Meetingmaker Info | Research Laboratories | Business Office | Links

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Department of Cancer Biology 

Thomas M. Roberts, Ph.D., Co-Chair
Charles D. Stiles, Ph.D., Co-Chair

The Department of Cancer Biology is the home of basic science at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.  We attack fundamental problems in biology that underlie the problem of human cancer.  Our discovery-oriented research has contributed in important ways to the conceptual framework that underlies a new generation of targeted therapies for cancer.  However, we believe that future progress will require development of new approaches and technologies that lie at the core of basic research.  Central themes for the Cancer Biology faculty include:

Cancer Genetics.  Department faculty are resolving the biological functions of genes that, when perturbed, give rise to cancer. Our work is conducted with genetically accessible model organisms such as yeast, Drosophila, C. elegans, zebra fish and the mouse where genomics and proteomics provide powerful tools for gene discovery.  The overarching goal is to translate these experiments into the development of new therapeutic strategies.

Protein Structure and Early Stage Drug Discovery.  The proteins that control signal transduction and cell cycle progression are attractive targets for new cancer pharmaceuticals as evidenced by the success of drugs such as Gleevec and Iressa. Cancer Biology faculty are using x-ray crystallography and leading edge technology in mass spectroscopy to resolve the structures and modifications of these proteins.  Insights into the structure and function of these proteins are parlayed into entry-level screens for new cancer therapeutics.

Systems Biology and Nanobiology.  The decision of an animal cell to divide, differentiate or die is digital in character.  Individual cells either commit to these events or they do not.  However, the signaling pathways that control these decisions are analogue in nature.  How are analogue inputs converted to digital outputs?  How are these outputs perturbed in the cancer cell?  Answers to questions like these require an engineering mindset.  Cancer Biology faculty are using powerful new techniques in genetics and computational biology to map the gene and protein networks that modulate cell behavior and to use this information in a predictive manner to identify new pathways to therapeutically target in cancer.  Nanoscale objects and nanomechanical devices based on DNA molecules are constructed with the goal to employ these devices to interrogate and modulate the operation of cells.  The Department is also home to the Center for Cancer Systems Biology at Dana Farber Cancer Institute, which provides access to high throughput approaches.

Neurobiology.  The most complicated system in all of biology is the human brain.  As part of a Harvard-wide initiative on brain cancer, the Department of Cancer Biology has established a program on the genetics of brain development.  Program faculty isolate and characterize the gene products that direct nerve axons towards their targets and create neural networks for the perception of pain.  Other program faculty are focusing on genes that direct formation of the glial lineages in the brain.  The outcomes of these studies will lead to new insights about treatments for brain cancer, one of the most deadly and untreatable forms of cancer.

Teaching.  As an important complement to their research activities, the Cancer Biology faculty are heavily involved in graduate education at Harvard Medical School and in the laboratory training of oncology fellows in DF/HCC.  Graduate students from many Harvard-based graduate programs, including BBS, Biophysics, Virology and Neurobiology, complete their Ph.D. theses in our laboratories.  Graduate students and Postdoctoral Fellows participate in a weekly informal departmental seminar series and the annual departmental retreat.  Dr. Tom Roberts serves as the Dean of Graduate Education at Harvard Medical School.  Dr. Charles Stiles directs a Harvard-wide training grant in Cancer Biology from the National Cancer Institute.  Dr. Pam Silver is the Director of the newly formed Harvard University-wide Ph.D. Program in Systems Biology. 



Department logo design by Amy Kavka, Ph.D.
Comments and/or suggestions? Send us an email!