Systems Pharmacology of Anti-Cancer Therapies
One of the promises in this post-genomic era of biology was a more personalized form of medicine, in which therapies could be tailored to the specific needs of the group (or even the individual). While a wealth of information has indeed been gathered for many types of cancer, a major shortcoming remains our inability to make rational predictions of combinatorial drug effects. Our lab is mainly interested in understanding mechanisms of anti-cancer drug action, in order to aid in the creation of better therapeutic options of patients with breast cancer. We focus on signaling pathways controlling the growth, survival, and death of cancer cells, in order to identify sources of therapeutic variability and to clarify the “rules” that underlie the efficacy of drugs, both when used as single agents and when used in complex combinations.