Our Research

Our lab is focused on three different research aspects:

Control of Activation and Signaling in Cells of the Immune System
For this project, we seek to define how cells of the immune system know when and how to be activated. The immune system includes the white blood cells that fight off infections, cancer, and other diseases, but when things go wrong, they are also responsible for autoimmune conditions including juvenile diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis, allergies and asthma.
The Genetic Basis of Cancer
For this project, we are interested in understanding the genetic basis of cancer. For this project, we study naturally occurring cancers of dogs, which closely resemble those seen in people, as well as cultured cells and laboratory animal models that allow us to ask research questions under highly controlled conditions. Dogs that develop cancer spontaneously allow us to address the role of heritable risk factors and genes that influence prognosis (how the tumor behaves and how it will affect the patient’s overall health and survival time) and prediction (how well the animals respond to treatment). Practically everything we learn from the dogs will also be applicable to cancer in people. Cultured cells and laboratory animal experiments allow us to explore the precise mechanisms and pathways that are modulated by the genes in question.
Cancer Gene Therapy and Immunotherapy
Our goals are to continue development of treatment strategies that are effective and have no or acceptable toxicity. We have seen incredible advances in cancer therapy in the past two decades. In fact, some cancer patients (human and animal alike) are effectively cured of their disease by the use of surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation therapy alone or in combination. However, many patients still die from their disease and even the most advanced chemotherapy and radiation therapy strategies have some toxic side effects. Moreover, these treatments can provoke selection of resistant cells that eventually spread to other organs (metastasis). Tumors that spread to vital organs and impede their normal function are responsible for most cancer deaths. An appealing aspect of cancer gene therapy and immunotherapy is precisely the possibility to destroy such tumors, by restoring normal gene function to malignant cells, or by harnessing the immune system to destroy metastatic tumors before they become established in other organs.