Illustration reproduced with permission from The Red Tree by Shaun Tan, Hachette Australia, 2001.
Understanding childhood cancer development for better cures
Using multi-omics technologies, single-cell applications and innovative in vitro and in vivo models, we seek for novel druggable vulnerabilities in pediatric cancers with focus on neuroblastoma.
Research
Novel non-mutated copy number driven drug targets in neuroblastoma
Neuroblastoma is a mutational silent tumor but exhibits highly recurrent DNA copy number alterations, including large 17q gains in most high-risk cases. Our lab is using integrated bioinformatic and wet lab strategies to identify copy number affected druggable genes and further in vitro and in vivo preclinical analyses with focus on replicative stress resistors and transcriptional addiction.
SOX11, a co-opted lineage dependency factor in neuroblastoma
Our lab has identified SOX11 as a key dependency factor in neuroblastoma with a predicted role as master epigenetic regulator of the sympathetic neuronal lineage with a function distinct of the recently identified core regulatory circuitry. We study the role of SOX11 in normal sympathoblast development and how SOX11 overexpression contributes to MYCN-driven tumor formation.
