RNAi as a Route Toward Breast Cancer Therapy

Abstract : The goal of this innovator award is to continue to develop and apply RNAi-based screening methods to discover new routes toward breast cancer therapy. The project has three sets of goals. First is to integrate genomic and genetic information on available breast cancer cell lines to identify tumor-specific vulnerabilities and to understand genetic determinants of therapy resistance. Second is to probe the roles of breast cancer stem cells, with a particular emphasis on microRNAs. The third is to examine regions that determine familial susceptibility to breast cancer by applying novel, focal re-sequencing methods developed in the laboratory.