Edwin L. Steele Laboratory for Tumor Biology

The goal of their research is to further mechanistic understanding of vascular, interstitial and cellular barriers to the delivery and effectiveness of molecular medicine in solid tumors. Our aim is to develop and test new strategies to overcome the physiological barriers for improved detection and treatment of primary and metastatic tumors. Our mission is to translate these strategies from bench to bedside.

The Steele Laboratory was founded in 1975 by Herman D. Suit, MD, PhD, then Chief of Radiation Oncology. In 1991, Dr. Suit invited Rakesh K. Jain, PhD, from Carnegie Mellon University to serve as Director of the laboratory, to become the Andrew Werk Cook Professor of Tumor Biology, and to establish a program in tumor pathophysiology.

Today the Steele Laboratory is regarded as a world leader in quantitative tumor pathophysiology and is recognized widely for the discovery that antiangiogenic therapies can "normalize" tumor vessels, thus improve oxygenation, drug delivery and treatment efficacy in animal models and cancer patients. This novel concept explains how Avastin®  - the first FDA approved antiangiogenic drug works in patients and has spawned a number of clinical trials at Massachusetts General Hospital and elsewhere. Our ongoing and planned preclinical and clinical studies are designed to develop new strategies to extend the window of normalization and to identify molecular and cellular biomarkers for optimizing the use of targeted therapies in cancer patients.

The hallmarks of the laboratory include a unique multidisciplinary approach to tumor biology and a tight integration between bench and bedside which are supported by three scientific cores: the Bioengineering and Microscopy core, the Molecular, Cellular and Histology core, and the Animal and Surgery core. The staff of approximately 60 people includes one full professor, three associate professors, four assistant professors, two instructors, seven Harvard-MIT doctoral students, 16 post-doctoral fellows, 14 technicians and four support staff.

The laboratory is primarily supported by grants from the NIH, including a Program Project Grant (Integrative Pathophysiology of Tumors), a Bioengineering Research Partnership Grant (Integrative Biology of Metastasis), and a Training Grant (Tumor Pathophysiology). The philosophy of the laboratory is to seek and welcome collaborations with physicians and scientists in the Harvard-MIT community and worldwide.

For more information, please visit our Web site at http://steele.mgh.harvard.edu.

Director:
Rakesh Jain

Associate Professors:
Yves Boucher Ph.D., E-mail: yvessteele.mgh.harvard.edu
Dai Fukumura M.D., Ph.D., E-mail: daisteele.mgh.harvard.edu
Lance L. Munn Ph.D., E-mail: lancesteele.mgh.harvard.edu

Assistant Professors:
Emmanuelle di Tomaso Ph.D., E-mail: ditomasosteele.mgh.harvard.edu
Dan G Duda D.M.D, Ph.D., E-mail: dudasteele.mgh.harvard.edu
Igor Garkavtsev M.D., Ph.D., E-mail: igorsteele.mgh.harvard.edu
Lei Xu Ph.D., E-mail: leisteele.mgh.harvard.edu

Instructors:
Peigen Huang M.D., E-mail: peigensteele.mgh.harvard.edu
Timothy P. Padera Ph.D., E-mail: tpaderasteele.mgh.harvard.edu

Post Doctoral Fellows:
Patrick Au Ph.D., E-mail: patricksteele.mgh.harvard.edu
Sung-Suk Chae Ph.D., E-mail: sungsuksteele.mgh.harvard.edu
Gang Cheng Ph.D., E-mail: gangsteele.mgh.harvard.edu
Euiheon Chung Ph.D., E-mail: ogong50steele.mgh.harvard.edu
Michelle Dawson Ph.D., E-mail: michellesteele.mgh.harvard.edu
Annique Pieters Duyverman M.D., E-mail: Anniquesteele.mgh.harvard.edu
Sachie (Nakamura) Hiratsuka Ph.D., M.D., E-mail: hirasteele.mgh.harvard.edu
Walid S. Kamoun Ph.D., E-mail: walidsteele.mgh.harvard.edu
Ned Kirkpatrick Ph.D., E-mail: nedsteele.mgh.harvard.edu
Sergey V Kozin Ph.D., E-mail: sergeysteele.mgh.harvard.edu
Angera H.-C. Kuo Ph.D., E-mail: angerasteele.mgh.harvard.edu
Delphine A. Lacorre Ph.D., E-mail: delphinesteele.mgh.harvard.edu
Johanna Lahdenranta Ph.D., E-mail: johannasteele.mgh.harvard.edu
Shan Liao Ph.D., E-mail: sliaosteele.mgh.harvard.edu
Rekha Samuel M.D., E-mail: rsamuelsteele.mgh.harvard.edu
Triantafyllos Stylianopoulos Ph.D., E-mail: tstylianopoulossteele.mgh.harvard.edu
Kosuke Tsukada Ph.D., E-mail: ktsukadasteele.mgh.harvard.edu
Andus Hon-Kit Wong Ph.D., E-mail: andussteele.mgh.harvard.edu
Hiroshi Yamashita M.D., Ph.D., E-mail: hiroshisteele.mgh.harvard.edu

Graduate Student:
Vikash Pal Singh Chauhan M.S., E-mail: vikashsteele.mgh.harvard.edu
Benjamin Diop-Frimpong B.S., E-mail: bensteele.mgh.harvard.edu
Abhishek Jain M.S., E-mail: ajainsteele.mgh.harvard.edu
Ryan Lanning B.S., E-mail: ryansteele.mgh.harvard.edu
Joshua Tam B.S., E-mail: joshsteele.mgh.harvard.edu
Janet Tse M.S., E-mail: janetsteele.mgh.harvard.edu

Senior Technologists:
Julia Kahn B.S., E-mail: juliasteele.mgh.harvard.edu
Sylvie Roberge M.S., E-mail: sylviesteele.mgh.harvard.edu
Carolyn Smith M.Mu., E-mail: carolynsteele.mgh.harvard.edu

Research Technologists / Technicians:
Mingtau Lee M.S., E-mail: mingtausteele.mgh.harvard.edu
Dan Trong Nguyen BA, E-mail: dnguyensteele.mgh.harvard.edu
Eve Smith M.S., E-mail: evesteele.mgh.harvard.edu

System Administrator:
Barry Schapiro , E-mail: barrysteele.mgh.harvard.edu

Admin Staff:
Keiko Fujiwara , E-mail: Keikosteele.mgh.harvard.edu
Phyllis McNally , E-mail: phyllissteele.mgh.harvard.edu

2008
 
T. P. Padera, R. K. Jain, VEGFR3: a new target for antiangiogenesis therapy?, Dev. Cell 2008 15 (2):178-9 (Journal Article).

T. P. Padera, A. H. Kuo, T. Hoshida, S. Liao, J. Lobo, K. R. Kozak, D. Fukumura, R. K. Jain, Differential response of primary tumor versus lymphatic metastasis to VEGFR-2 and VEGFR-3 kinase inhibitors cediranib and vandetanib., Mol. Cancer Ther. 2008 7 (8):2272-9 (Journal Article).

C. Sun, L. L. Munn, Lattice-Boltzmann simulation of blood flow in digitized vessel networks, Computers & Mathematics with Applications 2008 55 (0):1594-1600 (Journal Article).

S. V. Kozin, A. Niemierko, P. Huang, J. Silva, K. P. Doppke, H. D. Suit, Inter- and intramouse heterogeneity of radiation response for a growing paired organ, Radia. Res. 2008 170 (2):264-267 (Journal Article).

P. Huang, D. G. Duda, R. K. Jain, D. Fukumura, Histopathologic findings and establishment of novel tumor lines from spontaneous tumors in FVB/N mice, Comp. Med. 2008 58 (3):253-63 (Journal Article).

S. Kashiwagi, K. Tsukada, L. Xu, J. Miyazaki, S. V. Kozin, J. A. Tyrrell, W. C. Sessa, L. E. Gerweck, R. K. Jain, D. Fukumura, Perivascular nitric oxide gradients normalize tumor vasculature., Nat. Med. 2008 14 (3):255-7 (Journal Article).

R. K. Jain, Lessons from Multidisciplinary translational trials on anti-angiogenic therapy of cancer., Nature Reviews, Cancer 2008 8 (0):309-317 (Review).

L. L. Munn, M. M. Dupin, Blood Cell Interactions and Segregation in Flow., Ann Biomed Eng 2008 36 (4): 534-544 (Journal Article).

R. K. Jain, D. G. Duda, T. T. Batchelor, A. Sorensen, C. G. Willett, Normalization of tumor vasculature and microenvironment, Angiogenesis: An Integrative Approach from Science to Medicine. Springer. Figg WD and Folkman J (Eds.) 2008 0 (0):273-82 (Review).

R. Jones, D. Capen, K. Cohen, L. L. Munn, R. K. Jain, D. G. Duda, A protocol for phenotypic detection and characterization of vascular cells in a lung neovascularization model in rodents, Nat. Protoc. 2008 3 (3):388-97 (Journal Article).

R. Jones, D. Capen, B. Petersen, R. K. Jain, D. G. Duda, A protocol for a lung neovascularization model in rodents, Nat. Protoc. 2008 3 (3):378-87 (Journal Article).

P. Au, J. Tam, D. Fukumura, R. K. Jain, Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells stabilize engineered blood vessels by differentiating into perivascular cells, Blood 2008 111 (9):4551-8 (Journal Article).

R. K. Jain, Taming Vessels to Treat Cancer, Scientific American 2008 298 (0):56-63 (Journal Article).

M. M. Dupin, I. Halliday, C. M. Care, L. L. Munn, Lattice Boltzmann modelling of blood cell dynamics, International Journal of Computational Fluid Dynamics 2008 22 (7): 481-492 (Journal Article).

D. G. Duda, Antiangiogenesis, accepted in Encyclopedia of Cancer. Second Edition, Springer-Verlag. Editor: Manfred Schwab.