P. Hande Ozdinler, PhD
Associate Professor, Neurology; Feinberg School of Medicine
Research Program
Cancer-Focused Research
I am interested in genes, canonical pathways and networks that are selectively altered in vulnerable neuron populations in diseases. Our current findings reveal a very close, and at times an inverse relationship between networks that are activated in cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. Recent evidence also elute to the fact that genes that have been found responsible for the induction of different forms of cancer also cause neurodegenerative diseases in their null or mutated forms. We believe that a more interdisciplinary approaches are required to reveal the cellular, molecular and genetic basis of selective proliferation in cancer and degeneration in neurodegenerative diseases. In our laboratory, we developed tools to investigate precise cellular and molecular biology of vulnerable neurons, and we investigate common and unique mechanisms between diseases and cancer.