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Brief Research Description 

Our research focuses on glioblastoma (GBM), the most common and lethal brain tumor, and the identification of novel targets, mechanisms and drugs for targeting the subpopulation of Tumour Initiating Cells (TICs) responsible for GBM onset and progression. Our goal is to develop innovative treatments.

We focus on:

1. Identifying genetic and epigenetic traits of GBM TICs to understand GBM occurrence and explore new treatments. We have established a large cohort of patient-derived TICs and the derived mouse orthotopic xenografts to study various proteins (Rai/ShcC, CD133, CLIC1, LSD1) implicated in TICs maintenance 

2. Developing drug screening to target TIC-specific targets/pathways

3. Conducting blood extracellular vesicles molecular characterization for reliable liquid biopsy, aiding personalized treatment. Our aim is to study tumor molecular features, predict therapy response, and monitor recurrence via minimally invasive blood sampling.

We employ patient samples, GBM-derived-xenotranplants, next-generation sequencing, and molecular/computational biology to understand brain tumor maintenance.

Keywords

Glioblastoma; tumor-initiating cells; liquid biopsy; extracellular vesicles; patient-derived-xenotransplants

PubMed