CCCR Laboratories

The Bailis Lab for Cancer Pharmacology focuses on optimizing the safety and efficacy of new and conventional anticancer drugs, developing new drugs for childhood cancers, and devising new clinical trial designs and endpoints to expedite the development of new treatments.

The Barakat Lab aims to improve health equity for youth with cancer and their families by designing, evaluating, and implementing developmentally appropriate and accessible assessments and interventions that target medical and psychosocial outcomes across the cancer treatment trajectory.

The goals of research in the Bassing Lab are to elucidate the genetic, epigenetic, and biochemical mechanisms by which mammals develop their immune systems while suppressing autoimmunity and genomic aberrations that cause leukemia or lymphoma.

The Bassiri Lab studies the ways in which the immunometabolic features of lymphocytes are altered within solid tumor environments, and how modulating these features may enhance anti-tumor immunity.

The Bauer Lab focuses on improving our understanding of the molecular landscape of pediatric thyroid cancer in an effort to optimize the diagnostic accuracy of fine needle aspiration, identify markers that predict invasive behavior and prognosis, and identify targets for improved treatment options.

The Behavioral Oncology Program aims to improve the medical and psychosocial outcomes and health-related quality of life in young patients and their families across the continuum of cancer care.

The research program of the Bernt Lab is dedicated to understanding the “molecular makeup” of leukemia in order to develop targeted therapies. The lab’s main focus centers on epigenetics and transcription.

The Blobel Lab investigates fundamental mechanisms involving transcription factors, chromatin regulators, and higher-order chromatin, gearing its basic science discoveries toward genetic and epigenetic treatment modalities.

Research in the Brodeur Lab focuses on two main areas: nanoparticle drug delivery and cancer predisposition. Nanomedicines allow the delivery of much more drug to the tumor and much less to the patient. The lab is also interested in identifying novel cancer predisposition genes as well as developing enhanced surveillance techniques to identify cancer early in predisposed individuals, improve outcomes, and reduce side effects.

Researchers in the Bunin Lab study the use of bone marrow and blood transplants as treatments for children with cancer. The long-term goal of their research is to improve outcomes and decrease risks for pediatric oncology transplant patients.

The Cancer Pharmacology Laboratory supports clinical trials of new mechanistically targeted and immune-based anticancer drugs by conducting pre-clinical and clinical pharmacology studies of the agents.  The lab also studies conventional anticancer drugs to develop more rational and effective dosing methods, and the lab team is developing circulating biomarkers of organ function, drug toxicity, and tumor burden as clinical trial endpoints.

The laboratory led by Michael Chorny, PhD, designs delivery systems for drugs and biotherapeutics, focusing on vascular proliferative diseases and high-risk malignancies. Biodegradable nanoparticles and prodrugs are optimized to enhance and extend therapeutic activity, and minimize adverse effects.

Dr. Chou's research laboratory focuses on regenerative blood cellular therapy, the mechanisms of normal human hematopoietic development, and how these become disrupted in hematologic diseases.

Research in the Cole Lab focuses on identifying therapeutic vulnerabilities within molecularly defined subsets of pediatric central nervous system malignancies. The long-term goal of the lab is to identify effective therapies and improve the cure rate of children with malignant brain tumors.

Researchers in the Felix Laboratory study the molecular mechanisms underlying the formation of chromosomal translocations of the mixed-lineage leukemia (MLL) gene and the effects of MLL translocations on the development of high-risk forms of leukemia that occur in infants and as a chemotherapy complication.

The Grinspan Lab focuses on oligodendrocytes, cells of the central nervous system that synthesize the myelin sheath required for transmission of nervous impulses. Failure of myelination results in motor and cognitive deficits. The lab’s studies seek to understand the signaling pathways that regulate oligodendrocyte maturation and how they are perturbed in diseases such as multiple sclerosis, HIV, and perinatal white matter injury.

The Grupp Lab works to develop new molecular-based targeted cancer treatments and cell-based immunotherapies to treat leukemia and solid tumors. The team aims to develop advanced cancer treatments that are less toxic than existing therapies to treat children with high-risk malignancies.

Researchers in the Hocking Lab work to better understand the neurodevelopmental consequences of having survived childhood cancer or having neurofibromatosis type 1, to identify those who are most at risk for poor outcomes, and to intervene in order to improve quality of life.

The Hogarty Laboratory studies the childhood tumor neuroblastoma. This enigmatic tumor is responsible for 15% of all childhood cancer deaths despite the use of highly intensive therapies, and survivors often suffer lifelong toxicities from their treatments. New approaches are needed to improve outcomes, and the lab seeks to understand the biology driving aggressive tumor behavior, and identify unique tumor-specific vulnerabilities.

The Hunger Lab focuses on using molecular and genomic approaches to identify and clinically evaluate targeted cancer treatments for children with relapsed or high-risk acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) to develop better therapies, improve cure rates, and minimize treatment toxicities for children with ALL.

Researchers in the Joffe Lab address the ethical challenges that arise during the design and conduct of biomedical research, including clinical trials and genomic research in both adult and pediatric settings.

The Kalish Lab studies the genetic and epigenetic causes of growth disorders and cancer predisposition. The lab focuses on studying Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome (BWS), the most common epigenetic and cancer predisposition disorder, and also runs the BWS registry and biorepository.

The Li Lab for Cancer Diagnostic Innovation Research focuses on multi-omics analysis of pediatric tumors using next-generation sequencing and other state-of-the-art omics tools to aid in cancer diagnosis, monitor disease progression, and optimize treatment strategies for children with cancer.

The Maris Lab investigates the molecular and genetic mechanisms contributing to the development and progression of neuroblastoma, a common childhood cancer. The lab also aims to develop new molecular diagnostic tests and less toxic, targeted therapies to treat relapsed or refractory neuroblastoma, including a major effort in immunotherapy discovery and development.

The Maude Lab for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Therapies focuses on developing and clinically evaluating new immunotherapies and targeted cancer therapies for children with high-risk and relapsed/refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

The Mossé Laboratory studies the role of the anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) oncogene in the initiation and progression of neuroblastoma, with a focus on developing innovative therapeutic strategies for patients with this often lethal disease.

The Mostoufi-Moab Lab for Endocrine Late Effects after Childhood Cancer Therapy (ELECT) investigates the epidemiology and mechanism of endocrine late effects, aiming to discover and translate new knowledge into novel treatments for endocrine outcomes in survivors of childhood cancer.

The Olson Lab aims to improve diagnostics and treatment of bone marrow failure (BMF) syndromes, and to improve clinical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) outcomes. The lab conducts clinical trials of HSCT for non-malignant hematologic diseases, and explores both basic and translational research focused on genomics of BMF and the impact of BMF on hematopoietic niche function during HSCT.

Researchers in the Seif Laboratory are focused on patient-centered interventions to improve outcomes, quality of life, and health equity for pediatric patients with leukemia.

The Tan Laboratory studies the fundamental question of transcriptional regulation during normal development and disease. It involves a complex interplay of multiple transcription factors and epigenetic factors in the context of a three-dimensional chromosomal environment. Using experimental genomics and computational modeling, the lab has been studying transcriptional regulatory networks underlying embryonic hematopoiesis, T cell differentiation, and pediatric leukemia.

Research in the Tasian Laboratory focuses on the bench-to-bedside investigation of precision medicine therapies for high-risk childhood leukemias.

The Teachey Lab studies perturbations in leukemic cell signal transduction pathways with the aim of identifying targeted cancer inhibitors and immunotherapies that can treat children with high-risk leukemias and autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome.

The Thomas-Tikhonenko Lab has a long-standing interest in the pathobiology of solid and hematopoietic malignancies, in particular lymphomas and leukemias and other cancers driven by MYC overexpression. Within that research space, the lab’s studies focus mainly (but not exclusively) on RNA-based regulatory mechanisms, such as microRNAs and alternative mRNA splicing.

The Tong laboratory studies cytokine receptor and ubiquitin signaling in hematopoietic stem cells, bone marrow failure, and leukemia.

Research in the Weitzman Lab aims to understand host responses to virus infection, and the cellular environment encountered and manipulated by viruses. The lab studies multiple viruses in an integrated experimental approach that combines biochemistry, molecular biology, genetics, and cell biology.