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

Joseph Costello, PhD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Cancer Biology & Cell Signaling
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Human Genetics
Research Summary: 
Mechanistic and Translational Cancer Research using Genomic and Epigenomic Approaches
Mentorship Development: 

5/2021 - Sharpening Your Research Mentoring Skills

Jayanta Debnath, MD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Cancer Biology & Cell Signaling
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Tissue / Organ Biology & Endocrinology
Research Summary: 
Autophagy In Cell Survival and Cancer Progression
Mentorship Development: 

4/2019  Acknowleding and Negotiating the Mentee-Mentor Tensions Inherent in the Research Lab (Parnassus)
7/2021  Career Conversations

Markus Delling, PhD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Cancer Biology & Cell Signaling
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Developmental & Stem Cell Biology
Research Summary: 
Calcium signaling in primary cilia during development and disease

Aaron Diaz, PhD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Cancer Biology & Cell Signaling
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Developmental & Stem Cell Biology
Research Summary: 
The Diaz Lab is interested in developing targeted therapeutics for the treatment of glioma.

Sheng Ding, PhD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Developmental & Stem Cell Biology
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Cancer Biology & Cell Signaling
Research Summary: 
Our lab develops and uses chemical biology approaches to identify and characterize novel small molecules that modulate cell fate and function in normal or diseased states.

Sophie Dumont, PhD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Cancer Biology & Cell Signaling
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Tissue / Organ Biology & Endocrinology
Research Summary: 
Mechanics of chromosome segregation
Mentorship Development: 

4/2019 - Acknowleding and Negotiating the Mentee-Mentor Tensions Inherent in the Research Lab (Parnassus)
10/2020 - Gathering in Community: a Training for Faculty and Staff
5/2021 - Sharpening your Mentoring Skills (SyMS)
2/2023 - Faculty Development Training: Strategies to Transparently Set Expectations in Your Lab

Adrian Erlebacher, MD, PhD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Immunology
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Cancer Biology & Cell Signaling
Research Summary: 
Immunology of pregnancy and uterine cancer
Mentorship Development: 

4/2019 - Sharpening your Mentoring Skills (SyMS) with Sharon Milgram 
11/2020 - Building Community in the UCSF MSTP 
5/2021 - Sharpening your Mentoring Skills (SyMS)
11/2021 - Sharpening your Mentoring Skills (SyMS)
12/2022 - Faculty Development Training: Faculty as People Managers
1/2022 - Equity Based Interview Practices
4/2024 - Students with Disabilities

Justin Eyquem, PhD, MS, BS

Primary Thematic Area: 
Immunology
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Cancer Biology & Cell Signaling
Research Summary: 
We are designing synthetic receptors and editing the T cell’s genome to better understand T cells function within the tumor microenvironment and ultimately design safe and efficient adoptive T cell therapies

Katherine Fuh, MD, PhD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Cancer Biology & Cell Signaling
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Immunology
Research Summary: 
Developing targeted treatments in ovarian and endometrial cancer by incorporating the tumor microenvironment.
Mentorship Development: 

5/2024 - When Someone Isn't Meeting Your Expectations

James Gardner, MD, PhD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Immunology
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Cancer Biology & Cell Signaling
Research Summary: 
Tolerogenic Antigen-Presenting Cells in the Immune System
Mentorship Development: 

5/2024 - Teach/Training and Delegate: Using Best Practicies to Train Your Diverse Team

Luke Gilbert, PhD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Cancer Biology & Cell Signaling
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Human Genetics
Research Summary: 
The Gilbert lab's expertise is in synthetic biology, functional genomics and cancer biology.
Mentorship Development: 

4/2019 - Sharpening your Mentoring Skills (SyMS) with Sharon Milgram (Mission Bay)
12/2019 - ACRA: Setting Training Expectations for Trainees on the Academic Career Track (1.5 hours)
4/2020 - Effective Strategies for IDPs
10/2020 - Gathering in Community: a Training for Faculty and Staff
4/2022 - Setting Expectations with a "Welcome to the Lab" Letter
4/2023 - Graduate Faculty Development Program: When Someone Isn't Meeting Your Expectations

Andrei Goga, MD, PhD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Cancer Biology & Cell Signaling
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Developmental & Stem Cell Biology
Research Summary: 
Oncogene signaling, tumor heterogeneity and metastasis.
Mentorship Development: 

11/2024 - The 4 Touchstones of a High Functioning Mentoring Relationship

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