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Educational Background
Medical/Graduate Education
Post-doctoral Fellowship(s)
Board Certification
Academic Interest(s)
Molecular Pathways in Ovarian Cancer
Ovarian cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related death of women in the United States. It is estimated that every year 25,000 American women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer and that 16,000 die of the disease. Worldwide, the incidence is estimated to include 190,000 new cases and 115,000 deaths annually. Despite advances in surgical approaches and chemotherapeutic agents, the overall survival rates for women with this cancer have not improved significantly because the majority of women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer at an advanced stage, when it has already spread to remote organs. As a result, the pathogenesis of ovarian cancer is poorly understood. The focus of the Drapkin Laboratory is to understand the underlying molecular mechanisms of ovarian cancer pathogenesis and translate those principles into clinically useful diagnostic and therapeutic tools.
Projects:
• The role of the BRCA1-associated DNA helicase BACH1 in DNA repair and oncogenesis in hereditary and sporadic ovarian and breast cancers.
• Three-dimensional morphogenesis assay of cortical inclusion cyst formation and metaplasia.
• HE4 as a biomarker for early detection of ovarian cancer.
• Regulation of HE4 expression in ovarian cancer.
• Functional characterization the WAP gene cluster on chromosome 20q13, an amplicon commonly detected in ovarian cancer.
Publication List and Abstracts (from PubMed/National Library of Medicine)
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