Our program harnesses research talent across the cancer center and beyond to understand fundamentals of key pathways that drive the process by which normal cells become cancerous and cancer progression, with the goal of enabling development and improvement of effective targeted cancer therapies.
The program takes full advantage of cutting-edge technologies to identify the critical drivers of initiation and progression of human cancers, as well as the response to therapy—bringing together leading investigators across the spectrum of cancer research to advance fundamental understanding of cancer signaling and overcome treatment challenges.
Members investigate all aspects of signal transduction—how cells receive and respond to signals from their environment research—related to cancer, including receptor signaling mechanisms, signaling pathways, cytoskeleton, cell polarity, intracellular protein trafficking, and integrated signaling networks.
The CSN Program—led by Isaac Y. Kim, MD, PhD, MBA, Don Nguyen, PhD and Katerina Politi, PhD—brings together world-class investigators who study fundamental aspects of signal transduction, investigators who develop novel technologies that can be applied to both basic and translational research, and clinicians who provide a patient-driven perspective and focus for translating that basic science. Research themes include receptor biology, signaling biology (post-receptor signaling networks), signaling regulated processes (cellular and subcellular processes including cell cycle progression, cytoskeleton, migration, metabolism), and integrative cancer biology (tissue level processes).
• Understand cancer signaling networks and the processes they regulate, including invasion and metabolism.
• Understand regulation of tumor cell populations and phenotypes by intercellular communication and other aspects of the tumor and immune microenvironment.
• Identify new targets for therapeutic development and to improve impact of existing signaling targeted agents.
• Prevent and overcome treatment resistance.