My laboratory studies the biology of brain tumors with the goal of developing novel therapeutics for the treatment of malignant brain tumors and translating that research into clinical trials. Currently we are studying a variety of different protein pathways that we hypothesize to be important players in glioblastoma formation and growth.

In addition we are studying novel fluorescent probes to improve surgical resection of tumor and to predict antibody delivery across the blood brain barrier. 

Featured Publication

EGFR-targeted intraoperative fluorescence imaging detects high-grade glioma with panitumumab-IRDye800 in a phase 1 clinical trial. 

Zhou Q, van den Berg NS, Rosenthal EL, Iv M, Zhang M, Vega Leonel JCM, Walters S, Nishio N, Granucci M, Raymundo R, Yi G, Vogel H, Cayrol R, Lee YJ, Lu G, Hom M, Kang W, Hayden Gephart M, Recht L, Nagpal S, Thomas R, Patel C, Grant GA, Li G. Theranostics. 2021 May 21;11(15):7130-7143. doi: 10.7150/thno.60582. 

Near-infrared (NIR) labeled EGFR antibody, panitumumab-IRDye800, is systemically infused in high-grade glioma patients and specifically binds to tumor cells across the blood-brain barrier to improve intraoperative visualization during MRI-guided resection.

Brain Tumor Lab Tour

We wanted to give patients and advocates a first-hand look at how we study brain tumors, so we invited them to tour our lab. Our lab scientists guided our guests through interactive stations, showing how research to better understand how brain tumors work, and how to stop them, is conducted.

Lab News