Discovering and characterizing non-coding driver mutations in human health and diseases. Non-coding mutations are crucial drivers of tumorigenesis; however, their role in gene deregulation is challenging to interpret because regulatory sequences are often located hundreds of kilobases away from their gene targets, and different regulatory sequences may be mutated in different patients. In our lab, we develop computational and molecular biology methods to identify and characterize non-coding regulatory mutations in human health and diseases.
Determining the causes of therapy resistance and relapse of neuroblastomas. Undifferentiated neuroblastoma tumors are typically associated with chemotherapy resistance and a high frequency of relapse. We are identified transcription factors that contribute to the development of stem-like neuroblastoma cells and using CRISPR interference to decipher their downstream transcriptional dependencies.
Molecular mechanism of drug sensitivity. We utilize various NGS and CRISPR-based methods to identify the genes underlying sensitivity to novel drugs in neuroblastoma and other pediatric cancers.
