We focus on patient-oriented laboratory research. Clinical observations from cancer medicine are investigated at the molecular level, with an eye toward developing a better understanding of human cancer pathogenesis to improve cancer treatment.

A particular area of interest is the cellular and molecular basis of solid tumor metastasis. We use DNA, transcriptional, and proteomic profiling to generate genome-wide views of human cancer, emerging methods in stem cell biology and tissue engineering to experimentally model cancer metastases, genetic and chemical and live cell imaging tools to functionally probe identified genes and pathways, and computational biology to model the metastatic phenotype in silico using this complex data stream.

Our major goal is to identify critical molecular interactions that sustain tumors, to guide the development and clinical use of predictive diagnostics and molecularly targeted cancer drugs.