Lawrence M. Pfeffer, PhD
College of Medicine

Dr. Pfeffer researches an anticancer drug called interferon, which is an important component of the host response to various insults. By understanding the way this compound works at the cellular and molecular level, he may be able to identify new strategies to enhance the drug's effectiveness and/or diminishing undesirable side effects. He is also interested in identifying the role of cancer stem-like cells in the therapeutic resistance of cancer. His focus is on treating brain cancer, prostate cancer and melanoma.

Tiffany Seagroves, PhD
College of Medicine
Lab: Seagroves Lab

Dr. Seagroves is discovering how the transcription factor HIF-1alpha controls downstream target gene expression and promotes cancer stem cell self-renewal, tumor-initiation potential and metastasis in breast cancer. High levels of HIF-1alpha are found in most solid tumors, corresponding with poor clinical outcome and resistance to radiation and chemotherapy. She also collaborates with several investigators on campus by using the mouse as a pre-clinical model to test anticancer activity of novel therapeutics.

Ram I. Mahato, PhD
College of Pharmacy

Dr. Mahato is searching for genetic modifi cations in pancreatic and liver diseases and cancer. He is developing genetic therapies that will be instrumental in treating both liver and lung metastases.

John K. Buolamwini, PhD
College of Pharmacy

Dr. Buolamwini is discovering ways to design drugs and therapies that inhibit or disrupt processes within cancer cells at the molecular level. Presently, he is targeting breast, prostate, lung and colon cancers. Additionally, he is in the forefront of developing a novel approach to cancer prevention, called chemoprevention.

Yi Lu, PhD
College of Medicine

Dr. Lu studies how breast cancer cells grow and metastasize, as well as how blood vessel development to the tumors are inhibited by a gene that suppresses these mechanisms. He is also researching viral gene therapy for prostate cancer.

Andrzej Slominski, MD, PhD
College of Medicine

Dr. Slominski is a physician-scientist whose goal is to find a cure for metastatic melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer, and to develop strategies to diminish the effect that exposure to the sun has on the formation of this disease. He will also be testing whether novel chemical variations of vitamin D can be used successfully during therapy of breast, prostate, lung and other types of cancers.

Len Lothstein, PhD
College of Medicine

Dr. Lothstein is confronting two major impediments to successful cancer chemotherapy and long-term patient survival: Cancer cell resistance to drug treatment and the irreversible damage to the heart caused by current therapies. He is developing a new class of anti-cancer drugs designed to circumvent drug resistance in cancer cells while protecting the heart from damage.

Meiyun Fan, PhD
College of Medicine

Dr. Fan is studying gene transcription regulation in breast cancer cells. She is trying to identify transcription regulators that drive the progression of breast cancer cells from a curable estrogen-dependent stage to a life-threatening estrogen-independent stage.

Terreia Jones, PharmD
College of Pharmacy
Lab: Jones Lab

Dr. Jones' research focuses on identifying genetic predictors of anticancer therapy-associated efficacy and toxicity. She is primarily looking at gene variants that influence the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of cancer drugs and the risk for treatment-induced second cancers.

Ronald Laribee, PhD
College of Medicine

The Laribee laboratory uses budding yeast and mammalian cell culture models to study conserved epigenetic pathways that regulate gene expression and DNA repair and are mutated in human cancers.

Zhaohui Wu, PhD
College of Medicine

The Wu laboratory goal is to improve cancer treatment efficiency and reduce therapeutic resistance of cancer cells by modulating the genotoxic NF-kB signaling pathway. We envision the insights into the unique mechanisms of NF-kB genotoxic signaling pathway will reveal novel drug targets selectively antagonizing the cancer therapeutic resistance meanwhile keeping physiological functions of NF-kB in regulating immunity, resulting in efficient cancer therapy and fewer relapse.