Khandan Keyomarsi
Regular Member
Professor
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Department of Experimental Radiation Oncology
The research in my laboratory is focused on the development of novel strategies for treatment and prognosis of breast cancer by combining experimental therapeutics with cell biology while targeting the cell cycle. To this end, the laboratory is currently involved in 5 areas of research, which fall into translational and basic research categories:
- Investigation of the low-molecular-weight (LMW-E) forms of cyclin E as prognostic markers in breast cancer for routine use in the clinic.
- Inhibition of LMW forms of cyclin E as a therapeutic target in combination therapy for triple negative breast cancer.
- Delineation of how the alteration of cyclin E, a G1 cyclin, could lead to the tumorigenic phenotype and determination of the oncogenic potential of the altered forms of cyclin E in breast cancer.
- Determination of the mechanism of action of intracellular elastase and its inhibitor elafin in tumorigenesis and subsequent metastasis.
- Examination of mechanisms of action and resistance to CDK4/6 inhibitors in ER +breast cancer patients.
Students rotating in the laboratory would have an opportunity to gain:
- experience with cell biology of breast cancer cells including culturing normal and tumor-derived breast cell, transfection and immunohistochemistry.
- experience with molecular biology techniques (cloning, RNA and genomic DNA analysis), protein chemistry (purification of proteins interacting with cyclin E in normal and tumor cells), and experimental therapeutics (treatment of normal and tumor cells with novel agents targeting the cell cycle).
- an understanding on how research can be translated from the bench to the clinic.
Example Projects:
- Cytoplasmic Cyclin E is an Early Event for Progression to Invasive Breast Cancer
- Targeting Neutrophil Elastase as a Novel Therapy for Metastatic Breast Cancer
- Improving the Efficacy and Selectivity of CDK4/6 Inhibitors in Breast Cancer
Education & Training
PhD, University of Southern California, 1989