Through my research as a member of the Translational Therapeutics Program at the OSUCCC – James, I seek to explore transcriptomic, epigenetic, metabolomics, proteomic and genomic profiles of patient biopsies in order to identify the mechanisms of chemo and radiation resistance in treatment refractory tumors.

I have identified predictive and prognostic markers, elucidated the underlying mechanisms and validated them using clinically relevant models. My lab group is also working to identify and eradicate cancer stem cells within the bulk of tumors using pre-clinical models and patient-derived cancer stem cells.

My recent work identified antigens encoding this sub-population of cells expressing iPSC genes with differentiation plasticity, thus showing that the treatment-resistant tumor initiating cells can be inhibited by using growth factors.

I have utilized tools from each aspect of my unique background in biology, biochemistry, bioinformatics, crystallography, drug design and oncology for more than a decade. I have also co-authored more than 40 articles appearing in such respected journals as Cancer Research, Clinical Cancer Research, Neuro-Oncology, Journal of Neuro-Oncology, FEBS and Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry.