Cancer Biology & Cell Signaling

The UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center is an interdisciplinary initiative that combines basic science, clinical research, epidemiology/cancer control, and patient care throughout the University of California, San Francisco. The Center's mission is the discovery and evolution of new ideas and information about cancer, from basic research to clinical implementation.


UCSF's long tradition of excellence in cancer research includes, notably, Nobel Prize-winning work of J. Michael Bishop and Harold Varmus, who discovered cancer-causing oncogenes. Their work opened new doors for exploring genetic mistakes that cause cancer and formed the basis for some of the most important cancer research happening today.


Basic scientific research underpins all of our efforts to design and evaluate new tools to treat cancer patients everywhere. Hence, cancer research at UCSF encompasses studies on the regulation of the eukaryotic cell division cycle, exploration of the machinery and the control of programmed cell death (apoptosis), regulation of cellular lifespan and the acquisition of cellular immortality, the control of DNA repair, the role of the immune system in cancer initiation and progression, tumor angiogenesis, cell invasion and metastasis and the design and application of mouse models of human cancer. Information of the broad range of cancer research activities can be found at the Cancer Center webpage.

 

Participating Faculty

Max Krummel, PhD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Immunology
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Cancer Biology & Cell Signaling
Research Summary: 
The Immune Response in 4 Dimensions

Matthew Kutys, PhD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Cancer Biology & Cell Signaling
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Tissue / Organ Biology & Endocrinology
Research Summary: 
We develop and apply biomimetic human tissue models to dissect mechanisms of morphogenesis and mechanobiology as applied to cancer and cardiovascular disease.

Noelle L'etoile, PhD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Neurobiology
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Cancer Biology & Cell Signaling
Research Summary: 
Mechanisms of Cellular and Behavioral Plasticity
Mentorship Development: 

4/30/20    Mental Health in a Pandemic: Q&A for Faculty    
10/22/20    Gathering in Community: a Training for Faculty and Staff    
9/11/20    Mentoring Across Differences

Diana Laird, PhD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Developmental & Stem Cell Biology
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Cancer Biology & Cell Signaling
Research Summary: 
Genetic and environmental mechanisms of germline development
Mentorship Development: 

4/30/20    Mental Health in a Pandemic: Q&A for Faculty
5/26/20    Effective Strategies for IDPs for Partial Resumption of Lab Research
11/10/20    Optimizing the Efficiency of Your Lab

Lewis Lanier, PhD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Immunology
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Cancer Biology & Cell Signaling
Research Summary: 
NK cell receptors in viral immunity, tumor immunity, and autoimmunity

Joachim Li, MD, PhD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Cancer Biology & Cell Signaling
Secondary Thematic Area: 
None
Research Summary: 
Regulation of Eukaryotic DNA Replication

Daniel Lim, MD, PhD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Developmental & Stem Cell Biology
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Cancer Biology & Cell Signaling
Research Summary: 
Chromatin regulators and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) in neural development and disease

Qili Liu, PhD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Neurobiology
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Cancer Biology & Cell Signaling
Research Summary: 
Cellular and Molecular basis of nutrient-specific appetite.

Clifford Lowell, MD, PhD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Immunology
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Cancer Biology & Cell Signaling
Research Summary: 
Regulation of Intracellular Signaling in Innate Immune Cells

Rongze Lu, PhD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Immunology
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Cancer Biology & Cell Signaling
Research Summary: 
Identify underlying mechanisms of brain tumor immunosuppression and evasion, with the goal to develop novel immunotherapies for brain cancer.

Averil Ma, MD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Immunology
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Cancer Biology & Cell Signaling
Research Summary: 
Ubiquitination, Cell Signaling and Immunity

Frank Mccormick, PhD, FRS

Primary Thematic Area: 
Cancer Biology & Cell Signaling
Secondary Thematic Area: 
None
Research Summary: 
New approaches to targeting Ras

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