Our research has uncovered molecular mechanisms regulating neural crest development using an innovative combination of multidisciplinary methodology.
Since neural crest cells are among the most migratory cells of the body it is not surprising that tumors of neural crest origin, like melanomas and neuroblastomas, are among the most metastatic tumors known.
We are now utilizing the developmental information gained from neural crest cells to draw insight into the growth and metastasis of tumors of neural crest origin like neuroblastomas. Our attempts are focused on identifying and characterizing the tumor initiating cells and metastatic cells that reside within these remarkably heterogeneous tumors and will likely result in innovative new therapies.