{"id":1730837,"date":"2025-06-17T11:16:07","date_gmt":"2025-06-17T15:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/faculty\/faculty-listing\/bkn6qd\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T06:31:39","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T10:31:39","slug":"bkn6qd","status":"publish","type":"faculty-listing","link":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/faculty\/faculty-listing\/bkn6qd\/","title":{"rendered":"Le, Lu Q"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. Le\u2019s research focuses on neural-crest derived tissue development, regeneration and tumorigenesis, in particular the biology of neurofibromatosis. His laboratory investigates how genetic and tumor microenvironmental factors interplay to regulate cancer development, concentrating on: (1) identifying the cells of origin of tumorigenesis, and (2) elucidating the roles of tumor microenvironment in cancer development. His laboratory dissects these cellular and molecular mechanisms of tumorigenesis from the developmental perspective. They utilize Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1), a common tumor predisposition human genetic disorder, as a model to address these two fundamental questions of cancer biology. A major contribution of Dr. Le\u2019s laboratory has been the generation of novel neurofibromatosis models that decipher mechanisms initiating Schwann cell tumor development and driving their malignant transformation. It was this work in neurofibromatosis and mechanisms whereby neural-crest derived tissues and nerves can affect tumor development in skin and other tissues that serendipitously lead Dr. Le\u2019s research group to uncover the identity of follicular epithelial cells that give rise to hair and mechanisms that cause hair to turn gray \u2013 findings that could one day help identify possible treatments for balding and hair graying.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1734872,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"otheraff":[2409],"phd-degree":[2568,2566],"primary":[2383],"research-discipline":[2523,2513,2488,2498,2510,2491,2489,2490],"research-opportunity":[],"training-grant":[],"class_list":["post-1730837","faculty-listing","type-faculty-listing","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","otheraff-mstp","phd-degree-phd-cellbiology","phd-degree-phd-experimentalpathology","primary-dermatology","research-discipline-annual-research-fair","research-discipline-biology","research-discipline-cancer-biology","research-discipline-cell-and-developmental-biology","research-discipline-development-stem-cells-regeneration","research-discipline-experimental-pathology","research-discipline-genetics","research-discipline-molecular-biology"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLe, Lu Q - Research Faculty Directory<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/faculty\/faculty-listing\/bkn6qd\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Le, Lu Q - Research Faculty Directory\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dr. Le\u2019s research focuses on neural-crest derived tissue development, regeneration and tumorigenesis, in particular the biology of neurofibromatosis. 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