Functional genomics and high throughput screening to identify new targets for cancer therapy

We are focused on exploiting the weaknesses of cancer cells to identify targeted, less toxic cancer therapies.   Mutation in oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes, while essential for driving cancer cell growth also create weaknesses.   Our laboratory utilizes functional genomics to elucidate these conditional survival pathways.  RNA interference (RNAi) combined with high throughput technology enables us to interrogate the human genome for genes that are essential for viability of cancer cells, thus allowing the unbiased identification of these "Achille's heels". These synthetic lethal genes constitute potential drug targets.  Utilizing this approach, we already have identified new druggable targets and we are currently testing inhibitors in pre-clinical studies.  Thus far we have focused on identifying synthetic lethal pathways with the MYC oncogene.  Aberrant expression of Myc is common to many human cancers including breast, ovarian, lung, liver, colon, as well as pediatric cancers, such as neuroblastoma, medulloblastoma and Burkitt’s lymphoma.   Our long term goal is to apply this approach to different oncogenes and tumor suppressor gene and in other tumor models.  We expect this will lead to more effective and less toxic cancer therapies.