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

Julie Saba, MD, PhD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Cancer Biology & Cell Signaling
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Human Genetics
Research Summary: 
Sphingolipid signaling and metabolism in the pathophysiology and treatment of cancer, inflammatory conditions, and rare diseases

Hilde Schjerven, PhD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Immunology
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Cancer Biology & Cell Signaling
Research Summary: 
Normal and malignant blood cell development, including break of immune tolerance (autoimmunity) and blood cell cancer (leukemia), with a focus on transcriptional regulation.
Mentorship Development: 

12/12/19    ACRA: Setting Training Expectations for Trainees on the Academic Career Track (1.5 hours)
3/3/20    Promoting Student Mental Health:A Presentation and Discussion (Staff and Faculty)
3/3/20    Promoting Student Mental Health: Faculty Workshop (Faculty only)
4/23/20    Effective Strategies for IDPs
11/10/20    Optimizing the Efficiency of Your Lab
2/18/21    Three Truths and Three Tries: Facing and Overcoming Critical Social Justice Challenges at the Micro, Mezzo, and Macro Levels

Bjoern Schwer, MD, PhD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Cancer Biology & Cell Signaling
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Developmental & Stem Cell Biology
Research Summary: 
Genomic instability and DNA repair in neural cells
Mentorship Development: 

4/11/19    Acknowleding and Negotiating the Mentee-Mentor Tensions Inherent in the Research Lab (Mission Bay)
12/19/19    ACRA: Setting Training Expectations for Trainees on the Academic Career Track (1.5 hours)
3/10/20    Promoting Student Mental Health:A Presentation and Discussion (Staff and Faculty)
4/30/20    Mental Health in a Pandemic: Q&A for Faculty
10/20/20    Gathering in Community: a Training for Faculty and Staff

Neil Pravin Shah, MD, PhD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Cancer Biology & Cell Signaling
Secondary Thematic Area: 
None
Research Summary: 
Improving targeted therapeutics for hematologic malignancies
Mentorship Development: 

9/11/20   Mentoring Across Differences

Hunter Shain, PhD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Cancer Biology & Cell Signaling
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Human Genetics
Research Summary: 
Our overarching goal is to understand the biology of skin cancer with an emphasis on melanoma and squamous cell carcinoma.

Kevin Shannon, MD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Cancer Biology & Cell Signaling
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Human Genetics
Research Summary: 
Aberrant Ras Signaling in Development and Cancer

Kevan Shokat, PhD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Cancer Biology & Cell Signaling
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Neurobiology
Research Summary: 
The Shokat lab uses chemical genetics to study and target signaling proteins, with the aim of finding new ways to treat human diseases.

Catherine Smith, MD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Cancer Biology & Cell Signaling
Secondary Thematic Area: 
None
Research Summary: 
Genetic Determinants of Resistance to AML Therapy

David Solomon, MD, PhD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Cancer Biology & Cell Signaling
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Human Genetics
Research Summary: 
Molecular mechanisms governing chromosomal instability and oncogenesis
Mentorship Development: 

5/25/21  Sharpening your Mentoring Skills (SyMS) 

Matthew Spitzer, PhD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Immunology
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Cancer Biology & Cell Signaling
Research Summary: 
Systems approaches to understand immune responses, particularly to cancer
Mentorship Development: 

3/3/20    Promoting Student Mental Health:A Presentation and Discussion (Staff and Faculty)
11/10/20    Optimizing the Efficiency of Your Lab
12/8/20    Setting Expectations with a "Welcome to the Lab' Letter (Parts 1 and 2)

Matthew Stachler, MD, PhD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Cancer Biology & Cell Signaling
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Human Genetics
Research Summary: 
We strive to understand the events that drive progression of pre-malignant disease into invasive cancer, focusing on gastric and esophageal adenocarcinoma.

Alejandro Sweet-Cordero, MD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Cancer Biology & Cell Signaling
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Developmental & Stem Cell Biology
Research Summary: 
Functional genomic and genetic analysis of therapy resistance, tumor heterogeneity and oncogenic mechanisms in cancer.
Mentorship Development: 

12/12/19  ACRA: Setting training expectations for trainees on the academic career track.
5/25/21  Sharpening your Mentoring Skills (SyMS) 

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