My academic career has been focused on understanding the fundamental mechanisms of cancer initiation and progression. More recently, we have expanded into studies of cancer therapy resistance.

Much of our work over the last two decades has involved modeling cancer using a cell culture system in which cells are able to organize into three-dimensional structures that resemble the organization of normal tissue or the distorted microenvironment of tumors. This system has been particularly useful in dissecting pathways that regulate cell death when tumor cells metastasize from their natural ‘niches.’ It has also highlighted the critical role of cancer-causing oncogenes in controlling both cell death and metabolic impairments associated with this step in tumor development. Most recently, my laboratory interests have evolved to understanding the resistance mechanisms by which tumor cells escape the impact of cancer therapy to allow us to develop new strategies that can overcome resistance and significantly improve current and emerging cancer therapies. In the last five years, we have expanded these studies to include single cell analysis of normal and tumor cells to either identify the earliest precursors of cancer or better define the effects of chemotherapy in primary human tumors.

I have been on the faculty of HMS since 1997. In addition to my role as co-director of the Ludwig Center, I formerly served as chair of the Department of Cell Biology at HMS.