Research Interests of Faculty Members
Judy Crabtree, Ph.D., Associate Professor - Research
- Understanding biological processes & epigenetics of endocrine tumor disorders.
- Epigenetics of adaptive pancreatic islet expansion associated with obesity, pregnancy, and T2D
- miRNA influences on pancreatic neuroendocrine tumorigenesis via MEN1 and RBP2.
Edward Grabczyk, Ph.D., Associate Professor
- Progressive genetic disorders caused by DNA repeat expansion such as Friedreich ataxia.
- Interactions between transcription, DNA structure and DNA mismatch repair that drive repeat expansion diseases.
Andrew Hollenbach, Ph.D., Professor
- The regulation of transcription factors through phosphorylation
- Biochemical mechanisms of chromosomal translocation gene products in cancer formation
- Gene regulation in melanoma development
- The use of genomics and
Michael Lan, Ph.D., Professor (Pediatrics)
- Transcription factors in neuroendocrine differentiation
- Insulin gene regulation via INS-VNTR and AIRE in human tymic epithelial cells
- Role of islet transcription factor in endocrine pancreas development
- Mechanisms of neuroendocrine transformation and therapeutic study
Wanguo Liu, Ph.D., Associate Professor
- Genetics and biological roles of Wnt signaling in GI tumor development
- Genetics and functional analysis of DNA damage-response defects in prostate cancer susceptibility
Diptasri Mandal, Ph.D., Professor
- Genetic Epidemiology of hereditary lung cancer and prostate cancer in the population in Louisiana
- Genetic linkage and association analyses of complex disorders, in particular humans cancers
- Copy Number Variations (CNVs) in hereditary prostate cancer families
Lucio Miele, M.D., Ph.D., Professor
- Studies of cancer stem cell-regulatory genes such as Notch, and identification of genetic circuitry mediating Notch signals in human tumors
- Correlation between GWAS data and transcriptome for cancer-associated genes
- Mechanism-based early clinical trials using genomic biomarkers as correlative endpoints and/or stratification variables.
Fern Tsien, Ph.D., Associate Professor
- Neuroinflammation gene expression changes caused by pediatric cancer treatments, e.g., methotrexate
- Genetics of auditory and communication disorders
- Chromatin instability in disorders that affect the Louisiana Acadian population
- Evaluation tools in science education