Dr. Vilar-Sanchez is a physician-scientist and a medical oncologist by training. His clinical expertise and practice are devoted to the care of patients and families diagnosed with Hereditary Cancer Syndromes with a special emphasis in Lynch Syndrome (LS) and Familial Adenomatous Polyposis (FAP). The long-term goals of the Vilar-Sanchez lab are to: 1) contribute to the understanding of colorectal cancer carcinogenesis at the molecular and cellular level; and 2) develop novel cancer interception strategies for high-risk populations. To accomplish these goals, the Vilar-Sanchez research group leverages next-generation sequencing (NGS) and systems biology tools as well as hereditary patient cohorts to detect new genes cooperating in CRC carcinogenesis (e.g. CNOT3 in FAP), to identify novel drug targets (e.g., FXR agonists for FAP), and to develop cancer chemo-prevention/interception regimens (e.g., naproxen and vaccines for LS) that can be rapidly translated to the clinic. In addition, the Vilar-Sanchez lab contributes to the development of ex vivo models that better recapitulate the biology of normal colorectal mucosa and pre-cancers, thus addressing a critical barrier to better understand of colorectal neoplasia. Finally, Dr. Vilar-Sanchez has designed investigator-initiated clinical trials in LS and FAP that have been funded by the NIH/NCI through our UG1-funded consortium called iCAN-PREVENT (previously funded by N01 mechanism), which is integrated within the Cancer Prevention Clinical Trial Network (CP-CTNet). The Vilar-Sanchez laboratory has received continuous NIH funding at the R03, R21, R01, U01, UG1, and SPORE level since he became an independent researcher in 2012.