What we do

Our lab focuses on identifying targetable vulnerabilities of cancer cells by exploiting tumor genetics. Indeed, many developing drugs are repeatedly directed towards a narrow scope of molecules and identifying druggable cancer targets has been one of the major roadblocks for cancer research. In an effort to facilitate development of anti-cancer drugs directed at specific molecules, we have turned to exploiting the interactions between gene pairs that can cause lethality. Particularly, we take advantage of two genetic approaches called  Synthetic Lethality (SL) and Synthetic Dosage Lethality (SDL), where a loss or gain-of-function of a gene is lethal only when another, normally non-lethal, mutation or deletion is present. Discovering these SL/SDL interactions could reveal new therapeutic targets for cancer treatment. Importantly, normal cells should remain unaffected. We use multiple strategies as outlined below to identify these SDL interactions.