Brain Tumor
The Brain Tumor Program includes 12 basic and translational research investigators in neuro and radiation oncology from 11 different Departments, with 8 peer-review funded projects.
a. Program Leadership - Van Meir and Olson
Co-Director Molecular Discovery: Erwin G Van Meir, Ph.D., Professor of Neurosurgery has organized international conferences, serves on the Scientific Committees of the European and American Neuro-Oncology societies, and is an editor for Neuro-Oncology. He is as reviewer for the NIH (including brain tumor SPORE), DoD and private foundations. His work contributed to the understanding of loss of p53 function during astrocytoma formation and provided the first evidence for a precursor lesion to low grade astrocytoma
Co-Director Clinical Translation: Jeffrey Olson is the WCI brain tumor neurosurgeon, the Director of the Center for Neuro-Oncology, and the Chair of the Neuro-oncology working group at Emory. He was previously a Senior Staff Fellow with the Surgical Neurology Branch of the NINDS. He is the Emory PI in the NCI New Approaches to Brain Tumor Therapy CNS Consortium including leading the Gliasite RTS device approval.
b. Program Membership - Brain Tumor Program
|
Program Member |
Rank |
Department |
|
Erwin G Van Meir, Ph.D. |
Co-Director Professor |
Neurosurgery; Hematology and Oncology |
|
Jeffrey J Olson, M.D. |
Co-Director Professor |
|
| |
|
|
| Laboratory investigators: |
|
|
|
Marc Goodman, Ph.D. |
Director PET Radiochemistry; Professor |
Radiology |
|
Ruo-Pan Huang, Ph.D. |
Assistant Professor |
Obstetrics and Gynecology |
|
Daniel J Brat, M.D.,Ph.D. |
Associate Professor |
Pathology and Laboratory Medicine |
|
Stephen B Hunter, M.D. |
Associate Professor |
Pathology and Laboratory Medicine |
|
Jack Arbiser, M.D.,Ph.D. |
Assistant Professor |
Dermatology |
|
Yue Feng, Ph.D. |
Assistant Professor |
Pharmacology |
|
Xiaoping Hu, Ph.D. |
Professor |
Biomedical Engineering |
|
Keqiang Ye, Ph.D. |
Assistant Professor |
Pathology and Laboratory Medicine |
|
Hui Mao, Ph.D. |
Assistant Professor |
Radiology |
|
Jin-Tang Dong, Ph.D. |
Associate Professor |
Hematology and Oncology; Genetics |
|
Hyun-Suk Shim, Ph.D. |
Assistant Professor |
Hematology and Oncology |
| |
|
|
| Clinical investigators: |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Nelson Oyesiku, M.D.,Ph.D. |
Associate Professor |
Neurosurgery |
|
Timothy Mapstone, M.D. |
Professor |
Neurosurgery |
|
Ian Crocker, M.D. |
Associate Professor |
Radiation-Oncology |
|
Nicolas Krawiecki, M.D. |
Associate Professor |
Neurology; Pediatrics |
| |
|
|
| Core support: |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
David Martin, Ph.D. |
Assistant Professor |
Transgenic Core |
|
Dirck Dillehay, DVM, Ph.D. |
Associate Professor |
Division of Animal Resources |
|
Jan Pohl, Ph.D. |
Assistant Professor |
Biopolymer Core |
c. Programmatic Objectives
|
|
Develop leading center for basic, translational and clinical brain tumor |
|
|
Translate laboratory findings into clinical trials (bench to clinic) and provide molecular correlates for clinical trials (clinic to bench) in diagnosis, imaging, and therapeutics |
|
|
Develop core resources that will help individual investigators reach their goals (tissue specimen bank, integration of patient data into research database, animal models, animal imaging services, creation of tissue arrays and immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization services) |
|
|
Establish teaching and training opportunities in neuro-oncology (funded training program) |
d. Scientific Goals
1. Genetic alterations and molecular markers of brain tumors: identify genetic alterations assign molecular profiles to brain tumor types; potentially permit their early detection and prognosis.
2. Glioma biology: Define the critical pathways affected in gliomas, define how genetic alterations trigger small molecule and biotherapy, and contribute to malignant brain tumor cell behavior.
3. Targeting angiogenesis and the HIF survival pathway in gliomas: The goals are to study key regulators of glioma angiogenesis, understand the role of the HIF pathway in glioma cell survival.
4. Imaging of brain tumors: to develop more efficient imaging techniques for the early detection, treatment monitoring and recurrence of gliomas and other brain tumors.
e. Programmatic Focus Areas
The program has a strong focus on (1) the identification of genetic alterations in glioma, (2) understanding of how they drive malignant glioma biology, (3) developing new imaging techniques and new viral and small molecule therapies.
f. Major Research Accomplishments
|
|
design of a proteomics arrays to detect 200 cytokines and growth factors in brain tumors |
|
|
showed that p53 downregulates HIF-1alpha mRNA and protein in glioma |
|
|
identification of a brain specific nuclear GTPase protein called PIKE (PI 3-Kinase Enhancer) amplified in human brain tumors and sarcomas |
|
|
identification of GD-AIF, an angiogenesis inhibitor regulated by p53 |
|
|
design of a hypoxia-dependent replicative adenovirus for tumor therapy |
|
|
Angiogenesis inhibitor-1 (BAI1) expression down regulation in brain tumors |
|
|
development of new radiotracers for brain tumor imaging |
|
|
demonstrated initial negative response in fMRI and importance in functional mapping |
|
|
developed a balloon-tipped catheter radiation delivery system from the bench to FDA approval |
|
