controlling insulin signaling and fat synthesis.
Hsu, Ku-Lung
Chemical Biology, Lipid Biochemistry, Medicinal Chemistry, and Mass Spectrometry
Janes, Kevin A.
Systems-biology approaches to cancer biology and virology.
Jiang, Hao
Regulation of stem cell function and tumorigenesis by epigenetics and biomolecular condensation (phase separation)
Kashatus, David F
The Role of Mitochondrial Fusion and Fission in Tumorigenesis.
Kedes, Dean H.
Human Herpes virus associated with malignancy, including Kaposi's Sarcoma
Landen, Charles
Mechanisms of Chemotherapy Resistance in Ovarian and Other Gynecologic Malignancies
Lazo, John S.
The mechanism of action of small molecules and the fundamental biological role of protein tyrosine phosphatases
Lazzara, Matthew
Cellular Engineering
Lee, Kevin S.
Neuronal Vulnerability: A Study of Cellular Mechanism
Li, Hui
Gene regulation in cancer, RNA processing; Epigenetic modification; Stem cell and development
Loughran, Jr., Thomas P
Hematologic malignancies; bone marrow disorders; leukemia; large granular lymphocyte (LGL)
Lu, Xiaowei
Wnt/PCP signaling in inner ear development Mouse models for human deafness Wnt/PCP signaling in neural tube closure
Mandell, James W.
Identification of Novel Biomarkers for Inflammatory Myopathies
Mayo, Marty W.
Transcriptional Regulation by NFKB
Mohi, Golam
Cell signaling, stem cell biology, molecular and epigenetic mechanisms of blood and breast cancers
Moskaluk, Christopher A.
Molecular pathogenesis and genomic analysis of human cancers
Naegle, Kristen
Regulation and function of tyrosine phosphorylation in complex networks
Owens, Gary K.
Identification of Factors and Mechanisms that Regulate the Stability of Late Stage Atherosclerotic Lesions and the Probability of Thromboembolic Events Including a Heart Attack or Stroke
Parichy, David
Developmental Genetics, Evolution and Regeneration
Park, Kwon-Sik
Mechanisms of tissue/organ homeostasis and tumorigeensis
Paschal, Bryce M.
Nuclear Transport, Signaling, and Cancer
Pemberton, Lucy F.
Nuclear Transport in Chromatin Assembly and Transcriptional Regulation
Pompano, Rebecca
Bioanalytical tools for inflammatory disease
Price, Richard J.
Image Guided Drug and Gene Delivery for Neurodegeneration and Cancer; Focused Ultrasound and Immunotherapy; Arteriogenesis and Angiogenesis
Purow, Benjamin W.
Novel therapeutic approaches to brain cancers and to other neurologic diseases
Ratan, Aakrosh
Genomics, Molecular Evolution, Algorithm Design and Analysis
Redemann, Stefanie
Chromosome segregation and aneuploidy in meiosis and mitosis
Rekosh, David M.
Human Immunodeficiency Virus Gene Expression; Human Endogenous Viruses; SARS-CoV-2 Protein Trafficking; Post-transcriptional Gene Regulation
Rutkowski, Melanie
Influence of commensal microbes on immune homeostasis, anti-tumor immunity, and metastasis
Schulman, Ira G.
Regulation of transcription by nuclear hormone receptors, transcriptional control of metabolism and inflammation, small molecule approaches to drug discovery
Sheffield, Nathan
computational biology & bioinformatics; high performance computing; epigenomics & chromatin; pediatric cancer; computational regulatory genomics; machine learning
Sheybani, Natasha
Biomedical Engineering
Sheynkman, Gloria M.
Proteoform Systems Biology: proteogenomic approaches to uncover the role of proteomic variation in human disease
Sontheimer, Harald
Role of Glia in Neurological Illnesses and Cancer
Stukenberg, P. Todd
Mechanisms of chromosome segregation in Mitosis and generation of Chromosomal Instability in tumors
Swami, Nathan
Molecular and bioelectric devices; tissue regeneration.
Tao, Jianguo
Pathology
Trinh, Bon Q
Understanding Protein and RNA regulations of gene expression via chromatin structure in myeloid cell development and diseases
Vande Pol, Scott B.
How Viruses, Particularly Papillomaviruses, Can Cause Cancer
Wang, Yuh-Hwa
Genome instability in cancer and repeat expansion diseases
Wotton, David
Regulation of Gene Expression, Development and Tumor Progression by TGF beta Signaling
Zang, Chongzhi
Bioinformatics methodology development; Epigenetics and chromatin biology; Transcriptional regulation; Cancer genomics and epigenomics; Statistical methods for biomedical data integration; Advanced machine learning; Theoretical and computational biophysic
Zeichner, Steven L.
Pathogenesis of infectious diseases and the development of new therapies and vaccines for infectious diseases and cancers.
Zhang, Tian
Biochemistry
Zimmer, Jochen
Transport of biopolymers across biological membranes with a particular interest in polysaccharide and protein translocation.
Zong, Hui
Early detection, cancer prevention, and tumor microenvironment
Zunder, Eli
Single Cell Analysis