The lab primarily focuses on GI cancers and especially pancreatic cancer, which remains one of the deadliest of all human malignancies. We hypothesize that linked “metaboloepigenetic programs” selected through non-genetic mechanisms cooperate with pre-existing genetic drivers to promote or even accelerate metastatic outgrowth. This hypothesis is supported by our discovery of unusual, self-sustaining metabolic pathways that are not themselves genetically encoded yet are specifically required to activate the metastatic transcriptome. The metabolic pathways control global transcriptional outputs by regulating the availability of key nutrient-derived metabolite substrates (acetyl groups, methyl groups) that are programmed into the metastatic epigenome by chromatin modifying enzymes that reside within genomic regions encoding malignant gene transcripts. The lab is currently supported with funds from the National Institutes of Health (R01 CA222594), the Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, and the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Oliver McDonald, M.D., Ph.D.
Research Associate Professor
Director of Gastrointestinal Pathology Research Program
Director of Physician Scientist Program