Albert Einstein Cancer Center

Program Leader: Leonard Augenlicht, Ph.D.

The Biology of Colon Cancer program is focused on fundamental cellular and molecular mechanisms of intestinal cell maturation and lineage specific differentiation, and how this establishes and maintains homeostasis of the intestinal mucosa; genetic and environmental factors, and their interactions, that perturb these processes and alter probability of tumor formation and progression; and approaches to prevent tumorigenesis and treat intestinal cancer. Members utilize novel cell systems in culture, mouse genetic models, and human tissues and subjects in their investigations.

Members of the Colon Program focus on a set of scientific themes and methodological approaches that fosters the interactive nature of their research, including:

• dissection of cellular, biochemical and molecular mechanisms that govern the maturation and lineage commitment of intestinal epithelial cells and thus maintain homeostasis of the intestinal mucosa;
• mechanisms of DNA damage and repair that are necessary for maintenance of mucosal integrity and suppression of tumor formation;
• determination of the nature of the perturbations in these mechanisms that lead to tumor formation, including where alterations take place in relation to the migration and maturation of cells along the crypt-lumen axis;
• The role of the tissue microenvironment and nutritional factors in establishing normal patterns of cell maturation and homeostasis, and their role in tumorigenesis;
• markers and mechanisms that identify relative sensitivity of tumor cells to chemotherapeutic agents;
• development and use of mouse models and genomic technologies to dissect normal processes and the abnormalities that lead to cancer