Research Programs

Radiobiology and Imaging

Program Leader(s): Stephen Hahn, MD and Constantinos Koumenis, PhD

The Radiation Biology Program is devoted to understanding the molecular, cellular and tissue mechanisms that underlie the response to both ionizing and non-ionizing radiation. It provides a framework for both basic and translational research. The goals of the program are to: develop molecular targets for manipulating the response of tumors to drugs and ionizing radiation; understand how signal transduction events lead to resistance of tumors to killing by ionizing radiation; understand the effects of p53 in regulating gene expression and apoptosis and the tissue specific effects of p53 3xpression; understand the mechanisms regulating mitosis and cytokinesis and how they respond to ionizing radiation; develop clinical trials for photodynamic therapy and understand the underlying molecular mechanisms that underlie its use and the physics involved in light delivery; develop mechanisms for measuring tumor oxygenation and metabolic status, both to understand how these factors influence patient outcome and to determine whether tumor metabolic status might be manipulated in the clinical setting; understand how tumor angiogenesis is regulated both by hypoxia and oncogene expression in tumors; and study the molecular events in the damage response to DNA damage by ionizing radiation looking at chromatin remodeling among other effects.