Molecular Oncology: getting down to where cancer lives

Normal cells have intricate molecular mechanisms that control essential phenotypes such as differentiation, cell division and movement. The molecular pathways that control these phenotypes are disrupted in cancer cells as a result of the expression of oncogenes and loss of regulatory tumor suppressor genes. These events, which are often highly specific to individual types of cancer, disrupt specific molecular pathways that result in uncontrolled cell growth and loss of normal responses to extracellular signaling cues that result in tumor development and progression.

Researchers in the Molecular Oncology Program use a wide variety of state-of-the-art cell and molecular biology approaches to understand the fundamental events underlying tumorigenesis. Three individual themes in the Program focus on the analysis of Genomics and Epigenomics in cancer development, improving our knowledge of Molecular Signaling pathways disrupted during tumorigenesis and the role of Chaperone Biology in maintaining intracellular homeostasis.

Through a more detailed understanding of the various ways in which cancer cells avoid normal regulatory controls it will eventually be possible to design individualized therapies targeting tumor-specific pathways based on their molecular signatures. Program members work closely with the Developmental Therapeutics and Cancer Immunology / Immunotherapy Programs to study molecular mechanisms underlying drug action and effects of the microenvironment on cancer development.

Read more about Genomics / Epigenomics, Chaperone Biology and Molecular Signaling.

[Back to Top]