This Web site is your gateway to the online homes of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center's labs. Whether you're part of the scientific community or a curious member of the public, browse the links below to explore how our researchers are working toward the Hutchinson Center's mission: elimination of cancer and related diseases as causes of human suffering and death. Check back as we add more lab sites in the future.
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Alphabetical Listing
Alphabetical listing of Center Lab Web sites| Lab Name | Division | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Bedalov Lab | Clinical Research | The Bedalov Lab conducts research to identify drugs that disrupt gene silencing, a process that has been implicated in cancer and other diseases in which genes are inappropriately shut off. |
| Bielas Lab | Public Health Sciences | The Bielas Lab studies the fundamental and clinical implications of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA mutations in the development of cancer and age-related disease. Translational research projects explore the potential utility of these mutations as novel DNA biomarkers for improved disease detection, treatment outcome, survival and quality of life. |
| Biggins Lab | Basic Sciences | The Biggins Lab uses budding yeast to study chromosome segregation, the process by which chromosomes are distributed to new cells during cell division. Cells with an abnormal number of chromosomes are a hallmark of cancer and many birth defects. |
| Breeden Lab | Basic Sciences | The Breeden Lab investigates control of cell division in budding yeast, with a long-term goal of understanding how the commitment to the mitotic cell cycle is regulated in response to environmental and internal cues. |
| Brent Lab | Basic Sciences | |
| Chen Lab | Public Health Sciences | The Chu Chen Lab is conducting a hospital-based study to discover biomarkers that may improve diagnosis and prognosis of oral cancer. Several other studies focus on the links between genetic and environmental factors and development of, and/or survival from, tobacco-related and hormone-related cancers. |
| Clurman Lab | Clinical Research | The Clurman Lab studies how cell division is regulated in normal cells, and how abnormal control of cell division leads to cancer. They hope to use these mechanistic insights into tumor formation to develop new cancer treatment strategies. |
| Cooper Lab | Basic Sciences | The Cooper Lab investigates proteins involved in the signaling pathways that allow cells to communicate with each other. In particular, they study a protein called Disabled and the Src protein family to better understand how they regulate normal cell behavior and the transformation of normal cells to cancer cells. |
| Eisenman Lab | Basic Sciences | |
| Emerman Lab | Human Biology | The Emerman Lab studies the molecular and evolutionary basis for the replication of HIV and related viruses, with an emphasis on the interaction of these viruses with their host cells. Their goal is to understand what determines resistance or vulnerability to current, past and potential viral diseases. |
| Etzioni Lab | Public Health Sciences | The Etzioni Lab focuses on statistical methods for prostate-cancer studies, with the goal of improving guidelines for screening and treatment. Etzioni has assessed the likely impact of prostate-specific antigen testing on prostate-cancer incidence and mortality, and developed approaches for evaluating new cancer-screening biomarkers. |
| Fero Lab | Clinical Research | The Fero Lab studies how cell-cycle regulatory genes, p27 and Rb, control growth of tumors and normal tissues. Using novel mouse models and genomic technologies, they have discovered that cell cycle inhibitors and microRNAs regulate T-cell growth and differentiation, whereas mutations of these genes cooperate in lymphoma development. |
| Ferré-D'Amaré | Basic Sciences | The Ferré-D'Amaré Lab studies the structural underpinnings of RNA's biological functions using biochemistry, X-ray crystallography, and other biophysical techniques. Because RNA plays critical roles in the cell, both in health and disease, an atomic-level understanding of its function provides the basis for development of new therapies. |
| Galloway Lab | Human Biology | The Galloway Lab studies the mechanisms by which human papillomaviruses contribute to cancer, with an emphasis on types most likely to progress to cervical cancer. They work to understand the natural history of genital HPV infections and why only a small subset of women infected with high-risk HPVs develop cancer. |
| Geballe Lab | Human Biology | |
| Gottschling Lab | Basic Sciences | The Gottschling Lab uses budding yeast as a model system to investigate fundamental questions in biology. One of their current areas of research interest is the striking link between increasing age and cancer incidence in humans. |
| Greenberg Lab | Clinical Research | The Norm Greenberg Lab works toward two major goals: to identify and characterize the molecular mechanisms involved in the genesis, progression, and metastasis of prostate cancer, with particular attention to steroid and polypeptide hormone signaling pathways, and to develop and test novel strategies for prostate cancer prevention, diagnosis and therapy. |
| Hahn Lab | Basic Sciences | The Hahn Lab studies the mechanism and regulation of transcription, the process of mRNA synthesis. Transcriptional regulation is one of the key steps controlling cell growth, differentiation and development, and defects cause many human illnesses. Using biochemistry, structural biology and molecular genetics, the lab focuses on the mechanism of the large conserved protein complexes that regulate and promote transcription. |
| Hanash Lab | Public Health Sciences | |
| Heimfeld Lab | Clinical Research | The Heimfeld Lab focuses on the translation of new cell-based therapies from the scientist's bench to the patient's bedside. Areas of research include improvements in specific cell-subset selection, large-scale therapeutic-cell culturing in closed systems, optimized cryopreservation and cell storage. |
| Henikoff Lab | Basic Sciences | The Henikoff Lab studies the structure, function and evolution of chromosomes. They also develop tools for epigenomics and functional genomics. |
| Hockenbery Lab | Clinical Research | The Hockenbery lab studies programmed cell death (apoptosis) pathways that are defective in many cancer cells; and the role of cancer-cell metabolism in apoptosis, oncogene functions, and environmental/dietary risk factors, including excess supply of nutrients. After identifying cancer-selective targets, they carry out small-molecule screens for inhibitors to identify lead compounds as anticancer agents. |
| Kemp Lab | Human Biology | The Kemp Lab studies tumor formation in mice to better understand how environmental and genetic factors interact to cause cancer. They also work to develop simple blood tests for early cancer detection by discovering biomarkers, the proteins that signal the earliest traces of disease. |
| Kiem Lab | Clinical Research | |
| Knudsen Lab | Public Health Sciences | The Knudsen Lab works to discover new biomarkers related to preventing, treating and predicting the course of prostate cancer. Other projects include understanding why this cancer spreads and assessing the effects of sulforaphane, an active ingredient in cruciferous vegetables, on prostate-cancer prevention. |
| Lampe Lab | Public Health Sciences | The Paul Lampe Lab attempts to discover early detection cancer biomarkers and investigates the control of cell growth at the cell biology level. Of particular interest is the role that gap junctions play in the regulation of cell growth and the cell cycle, and the disruption of this relationship during cancer development. |
| Malik Lab | Basic Sciences | The Malik Lab hunts for rapidly evolving proteins in order to understand how conflicts between genes affect human evolution. Such genetic conflicts can arise between virus and host genes as each fights for survival, but they can affect the function of essential genes, including those implicated in cancer. |
| McElrath Lab | Clinical Research | |
| McGregor Lab | Public Health Sciences | |
| McIntosh Lab | Public Health Sciences | The McIntosh Lab develops primarily computational approaches for studying proteins and genomes in cancer. Their primary goal is to discover and evaluate diagnostic and early-detection biomarkers in serum, with research projects in ovarian, breast and pancreatic cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. |
| Miller Lab | Human Biology | The Miller Lab studies the basic biology of viral gene transfer. Their goals include developing gene-therapy treatments for lung diseases and generating induced pluripotent stem cells, which are useful for cell therapy in humans. Another major focus has been the jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus, which may provide insight into human lung cancer. |
| Moens Lab | Basic Sciences | The Moens Lab uses zebrafish as a model system to study how genes control the early development of the brain in vertebrates. Their work adds to our understanding of the causes of cancer because many of the genes that control embryonic development are the same ones that are wrongly regulated in cancer cells. |
| Neiman Lab | Basic Sciences | |
| Nelson Lab | Clinical Research | The J. Lee Nelson Lab studies microchimerism, a natural state in which cells are exchanged between mother and fetus during pregnancy and can remain in the other individual decades later. They study the role of this phenomenon in autoimmune diseases, pregnancy complications and cancer, as well as its impact on the success of blood stem-cell and organ transplants. |
| Olson Lab | Clinical Research | The Olson Lab studies pediatric brain tumors, brain development and neurodegenerative disorders. The lab has a strong focus on emergent technologies such as "tumor paint," which causes cancer cells to glow with light so that surgeons can see them during an operation. |
| Pagel Lab | Clinical Research | |
| Parkhurst Lab | Basic Sciences | The Parkhurst Lab studies how genes get turned on and off as fruit-fly embryos develop and how errors in this process can lead to cancer and other diseases. They also investigate wound healing and complex signals involving proteins that can affect a cell's "skeletal" structure. |
| Paulovich Lab | Clinical Research | The Paulovich Lab works to characterize human variation and to relate this variation to clinically relevant endpoints, such as predicting a patient's risk of cancer and tolerance for treatments. Projects range from studying cellular DNA damage response in yeast and mammalian cells, to developing novel mass spectrometry-based technologies for finding and validating new protein biomarkers to serve as diagnostic tests. |
| Peichel Lab | Human Biology | The Peichel Lab uses a small fish called the threespine stickleback as a model organism to conduct research aimed at identifying the genetic and molecular mechanisms that underlie evolutionary processes. Research topics include understanding evolution of the fish's behavior and sex chromosomes. |
| Pepe Lab | Public Health Sciences | The Pepe Lab develops guidelines and software to promote the use of sound statistical methods by scientists who are working to evaluate diagnostic or prognostic medical devices and biomarkers. |
| Porter Lab | Human Biology | |
| Press Lab | Clinical Research | Dr. Press is a pioneer in immunotherapy, a treatment strategy that harnesses the power of the immune system. His lab engineers antibodies that help to destroy cells involved in blood cancers and carry radiation directly to cancer cells. They also genetically modify disease-fighting T-cells to boost their ability to recognize and kill lymphoma cells. |
| Priess Lab | Basic Sciences | The Priess lab studies how cells coordinate their shape and fate during the development of complex tissues and organs. Most of these studies use the nematode C. elegans as a model organism. |
| Radich Lab | Clinical Research | The Radich Lab studies the molecular genetics of response, progression and relapse in human leukemia. Research topics include the detection of minimal residual disease, the role of signal transduction abnormalities in leukemia, and the construction of gene-expression profiles of response and progression. |
| Research Cell Bank | Clinical Research | |
| Roberts Lab | Basic Sciences | The Roberts Lab has discovered key proteins that regulate cell division and explored how changes in cell-cycle proteins may inform the treatment of specific cancers. Current research focuses on the development of mouse models of human cancers. |
| Roth Lab | Basic Sciences | The Roth Lab studies suspended animation and metabolic hibernation as a means to temporarily halt, or "dial down," metabolism. One day such techniques may help to buy time for critically ill patients on organ-transplant lists and in trauma situations. |
| Shimamura Lab | Clinical Research | The Shimamura Lab works to understand the molecular mechanisms contributing to development of blood cells (hematopoiesis) and cancer (tumorigenesis), with the ultimate goal of informing rationally designed therapeutic strategies. Their research focuses particularly on genetic marrow failure syndromes. |
| Shou Lab | Basic Sciences | The Shou Lab uses experimental biology, mathematics and engineering to study a variety of biological problems. Research interests include how cooperative systems evolve despite threats from "cheaters" that consume benefits without paying a fair cost, and how cells cope with nutrient limitations. |
| Simon Lab | Clinical Research | The Simon Lab works toward identifying new anticancer drugs through a wide range of experimental techniques and systems, ranging from organic synthesis to genetic screens. |
| Smith Lab | Basic Sciences | The Smith Lab works to understand how genetic recombination and DNA repair are accomplished, and how they are regulated to occur at the proper place and time. As deviations in this process can result in birth defects and cancers, this work may lend insight into the causes of these diseases and ways of predicting or preventing them. |
| Spies Lab | Clinical Research | |
| Stoddard Lab | Basic Sciences | The Stoddard Lab studies the structure and mechanism of enzymes, the body's catalysts of biological reactions, in order to harness them for use in biotechnology and medicine. The engineering and redesign of certain enzymes could be used in targeted therapies for genetic diseases such as hemophilia and cystic fibrosis. |
| Strong Lab | Basic Sciences | The Strong Lab analyzes the structure of proteins and protein-receptor complexes that control the immune system's response to disease. Building on the principles learned from these studies, they also participate in a collaborative project to design proteins for a vaccine to prevent AIDS. |
| Tang Lab | Public Health Sciences | |
| Tapscott Lab | Human Biology | The Tapscott Lab studies gene transcription and expression in normal development and disease, with an additional emphasis on rhabdomysarcomas (cancers with characteristics of skeletal muscle) and human muscular dystrophies. Other research areas include gene and cell therapies for muscular dystrophy, and the biology of triplet repeats and their associated diseases. |
| Trask Lab | Human Biology | The Trask Lab investigates the organization of the human genome to understand recent evolutionary change, assess normal genetic variation, and detect genetic abnormalities that contribute to cancer and other diseases. |
| Tsukiyama Lab | Basic Sciences | The Tsukiyama Lab studies chromatin, the complex of DNA and proteins that make up our chromosomes, and how chromatin structure controls essential processes that take place on DNA. |
| Ulrich Lab | Public Health Sciences | |
| Van Gilst Lab | Basic Sciences | The Van Gilst Lab investigates the mechanics of two fundamentally distinct metabolic states in animals--those adopted while feeding and while fasting--and works to understand how those programs relate to key aspects of physiology, disease and aging. |
| Vasioukhin Lab | Human Biology | The Vasioukhin Lab works to better understand how individual cells work together to produce and maintain a normal mammalian organism. The underlying idea is that cancer can occur as a result of breakdowns in the mechanisms that regulate this communication. |
