Cancer Center Research

Cell Differentiation and Signaling Research Program
Program Leader: Robert McGehee, Jr, PhD

Cell Differentiation Program: Goals and Objectives
The goal of the Cell Differentiation and Signaling Program is to discover how fundamental biological mechanisms control the development and differentiation of both normal and tumor cells, with an emphasis on stem cell biology and cell signaling. Discoveries from these investigations will be used to develop new cancer therapeutics.

Cell Differentiation Program: Significance to the Field of Cancer
The cellularity of many tumors or malignancies such as myeloma and liposarcoma are frequently described as exhibiting a dedifferentiated or less differentiated phenotype. The biology of stem cells is obviously intimately related to the study of cellular differentiation. Understanding how to isolate and utilize stem cells has the potential to have major impact on cancer biology and therapy. Use of stem cells can play a major role in reconstituting the hematopoietic system and is used extensively at Cancer Institute for treating myeloma. Enormous potential lies in the use of autologous stem cells to treat many cancers. The importance of understanding the fundamental mechanisms of cell signaling has been driven home in the past several years with the success of signaling inhibitors such as STI 571. Specific inhibitors may be developed to effectively treat a range of cancers, and understanding fundamental signaling mechanisms may provide new insight in understanding the mechanism of multi-drug resistance.

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