Mechanisms of Oncogenesis

Mission

The mission of the Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO) program at the University of Florida Health Cancer Center is to understand how normal cells undergo complex changes leading to cancer.

The scientific objectives of the MOO program are to elucidate the deregulated genetic and epigenetic events that drive tumor initiation and progression and develop new cancer targeting strategies.

The research aims focus on identifying and characterizing genetic and epigenetic alterations, elucidating the role of noncoding RNAs in cancer, studying oncogenic mechanisms of DNA tumor viruses, and translating MOO discovery to novel therapeutic approaches.

Program Members

To request an update, please email ResearchDevelopment@cancer.ufl.edu.

Name	myNCBI	Research Program	Title	Department	Lab Page	College	Research Topic Interest
Renne, Rolf F, PhD	myNCBI	MOO	Professor	Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology	Lab	College of Medicine	Skin/Melanoma; Tumor Virology/Virus-Host Interactions; Cell Signaling Pathways; Lymphoma; Noncoding RNAs
Kolb, Ryan, PhD	myNCBI	MOO	Assistant Professor	Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine		College of Medicine	Targeted Cancer Therapy; Vascular Targeting; Breast; Angiogenesis; Drug Resistance; Immunoregulation & Suppression; Immunotherapy; Kidney
Ishov, Alexander M, PhD	myNCBI	MOO	Associate Professor	Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology		College of Medicine	Prostate Cancer; Breast; Cancer Genetics; Chemotherapy; Epigenetics & Cancer
Fan, Xiao, PhD	myNCBI	MOO	Assistant Professor	Department of Biomedical Engineering	Lab	College of Engineering	Bioinformatics; Biostatistics; Cancer Genetics; Cancer Information; Cancer Susceptibility; Genetic Determinants of Cancer; Post-Transciptional Gene Reguation
Jain, Piyush, PhD	myNCBI	MOO	Assistant Professor	Department of Chemical Engineering	Lab	College of Engineering	RNA Processing; Targeted Cancer Therapy; DNA Recombination; Cancer Genetics; DNA Damage & Repair; DNA Replication; Epigenetics & Cancer; Epigenetics & Gene Regulation; Gene Therapy; Nanotechnology; Noninvasive Imaging/Tomography
Carroll, Kate, PhD		MOO	Professor	Department of Scripps Biomedical Research		College of Medicine	Cell Signaling Pathways; Drug Design
Vulpe, Christopher D, MD, PhD		MOO	Professor	Department of Physiological Sciences	Lab	College of Veterinary Medicine	Pediatric Oncology; Precision Medicine; Synthetic Lethal Screens; Breast; Cancer Genetics; Chemotherapy; CRSPR; DNA Damage & Repair; Drug Resistance; Environment; Apoptosis & Cell Death Pathways; Leukemia
Li, Zhipeng, PhD	myNCBI	MOO	Assistant Professor	Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology		College of Medicine	Apoptosis & Cell Death Pathways; Breast; Cancer Susceptibility; Drug Resistance; Genetic Determinants of Cancer
Bungert, Jorg, PhD	myNCBI	MOO	Professor	Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology	Lab	College of Medicine	Epigenetics & Gene Regulation; Hematologic Malignancies/Blood & Marrow Transplant
Ma, Zhe, PhD	myNCBI	MOO	Assistant Professor	Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology	Lab	College of Medicine	Tumor Virology/Virus-Host Interactions
Bhaduri-McIntosh, Sumita, MD, PhD		MOO	Associate Professor	Department of Pediatrics		College of Medicine	Tumor Virology/Virus-Host Interactions; Cancer Genetics; Cell Signaling Pathways; DNA Damage & Repair; DNA Replication; Epigenetics & Cancer; Epigenetics & Gene Regulation; Hematologic Malignancies/Blood & Marrow Transplant
Caglayan, Melike, PhD	myNCBI	MOO	Assistant Professor	Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology	Lab	College of Medicine	Chemotherapy; DNA Damage & Repair; DNA Replication; Drug Design
Toth, Zsolt, PhD	myNCBI	MOO	Associate Professor	Department of Oral Biology		College of Dentistry	Post-Transcriptional Gene Regulation; RNA Processing; Tumor Virology/Virus-Host Interactions; Cancer Genetics; Epigenetics & Gene Regulation; Immunoregulation & Suppression; Infection Control; Lymphoma
Falzarano, Sara, MD, PhD		MOO	Clinical Associate Professor	Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine		College of Medicine	Cancer Genetics; Epigenetics & Cancer; Epigenetics & Gene Regulation; Genetic Determinants of Cancer; Genital-Urinary/Prostate; Kidney
Licht, Jonathan D, MD	myNCBI	MOO	Professor	Department of Medicine	Lab	College of Medicine	DNA Damage & Repair; Epigenetics & Cancer; Epigenetics & Gene Regulation; Genetic Determinants of Cancer; Hematologic Malignancies/Blood & Marrow Transplant; Leukemia; Lymphoma
Papp, Bernadett, PhD	myNCBI	MOO	Assistant Professor	Department of Oral Biology		College of Dentistry	Bioinformatics; Stem Cell; Tumor Virology/Virus-Host Interactions; Cell Signaling Pathways; Epigenetics & Cancer; Epigenetics & Gene Regulation
Lu, Jianrong, PhD	myNCBI	MOO	Associate Professor	Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology		College of Medicine	Post-Transcriptional Gene Regulation; Breast; Cancer Genetics; Cell Signaling Pathways; Angiogenesis; Epigenetics & Cancer; Epigenetics & Gene Regulation; Genetic Determinants of Cancer; Apoptosis & Cell Death Pathways; Metastasis
Maupin-Furlow, Julie, PhD	myNCBI	MOO	Professor	Department of Microbiology & Cell Science		College of Agricultural and Life Sciences	Cell Signaling Pathways; Microbiology
Gentry, Matthew, PhD	myNCBI	MOO	Professor	Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology		College of Medicine	Drug Design; Environment; Epigenetics & Cancer; Health Disparities; Lung; Pediatric Oncology
Wallace, Margaret R, PhD	myNCBI	MOO	Professor	Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology		College of Medicine	Skin/Melanoma; Vascular Targeting; Biostatistics Bone & Soft Tissue Sarcomas; Breast; Cancer Genetics; DNA Damage & Repair; Epigenetics & Cancer; Genetic Determinants of Cancer; Head & Neck; Hematologic Malignancies/Blood & Marrow Transplant
Yan, Bowen PhD	myNCBI	MOO	Research Assistant Professor	Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics		College of Medicine	Hematologic Malignancies; Blood & Marrow Transplant
Kladde, Michael P, PhD	myNCBI	MOO	Professor	Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology	Lab	College of Medicine	Cancer Epigenetics; Cell Signaling Pathways; Colorectal and Breast Cancer; Glioblastoma
Garrett, Timothy, PhD	myNCBI	MOO	Associate Professor	Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine		College of Medicine	Bioinformatics; Breast; Cancer Surveillance; Genital-Urinary/Prostate; Kidney; Tumor Virology/Virus-Host Interactions
Srivastava, Arun, BSc, MSc, PhD	myNCBI	MOO	Professor	Department of Pediatrics	Lab	College of Medicine	AAV Biology; Stem Cell; Targeted Cancer Therapy; Tumor Virology/Virus-Host Interactions; Gene Therapy; Liver
Daaka, Yehia, PhD	myNCBI	MOO	Professor	Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology		College of Medicine	Androgen Receptors; Human Pathophysiology Receptors
Kotaro Fujii, PhD	myNCBI	MOO	Assistant Professor	Molecular Genetics & Microbiology		College of Medicine	Post-Transcriptional Gene Regulation
Eddy, Matthew, PhD	myNCBI	MOO	Assistant Professor	Department of Chemistry		College of Liberal Arts and Sciences	Chemical biology; G-protein-coupled receptors
Guan, Juan, PhD	myNCBI	MOO	Assistant Professor	Department of Physics		College of Liberal Arts and Sciences	Cancer Genetics; Cell Signaling Pathways; DNA Damage & Repair; Drug Design; Nanotechnology
Li, Chenglong, PhD		MOO	Professor	Department of Medicinal Chemistry		College of Pharmacy	Pediatric Oncology; Stem Cell; Targeted Cancer Therapy; Cell Signaling Pathways; Drug Design; Drug Resistance; Epigenetics & Cancer; Hematologic Malignancies/Blood & Marrow Transplant; Immunotherapy; Neuro-Oncology
McKenna, Robert, PhD	myNCBI	MOO	Professor	Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology	Lab	College of Medicine	Targeted Cancer Therapy; Gene Therapy; Oncolytic Viral Vectors
Perez, Alberto, PhD	myNCBI	MOO	Assistant Professor	Department of Chemistry	Lab	College of Liberal Arts and Sciences	Bioinformatics; Epigenetics & Gene Regulation
Schmittgen, Thomas, PhD		MOO	Professor	Department of Pharmaceutics	Lab	College of Pharmacy	Cancer Genetics; Drug Design; Gastro-Intestinal; Head & Neck; Health Disparities; Liver; MicroRNAs; Nanotechnology
Qian, Zhijian, PhD		MOO	Professor	Department of Medicine		College of Medicine	Stem Cell; Cancer Genetics; Cell Signaling Pathways; Drug Resistance; Epigenetics & Gene Regulation; Hematologic Malignancies/Blood & Marrow Transplant
Moore, Helen, PhD		IOM	Associate Professor	Department of Medicine		College of Medicine	Cell Signaling Pathways; Chemotherapy; Hematologic Malignancies/Blood & Marrow Transplant; Immunoregulation & Suppression; Immunotherapy; Skin/Melanoma
Brant, Jason, PhD		MOO	Research Assistant Professor	Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine		College of Medicine	Bioinformatics; Epigenetics & Cancer; Epigenetics & Gene Regulation
Michailidis, George, PhD		MOO	Professor	Department of Statistics		College of Liberal Arts and Sciences	Bioinformatics; Biostatistics
Tang, Xin, PhD		MOO	Assistant Professor	Department of Mechanical Aerospace Engineering		College of Engineering	Vascular Targeting; Breast; Angiogenesis; Epigenetics & Cancer; Immunoregulation & Suppression; Immunotherapy; Integrative Medicine; Metastasis; Nanotechnology; Noninvasive Imaging/Tomography
Katrin Karbstein, PhD	myNCBI	MOO	Professor	Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology		College of Medicine	Molecular Chaperones; Post-Transcriptional Gene Regulation; RNA Processing
Zolotukhin, Sergei, PhD		MOO	Professor	Department of Pediatrics		College of Medicine	AAV Biology; Cancer Gene Therapy
Miller, Courtney, PhD	myNCBI	MOO	Professor	Department of Scripps Biomedical Research		College of Medicine	Head & Neck; Neuro-Oncology
Xiao, Rui, PhD	myNCBI	MOO	Associate Professor	Department of Aging and Geriatric Research		College of Medicine	Sensory Modulation of Aging; Transcription Factors; Aging; Cellular Stress Response; Environmental Factors
Yin, Rui, PhD		MOO	Assistant Professor	Department of Health Outcomes and Biomedical Informatics		College of Medicine	Bioinformatics; Cancer Genetics; Drug Design; Genetic Determinants of Cancer; Health Disparities; MicroRNAs, Tumor Virology/Virus-Host Interactions
Fredenburg, Kristianna , MD, PhD	myNCBI	MOO	Assistant Professor	Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine		College of Medicine	Cancer Disparities; Head & Neck; MicroRNAs
Butler, Jason, PhD		MOO	Professor	Department of Medicine		College of Medicine	Angiogenesis; Cell Signaling Pathways; Chemotherapy; DNA Damage & Repair; Hematologic Malignancies/Blood & Marrow Transplant; Stem Cell; Vascular Targeting
Kondratov, Oleksandr, PhD		MOO	Research Assistant Professor	Department of Pediatrics		College of Medicine	Epigenetics & Cancer; Gene Therapy
Dalal, Mansi, MD	myNCBI	MOO	Clinical Assistant Professor	Department of Pediatrics		College of Medicine	Epigenetics & Cancer; Hematologic Malignancies/Blood & Marrow Transplant; Leukemia; Lymphoma; Pediatric Oncology
Wang, Gary P, MD, PhD		MOO	Professor	Department of Medicine		College of Medicine	Bioinformatics; Gene Therapy; Liver
Griffin, Patrick, PhD		MOO	Professor	Department of Scripps Biomedical Research		College of Medicine	Breast; Drug Design
Bennett, Richard L, PhD	myNCBI	MOO	Research Associate Professor	Department of Medicine		College of Medicine	Post-Transcriptional Gene Regulation; RNA Processing; Tumor Virology/Virus-Host Interactions; Cancer Genetics; Cell Signaling Pathways; Epigenetics & Gene Regulation; Apoptosis & Cell Death Pathways; Hematologic Malignancies/Blood & Marrow Transplant; Immunoregulation & Suppression; Leukemia; Lymphoma
McIntosh, Michael, PhD		MOO	Associate Professor	Department of Pediatrics	Lab	College of Medicine	Bioinformatics; Cancer Genetics; Cell Signaling Pathways; DNA Damage & Repair; Lymphoma; Tumor Virology/Virus-Host Interactions
Xie, Mingyi, PhD	myNCBI	MOO	Associate Professor	Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology		College of Medicine	Bioinformatics; RNA Processing; Tumor Virology/Virus-Host Interactions; Cancer Genetics; Cell Signaling Pathways; Epigenetics & Gene Regulation; MicroRNAs
Chang, Jia, PhD, DDS	myNCBI	MOO	Assistant Professor	Department of Periodontology		College of Dentistry	Bone & Soft Tissue (Sarcoma); Bioinformatics; Post-Transcriptional Gene Regulation; Stem Cell; Biostatistics; Angiogenesis
McIntyre, Lauren, PhD	myNCBI	MOO	Professor	Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology		College of Medicine	Bioinformatics; Biostatistics; Cancer Genetics; Epigenetics & Gene Regulation; Nanotechnology; RNA Processing; Structural Virology
Liao, Daiqing , PhD	myNCBI	MOO	Associate Professor	Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology		College of Medicine	Tumor Virology/Virus-Host Interactions; Breast; Cancer Genetics; Cell Signaling Pathways; Chemotherapy; Drug Design; Epigenetics & Cancer; Epigenetics & Gene Regulation; Genital-Urinary/Prostate; Apoptosis & Cell Death Pathways; Immunoregulation & Suppression
Graim, Kiley, PhD	myNCBI	MOO	Assistant Professor	Department of Computer and Information Science and Engineering		College of Engineering	Bioinformatics; Genetic Determinants of Cancer
Huang, Shuang, PhD		MOO	Professor	Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology		College of Medicine	RNA Processing; Breast; Cell Signaling Pathways; Drug Design; Drug Resistance; Epigenetics & Gene Regulation; Gynecological; Metastasis; MicroRNAs
Datta, Susmita, PhD	myNCBI	MOO	Professor	Department of Biostatistics		College of Public Health and Health Professions	Bioinformatics; RNA Processing
Murfee, Walter, PhD		MOO	Associate Professor	Department of Biomedical Engineering	Lab	College of Engineering	Stem Cell; Targeted Cancer Therapy; Vascular Targeting; Angiogenesis
Bacher, Rhonda, PhD	myNCBI	MOO	Assistant Professor	Department of Biostatistics		College of Public Health and Health Professions	Bioinformatics; Biostatistics
Guryanova, Olga, MD, PhD		MOO	Assistant Professor	Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics		College of Medicine	Stem Cell; Cancer Genetics; Cancer Susceptibility; Cell Signaling Pathways; DNA Damage & Repair; Drug Resistance; Epigenetics & Cancer; Hematologic Malignancies/Blood & Marrow Transplant; Leukemia
Cleverson de Souza, DVM, MS, PhD, DACVP	myNCBI	MOO	Associate Professor	Comparative, Diagnostic, & Population Medicine		College of Veterinary Medicine	Immunoregulation & Suppression; Immunotherapy; Leukemia; Lymphoma; Nanotechnology
Tibbetts, Scott, PhD	myNCBI	MOO	Professor	Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology		College of Medicine	Stem Cell; Tumor; Virology/Virus-Host Interactions; Epigenetics & Cancer; Epigenetics & Gene Regulation; Hematologic Malignancies/Blood & Marrow Transplant; Immunotherapy; Infection Control; Leukemia; Lymphoma; MicroRNAs; Noncoding RNAs
Opavsky, Rene, PhD	myNCBI	MOO	Associate Professor	Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology		College of Medicine	Epigenetics & Cancer; Epigenetics & Gene Regulation; Hematologic Malignancies/Blood & Marrow Transplant; Leukemia; Lymphoma
Wu, Lizi, PhD		MOO	Professor	Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology		College of Medicine	Cell Signaling; Oncogene; Tumor Suppressor; Noncoding RNA; Lung Cancer; Head and Neck Cancer; Leukemia; Mouse Tumor Model; Cancer Therapeutics
Bloom, David C, PhD		MOO	Professor	Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology		College of Medicine	Tumor Virology/Virus-Host Interactions; Epigenetics & Cancer; Oncolytic Viral Vectors
Baer, Charles F, PhD		MOO	Professor	Department of Biology		College of Liberal Arts and Sciences	Population Genetics; Quantitative Genetics; Evolutionary Biology