Frank Eckerdt, PhD
Research Associate Professor, Neurological Surgery
Research Program
- Translational Research in Malignancy (TRIM)
Cancer-Focused Research
The goal of my research is to define and target signaling networks promoting resistance mechanisms in cancer stem cells (CSCs) of the brain. Brain cancers are heterogeneous tumors, exhibiting a small subpopulation of CSCs that are resistant to therapy and that can re-establish recurrent tumors and therefore are also termed tumor initiating cells (TICs). We study protein kinases responsible for mediating cancer cell survival after irradiation, chemotherapy or targeted intervention in adult and pediatric brain tumors. Specifically, we are assessing the role of CSCs in therapy resistance, with a focus on negative regulatory feedback mechanisms. We use stem-like cancer cells grown as 3-D neurospheres to develop rationales for combinatorial approaches to specifically target the therapy-resistant CSC population.