Contact
Research/Lab Website
Roles
Research Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology
Director, Molecular Biomarker Analytic Laboratory
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Biography
I am a molecular biologist trained at Duke University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. I have a longstanding interest in the biology and molecular genetics of prostate cancer. With grant support from the Prostate Cancer Foundation, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Innovative Technologies for the Molecular Analysis of Cancer (IMAT) program, the NCI Early Detection Research Program (EDRN) and the Department of Defense Prostate Cancer Research Program my laboratory has developed innovative technologies that allow us to perform detailed molecular genetic analyses of human tissue and tumor specimens without compromising patient care. These include a set of tissue print technologies that we use to generate spatial-molecular maps of tumor biomarkers in surgical specimens and biopsies while preserving the tissue itself for diagnostic evaluation. Using our tissue print technologies, my research team has generated spatial-molecular maps of radical prostatectomy surgical margins that allowed us to identify molecular signatures of matrix metalloproteinases and collagen fragments that are characteristic of tumor invasion of the prostate capsule. We also used biopsy tissue prints to map molecular markers that show “field effects” that can be used to identify patients whose biopsies are false-negative for cancer due to biopsy sampling error.
Of particular relevance to our current research, my laboratory used tissue print gene expression maps to profile prostate cancer phenotypes that can by imaged in human patients using advanced multiparametric Magnetic Resonance Imaging (mpMRI) and identified two high grade tumor angiogenesis phenotypes that can be differentiated on Dynamic Contrast Enhanced (DCE) MRI because of differences in tumor blood vessel architecture. As Director of the Molecular Biomarker Analytica Laboratory in the Department of Radiation Oncology I lead a team that focuses on identifying tissue and body fluid biomarkers that are associated with the detection and treatment of clinically significant prostate cancer. -
Education & Training
Education
Post Graduate Training
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Honors & Awards
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Teaching Interests
My laboratory has made a major commitment to the hands-on training of undergraduate, medical, graduate and post-graduate students in the art and science of laboratory research on the molecular biology of cancer. -
Research Interests
I came to the University of Miami to take advantage of a unique opportunity to join a Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center team that is characterizing the molecular phenotypes of clinically significant prostate cancer that are visible by advanced multiparametric magnetic response imaging (mpMRI). My laboratory focuses on translational prostate cancer research and we published the first paper showing the potential for correlating gene expression profiles with mpMRI visible phenotypes of human prostate cancer. A team science approach is essential for such translational research to have an impact on patient care, and I am fortunate to have the opportunity to collaborate with an outstanding group of clinicians and scientists from Radiation Oncology, Medical Oncology, Urology, Radiology and Pathology. The broader research community has recognized the importance of our efforts with peer-reviewed NIH National Cancer Institute (NCI) research grant funding. Currently I am co-Principal Investigator on NIH/NCI U01 CA271400 Prostate Needle Biopsies: Impact of Preanalytical Procurement and Processing Variables on the Detection of Gene Expression Signatures of Prostate Cancer Aggressiveness, co-Principal Investigator on NIH-NCI R01CA272766 The Rigor and Clinical Utility of PSMA Enriched Extracellular Vesicles for Prostate Cancer Detection, Co-Investigator on NIH-NCI U01CA239141 MRI Imaging and Biomarkers for Early Detection of Aggressive Prostate Cancer and an Analytic Site Principal Investigator for the Early Detection Research Network (EDRN) Prostate MRI Biomarker Study. -
Publications
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Copyrights & Patents
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Professional Activities
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