ALT A person seated outside on a bench, smiling, with two young children on either side. One child is waving. A banner above reads "Cancer Survivors Day.

ALT Meet the brain tumor researchers at BCM Neurosurgery

ALT Jamie Anastas, Ph.D. About the Anastas Lab: Chromatin regulators are frequently mutated in cancer, and aberrant patterns of DNA and histone modifications discriminate tumor cells from healthy tissue, suggesting that chromatin dysregulation plays a key role in tumorigenesis. Our current research focus is on pediatric high grade glioma (pHGG) driven by histone mutations including H3G34R mutations observed hemispheric tumors and H3K27M mutations seen in diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG). Research in the Anastas lab centers on the hypothesis that disrupted chromatin regulation driven by these histone mutations gives rise to clinically-relevant cancer phenotypes including, stem and progenitor-like and drug resistant tumor cell subpopulations. The overall goals of the lab are to determine how chromatin dysregulation drives cancer progression and the development of drug resistance on a mechanistic level, and to leverage this knowledge to develop new therapies.

ALT Benjamin Deneen, Ph.D. About the Deneen Lab: The Deneen Lab seeks to unlock the enigmatic biology surrounding glial cell development and function in the brain. Beginning with developmental gliogenesis, we identified the key transcriptional mechanisms controlling the initiation of gliogenesis in the embryonic CNS. Moving towards function, our recent endeavors focused on decoding the cellular and functional diversity of astrocytes in the adult brain. In both cases, we made fundamental observations about the nature of glial cells and directly applied these paradigms to relevant neurological diseases: brain tumors and white matter injury. Our view of neurological disease as a recapitulation of glial development has allowed us to make critical new observations into disease pathogenesis. Through this, we have built an interdisciplinary research program that draws on paradigms from development, disease, physiology and genomics to better understand the nature of glial cells in the brain.

ALT Akash Patel, M.D. About the Patel Lab: Our research lab focuses on determining the molecular underpinnings of inherited and sporadic forms of various brain tumors in an effort to develop targeted therapies to treat aggressive cases. Projects Precision Medicine — One of the greatest scientific achievements of our time has been the sequencing of the human genome. Identifying and characterizing the genetic makeup of disease opens the door to precision medicine—the right treatment for the right person at the right time. Precision medicine enables us to determine the basic biology of an individual and tailor health and medical approaches. At the core of this revolution is the ability to define the genetic blueprint of individuals through genomic technologies and to link this blueprint to biology, health, disease susceptibility and the treatment of illness.