Faculty in this research area share a strong interest and broad expertise in molecular and clinical aspects of the prevention, development, diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Some are clinicians treating pets at the Flint Animal Cancer Center and collaborating with the human medical field to translate research discoveries into new treatments for both people and animals. Others leverage molecular and genetic approaches to define the molecular mechanisms underlying genetic instability associated with cancer. Nutrition and other environmental influences, particularly radiation, are also a major focus for cancer biology researchers in CMB.
Cancer Biology
Faculty
J Lucas Argueso
Associate Professor (Environmental & Radiological Health Sciences)
Molecular mechanisms of Copy Number Variation (CNV) and other chromosomal rearrangements. Genomics of industrial yeast strains
Susan M. Bailey
Professor (Environmental & Radiology Health Sciences)
Role of dysfunctional telomeres in tumorigenesis. NASA Twins Study.
Keara Boss
Associate Professor in the College of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences
Effects of radiation therapy and novel therapeutics in laboratory models and veterinary patients
Jean Chung
Assistant Professor College of Natural Sciences
Working to discover physical principles underlying biological processes through quantitative spectroscopic tools.
Jennifer G. DeLuca
Professor (Biochemistry & Molecular Biology)
Mechanisms of Mitotic Chromosome Segregation.
Steven W. Dow
Professor (Microbiology, Immunology & Pathology and Clinical Sciences)
Developing new immunotherapies to treat cancer, including cancer vaccines, repurposed immunotherapy drugs, and checkpoint targeted immunotherapies. Rodent models, dog cancer clinical trials, and collaborative studies in human clinical trials.
Karen Dobos
Professor (Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology)
Her lab primarily uses biochemical approaches to study the physiology of microbial diseases. While she and her team are most known for their work in biomarker discovery and systems biology for Mycobacterium tuberculosis, they also actively work and collaborate to address novel questions around pathogen inactivation, vector-mycobacteria intersections, and pathogen/vector cryopreservation.
Dawn L. Duval
Associate Professor (Clinical Sciences)
Molecular mechanisms of carcinogenesis and metastasis in osteosarcoma and breast cancer.
Nicole Ehrhart
Professor (Clinical Sciences)
Limb preservation; musculoskeletal sarcoma; orthopaedic oncology; bone regeneration, and tissue engineering.
Daniel L. Gustafson
Professor (Clinical Sciences)
Cancer pharmacology, pharmacokinetics and toxicology.
Takamitsu Kato
Associate Professor (Environmental & Radiological Health Sciences)
DNA damage and repair after environmental stress including ionizing radiation, ultraviolet light, heat, mutagenic and carcinogenic compounds.
Steven Markus
Assistant Professor (Biochemistry & Molecular Biology)
Mechanisms regulating motor based transport in cells during mitosis
Jean Peccoud
Professor (Chemical & Biological Engineering)
Predictive models of the phenotype encoded in natural and synthetic DNA sequences.
Ashok Prasad
Professor (Chemical and Biological Engineering and School of Biomedical Engineering)
Mathematical and computational modeling of biological processes.
Dan Regan
Assistant Professor (Microbiology, Immunology & Pathology)
Interplay between the immune system and tumor stroma. Resistance to therapy.
Elizabeth Ryan
Professor (Environmental & Radiological Health Sciences)
Interactions of food components with gut microbiota and the immune system.
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Sarah Swygert
Assistant Professor (Biochemistry & Molecular Biology)
We use high resolution genomics and biochemical/biophysical assays to uncover the roles of 3D chromatin structures in quiescent cells.
Douglas H. Thamm
Professor (Clinical Sciences)
Signal transduction and its inhibition in comparative cancer models.
Henry J. Thompson
Professor (Horticulture & Landscape Architecture)
Biochemical and molecular approaches to cancer prevention; preclinical models and clinical investigations.
Tiffany Weir
Professor (Food Science & Human Nutrition)
Role of microbes in ecosystems ranging from soils to processed food products to the human gut.
Claudia Wiese
Associate Professor (Environmental & Radiological Health Sciences)
Molecular mechanisms of DNA repair, genome integrity, and cancer avoidance.
TingTing Yao
Professor (Biochemistry & Molecular Biology)
Regulation of gene expression and chromatin dynamics by the ubiquitin – proteasome pathway.
Affiliate Faculty
Affiliate Faculty serve as committee members or participate in the program in other ways but are not currently taking CMB students in their labs.
James R. Bamburg
Professor (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology)
Regulation of the cytoskeleton in neuronal growth and pathfinding; signal transduction pathways regulating actin dynamics; abnormalities in actin behavior in neurodegenative diseases.
Robert Cohen
Professor (Biochemistry & Molecular Biology)
Regulation of ubiquitin – dependent signaling, protein degradation, and deubiquitination.
David D. Frisbie
Professor (Clinical Sciences)
In vitro and in vivo approaches to diagnostic and therapeutic musculoskeletal disease.
Jeff Hansen
Professor (Biochemistry & Molecular Biology)
Higher order chromatin structure and chromatin architectural proteins.
Charles S. Henry
Professor (Chemistry)
Bioanalytical chemistry; chemical separations and chemical nature of disease.
Susan Kraft
Professor (Environmental & Radiological Health Sciences)
Cancer imaging, Magnetic Resonance Imaging and spectroscopy, radiation therapy and neuroradiology.
Susan M. LaRue
Professor (Environmental & Radiological Health Sciences)
Experimental therapeutics; hyperthermia; tumor physiology; tumor cytogenetics.
Paul J. Laybourn
Professor (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology)
The mechanism of transcription regulation in a chromatin context.
Amy MacNeill
Associate Professor, (Microbiology, Immunology & Pathology)
Isolation and characterization of canine and feline tumor cells and the study of poxviruses as anticancer agent
Jac A. Nickoloff
Professor (Environmental & Radiological Health Sciences)
Cellular processes that maintain eukaryotic genome stability, including homologous recombination, nonhomologous end – joining and other DNA repair processes.
Rodney Page
Professor (Clinical Sciences)
Director of the Flint Animal Cancer Center.
Sandra L. Quackenbush
Professor, (Microbiology, Immunology & Pathology)
Viral pathogenesis, particularly viral – induced oncogenesis.
Laurie A. Stargell
Professor & Chair (Biochemistry & Molecular Biology)
Mechanisms of transcription initiation in yeast
Michael M. Weil
Professor (Environmental & Radiological Health Sciences)
Genetic susceptibility to radiation – induced cancers.
Assistant Professor (Microbiology, Immunology, & Pathology)
Coursework
ERHS / VS 510 Cancer Biology
ERHS 611 Cancer Genetics
ERHS 733 Environmental Carcinogenesis
VS 780 Cancer Biology Clinical Practicum
ERHS 530 Radiological Physics and Dosimetry I
ERHS 630 Radiological Physics and Dosimetry II
ERHS 550 Principles of Radiation Biology
ERHS 701 Advanced Diagnostic Imaging Modalities
EHRS 714 Radiation Therapy Physics
See also the Cancer Biology Specialization
Resources & Facilities
Flint Animal Cancer Center
Cancer Biology and Comparative Oncology PRSE
OneHealth@CSU
Morris Animal Foundation – provides fellowships and research grants
CMB Students
Joseph Stewart (Argueso Lab)
PhD, 2019 Cohort
2020-22 Cancer Biology & Comparative Oncology Fellow
LinkedIn
Rachel Brady (Thamm Lab)
Ph.D. 2021 Cohort
American Kennel Club, Clinician Scientist Fellow
T32 Translational Biomedical Research Fellow
LinkedIn
Mollie Uhrig (Wiese Lab)
Ph.D. 2023 Cohort
Sam Brill (Thamm Lab)
PhD/DVM, 2018 Cohort
NIH Medical Scientist Training Fellowship
NIH F30 Fellow 2021-23
LinkedIn
Tymofiy Lutsiv (Thompson Lab)
(PhD 2020 Cohort)
Sean Merriman (Argueso Lab)
PhD 2018 Cohort
qCMB T32 Fellow 2019-21
LinkedIn
Cameron Pearce ( Gonzalez-Juarrero Lab)
PhD 2019 Cohort
2020-2022 Cancer Biology & Comparative Oncology fellow
Lisa Schlein DVM (Thamm Lab)
CCTSI – TL1 – TOTTS Fellow 2018 – 19
LinkedIn
Alumni
Ilham Alshiraihi (PhD 2021, Brown Lab) – Post-doctoral Fellow, Gonzalez-Juarrero Lab, CSU
Suad Elmegerhi (PhD 2020, Kato Lab) – Post-doctoral Fellow, Perera Lab, CSU
Matt Dilsaver (MS 2019, Markus Lab) – Field Application Scientist, LUMICKS
Katie Cronise (PhD 2021, Duval Lab) – Post-doctoral Fellow, Regan Lab, CSU
Taghreed Al Turki (PhD 2019, Bailey Lab) – Postdoctoral Fellow at UNC Lineberger in the Griffith lab.
Jared Luxton (PhD 2020, Bailey Lab) – Data Scientist, USDA-APHIS, Fort Collins
Elena Pires (PhD 2020, Wiese Lab) – DVM Class of 2022, CSU
Platon Selemenakis (PhD 2021,Wiese Lab) – Postdoctoral Fellow MD Anderson Cancer Center
Nouf Alyami (PhD 2019, Duval Lab) – Assistant Professor, King Saud University
Nora Jean Nealon (PhD 2019 Ryan Lab) Post doctoral fellow at the Ohio State Univerisity
Genevieve Hartley (PhD 2018 Dow Lab) – Post-doctoral Fellow at MD Anderson Cancer Center
Lyndah Chow (PhD 2018 Dow Lab) – Post-doctoral Fellow at Colorado State University
Hailey Sedam (PhD 2018, Argueso Lab) – Clinicl Genomics Scientist at Myriad Genetics
Nadia Sampaio (PhD 2018, Argueso Lab) – Research Scientist Brazilian Biorenewables National Laboratory
Tymofiy Lutsiv (MS 2018, Thompson Lab) – PhD program at Colorado State University
Miles McKenna (PhD 2017, Bailey Lab) – Bioscience Specialist at Nikon Instruments
Christopher Nelson (PhD 2017, Bailey Lab) – Post – doctoral Fellow Children’s Medical Institute, Sydney, Australia
Melissa Edwards (PhD 2016, Brown Lab) – Associate Director, AAAS S&T Policy Fellow at US Dept of Defense, CSU
Publications
- 4: Telomeric Double Strand Breaks in G1 Human Cells Facilitate Formation of 5′ C-Rich Overhangs and Recruitment of TERRA Nelson CB, Alturki TM, Luxton JJ, Taylor LE, Maranon DG, Muraki K, Murnane JP, Bailey SM. Front Genet. 2021 Mar 25;12:644803. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2021.644803. PMID: 33841503; PMCID: PMC8027502.
- 7: Temporal Telomere and DNA Damage Responses in the Space Radiation Environment Luxton JJ, McKenna MJ, Taylor LE, George KA, Zwart SR, Crucian BE, Drel VR, Garrett-Bakelman FE, Mackay MJ, Butler D, Foox J, Grigorev K, Bezdan D, Meydan C, Smith SM, Sharma K, Mason CE, Bailey SM. Cell Rep. 2020 Dec 8;33(10):108435. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2020.108435. Epub 2020 Nov 25. PMID: 33242411.
- 8: Telomere Length Dynamics and DNA Damage Responses Associated with Long-Duration Spaceflight Luxton JJ, McKenna MJ, Lewis A, Taylor LE, George KA, Dixit SM, Moniz M, Benegas W, Mackay MJ, Mozsary C, Butler D, Bezdan D, Meydan C, Crucian BE, Zwart SR, Smith SM, Mason CE, 2020-2022 Cancer Biology & Comparative Oncology Fellow. Cell Rep. 2020 Dec 8;33(10):108457. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2020.108457. Epub 2020 Nov 25. PMID: 33242406.
- 9: Characterizing the molecular and immune landscape of canine bladder cancer Cronise KE, Das S, Hernandez BG, Regan DP, Dailey DD, McGeachan RI, Lana SE, Page RL, Gustafson DL, Duval DL. Vet Comp Oncol. 2022 Mar;20(1):69-81. doi: 10.1111/vco.12740. Epub 2021 Jun 1. PMID: 34021685; PMCID: PMC8606617.
- 10: The Symbiotic Relationship Between Scientific Quality and Animal Research Ethics Brill SA, Guerrero-Martin SM, Metcalf Pate KA. ILAR J. 2021 Sep 24;60(3):334-340. doi: 10.1093/ilar/ilab023. PMID: 34352091; PMCID: PMC8652237.
- 11: Characterization of systemic genomic instability in budding yeast. Sampaio NMV, Ajith VP, Watson RA, Heasley LR, Chakraborty P, Rodrigues- Prause A, Malc EP, Mieczkowski PA, Nishant KT, Argueso JL. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020 Nov 10;117(45):28221-28231. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2010303117. Epub 2020 Oct 26. PMID: 33106418; PMCID: PMC7668020.
- 12: Targeting NSP16 Methyltransferase for the Broad-Spectrum Clinical Management of Coronaviruses: Managing the Next Pandemic. Diseases. Alshiraihi IM, Klein GL, Brown MA. 2021 Feb 1;9(1):12. doi: 10.3390/diseases9010012. PMID: 33535388; PMCID: PMC7930934.
- 13: In Silico/In Vitro Hit-to-Lead Methodology Yields SMYD3 Inhibitor That Eliminates Unrestrained Proliferation of Breast Carcinoma Cells. Int J Mol Sci Alshiraihi IM, Jarrell DK, Arhouma Z, Hassell KN, Montgomery J, Padilla A, Ibrahim HM, Crans DC, Kato TA, Brown MA. 2020 Dec 15;21(24):9549. doi: 10.3390/ijms21249549. PMID: 33333978; PMCID: PMC7765450