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Key Documents

PDFCurriculum Vitae available Online

Eric Humke, MD, PhD

Administrative Appointments

  • Clinical Instructor, Stanford University , (2009– present )

Honors and Awards

  • Developmental Cancer Research Award (DCRA) in Translational Science, Stanford University Cancer Center (2009)
  • Hematology-Oncology Fellowship Award, Amgen (2009)
  • Medicine Clinic Top Resident Physician, Barnes-Jewish Hospital (2006)
  • Dean’s Award for Research Excellence, University of Michigan (2004)
  • MTSP Excellence in Research Award, University of Michigan (2004)
  • Dr. Karl R. Ruddell Scholarship, Walther Cancer Institute (2003)
  • 1st prize, Foundation Excellence in Research Award, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Michigan (2001)
  • Hughes Advanced Undergraduate Research Fellowship, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (1992)

Professional Education

  • Fellowship, Stanford University Medical Oncology (2009)
  • Residency, Barnes-Jewish Hospital St. Louis Internal Medicine (2006)
  • M.D., University of Michigan Ann Arbor Medicine (2004)
  • Ph.D., University of Michigan Ann Arbor Molecular Biology (2004)
  • B.S., Brown University (1994)

Research Interests

Hedgehog Signaling:
The Hedgehog signaling pathway controls cell proliferation, differentiation and patterning in a range of tissues during development. Damage to the pathway in humans can cause birth defects and both familial and sporadic cancers. In mammals, Hh signaling converges on the tumor suppressor SuFu, a protein that negatively regulates the Gli family of transcription factors. We strive to elucidate the biochemical mechanism by which SuFu regulates the Gli family of transcription factors at the primary cilium, a solitary cell surface projection found on most cells in our bodies. Primary cilia are marvelously complex organelles that have emerged as important signaling centers in the cell; however the biochemical basis by which they orchestrate signaling remains obscure. In a broader sense, we hope to use the SuFu-Gli interaction to understand how primary cilia are used to regulate the function of a transcription factor that play important roles in both development and disease.

Circulating Tumor Cells:
Our biological and clinical understanding of hematological malignancies has benefited enormously from the ability to repeatedly sample tumor cells from a patient’s blood or bone marrow during the course of treatment. The isolation, analysis, and propagation of rare (~1 in 10^9) circulating epithelial tumor cells (CTCs) from peripheral blood could bring an analogous revolution to solid tumor oncology. From the clinical perspective, it would allow for non-invasive longitudinal molecular profiling during treatment, allowing changes in therapy driven by molecular indicators of progression (such as the development of resistance mutations) rather than radiographic indicators. Using a novel, high-throughput magnetic sifter device, we have begun to isolate cultured tumor cells from whole blood. The long-term goal of this project is to develop a technology to propagate live CTCs from patients, either in culture or as a xenograft in an immunodeficient mouse. Such a technology would allow the cell biological analysis of CTCs, including determining their responsiveness to various endogenous signals or their sensitivity to conventional or targeted anti-cancer drugs. The ability to expand these cells would allow for the facile proteomic analysis of CTCs and facilitate the search for tumor propagating cells or “stem” cells that may be responsible for metastatic spread or tumor recurrence.

Publications