Cancer and Developmental Biology

Program Co-Leaders: David Ornitz, MD, PhD, and Joshua Rubin, MD, PhD
Web site: www.dbbs.wustl.edu

The Cancer and Developmental Biology Program (CDBP) includes 41 faculty members distributed in 14 departments on Washington University's medical school and Danforth campuses. Developmental biologists share the hypothesis that cancer often results from fundamental errors in developmental regulatory mechanisms. CDBP investigators use model organisms to study oncogenes, oncogenic processes and developmental pathways, and to test potential cancer therapies. Over the years, discoveries in developmental biology have led to the identification of new genes and regulatory mechanisms that are involved in the development of malignancies. Fundamental questions being asked by CDBP faculty members include: How do cells in different parts of an embryo come to express very different sets of genes? How are such developmental processes programmed in the genome? What mechanisms regulate maintenance and activation of stem cells? What happens when developmental regulatory mechanisms fail? How do mutations in developmental genes cause cancer? How do developmental regulatory mechanisms prevent cancer? These are a few of the questions that are being answered in detail by applying powerful techniques of modern cell and molecular biology to developmental systems. CDBP faculty will continue to use these techniques to identify and understand the function of genes that can cause cancer or modulate its outcome. Importantly, several studies within the CDBP have led to pharmacological studies with potential translation to the clinic.

CDBP faculty and students meet on a regular basis to discuss research activities. Laboratories studying developmental biology utilize many core facilities within the Siteman Cancer Center. These include the Embryonic Stem Cell Core, Tissue Procurement Core and Siteman Flow Cytometry Core. CDBP members will continue to play a key role in cancer and developmental biology education at Washington University School of Medicine and the Siteman Cancer Center.


PROGRAM MEMBERS