Faculty Research Interests/Expertise

Robert E. Bristow, M.D.

--Cytoreductive surgery for advanced-stage and recurrent ovarian cancer.

--Advanced radiological imaging techniques for gynecologic malignancies including PET and combined PET/CT imaging.

--Patterns of care for gynecologic malignancies, including access to care and centralization of care for women with ovarian cancer.

--Non-surgical management of early-stage endometrial cancer in reproductive-age women.

Dr. Bristow's Journal Citations

Deborah Armstrong, M.D.
--Phase I Committee and Medical Oncology Committee for the GOG. Completed studies through the GOG

--Principal Investigator include a phase I study of taxol, cisplatin and topotecan in newly diagnosed ovarian cancer, a phase I study if intraperitoneal paclimer microspheres in ovarian cancer, a randomized phase III study of IV cisplatin and paclitaxel vs. an intensive intraperitoneal approach using these drugs in newly diagnosed ovarian cancer, and phase II studies of Bryostatin-1 in ovarian cancer and cervical cancer.

--Phase II trial of epirubicin and gemcitabine in uterine leiomyosarcoma, a phase II trial of carboplatin with the anti-EGFR compound C225 in recurrent ovarian carcinoma, a phase II trial of consolidation intraperitoneal carboplatin and IV gemcitabine in ovarian cancer, a phase II trial of of the endothelin antagonist Atrasentan with docetaxel in recurrent ovarian cancer, and a phase II trial of GW572016, a dual EGFR kinase inhibitor, in ovarian cancer.

--Examine the relative role and importance of surgery and chemotherapy in outcomes for patients with gynecologic malignancies.

Dr. Armstrong's Journal Citations

Ie-Ming Shih, M.D.
-- understanding the molecular genetic changes leading to the development of ovarian carcinoma (in collaboration with Dr. Tian-Li Wang's research team)

-- developing molecular diagnostic tools for cancer detection. 
 
--determine the molecular genetic alterations during the initiation and progression of ovarian serous carcinomas, the most lethal type of cancer in women.

-- focus on identifying novel oncogenes and tumor suppressors, determining their biological functions in the development of cancer and assessing their clinical significance. Engineered mouse model will also be used to assess the functional roles of those newly identified genes.

--to develop methods for cancer detection. They will identify new tumor-associated genetic and protein markers and develop molecular assays to measure these markers in clinical samples including plasma, peritoneal effusion and tissue samples from fine needle aspirates.

Dr. Shih's Journal Citations

Richard Roden, Ph.D.
-- to prevent cervical cancer through the development of a preventative vaccine that is active against all oncogenic types of HPV.

-- identifying novel tumor antigens of significance in the biology of ovarian cancer and applicable as biomarkers for early detection or targets for immunotherapy.

-- Prophylactic  HPV vaccines:  Dr. Roden's research focuses on the development of HPV prophylactic vaccines and the molecular virology of papillomavirus, particularly the contribution of L2 to virion assembly and the process of infection. 

-- Studying the role of L2 (and L1) during infection to identify prophylactic targets and understand the mechanisms of antibody-mediated neutralization. Roden has defined several regions of L2 necessary for infection, and shown that L2 interacts with the cell surface and also with actin filaments to facilitate virion transport to the perinuclear region.

--- Focusing on the development of a pan-HPV preventative vaccine. Immunization with L2 protein or peptides induces neutralizing antibody and protects against experimental papillomavirus infection at both mucosal and cutaneous sites.

-- Dissection of the molecular nature of innate responses to papillomavirus VLPs and their contribution to adaptive immunity. 

Dr. Roden's Journal Citations

T.C. Wu, M.D., Ph.D.
-- Research focus has been in the area of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine development.  He has created a unique preclinical murine tumor model that expresses HPV-16 oncogenic proteins, E6 and E7, and simulates specific molecular events in the progression of HPV⁺ precancerous lesions (CIN 3) to invasive cancer.  This preclinical tumor model has been widely used and tested by researchers worldwide for HPV vaccine development. 

--focusing on identifying vaccine and immunotherapeutic approaches to enhance antigen processing and presentation by dendritic cells, including intracellular targeting and intercellular spreading strategies, for the purpose to prevention and treatment of cervical lesions and cancers.  Intracellular targeting directs antigen to different subcellular locations to enhance antigen processing and presentation. 

-- Investigating mechanisms of immune evasion of tumors, identifying new tumor-specific antigens, and applying vaccine strategies to other cancer systems with tumor-specific antigens.

Dr. Wu's Journal Citations