The long-term objectives of our research team are: a. to understand the molecular etiology in the development of human cancer, and b. to identify and characterize cancer molecules for cancer detection, diagnosis, and therapy. We use ovarian carcinoma as a disease model because it is one of the most aggressive neoplastic diseases in women. For the first research direction, we aim to identify and characterize the molecular alterations during initiation and progression of ovarian carcinomas.

The goal of the Johns Hopkins Brain Cancer Biology and Therapy Laboratory is to locate the genetic and genomic changes that lead to brain cancer. These molecular changes are evaluated for their potential as therapeutic targets and are often mutated genes, or genes that are over-expressed during the development of a brain cancer. The brain cancers that the Riggins Laboratory studies are medulloblastomas and glioblastomas. Medulloblastomas are the most common malignant brain tumor for children and glioblastomas are the most common malignant brain tumor for adults. Both tumors are difficult to treat, and new therapies are urgently needed for these cancers. Our laboratory uses large-scale genomic approaches to locate and analyze the genes that are mutated during brain cancer development. The technologies we now employ are capable of searching nearly all of a cancer genome for molecular alterations that can lead to cancer. The new molecular targets for cancer therapy are first located by large scale gene expression analysis, whole-genome scans for altered gene copy number and high throughput sequence analysis of cancer genomes. The alterations we find are then studied in-depth to determine how they contribute to the development of cancer, whether it is promoting tumor growth, enhancing the ability for the cancer to invade into normal tissue, or preventing the various fail-safe mechanisms programmed into our cells.

Dr. Bhujwalla’s lab promotes preclinical and clinical multimodal imaging applications to understand and effectively treat cancer. The lab’s work is dedicated to the applications of molecular imaging to understand cancer and the tumor environment. Significant research contributions include 1) developing ‘theranostic agents’ for image-guided targeting of cancer, including effective delivery of siRNA in combination with a prodrug enzyme 2) understanding the role of inflammation and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) in cancer using molecular and functional imaging 3) developing noninvasive imaging techniques to detect COX-2 expressing in tumors 4) understanding the role of hypoxia and choline pathways to reduce the stem-like breast cancer cell burden in tumors 5) using molecular and functional imaging to understand the role of the tumor microenvironment including the extracellular matrix, hypoxia, vascularization, and choline phospholipid metabolism in prostate and breast cancer invasion and metastasis, with the ultimate goal of preventing cancer metastasis and 6) molecular and functional imaging characterization of cancer-induced cachexia to understand the cachexia-cascade and identify novel targets in the treatment of this condition.

The goal of the lab's research is to identify molecular abnormalities that can improve the outcome of patients with pancreatic cancer and those at risk of developing this disease. Much of our work is focused on translational research evaluating markers and marker technologies that can help screen patients with an increased risk of developing pancreatic cancer. Thus, marker efforts have been focused mostly on identifying markers of advanced precancerous neoplasia (PanINs and IPMNs) that could improve our ability to effectively screen patients at risk of developing pancreatic cancer. We lead or participate in a number of clinical research protocols involved in the screening and early detection of pancreatic neoplasia including the CAPS clinical trials. We maintain a large repository of specimens from cases and controls with and without pancreatic disease and use this repository to investigate candidate markers of pancreatic cancer for their utility to predict pancreatic cancer risk. In addition, we have been working to identify familial pancreatic cancer susceptibility genes and identified BRCA2 as a pancreatic cancer susceptibility gene in 1996. We participate in the PACGENE consortium and the familial pancreatic cancer sequencing initiative. My lab also investigates pancreatic cancer genetics, epigenetics, molecular pathology, tumor stromal interactions and functional analysis of candidate genes and miRNAs. Dr. Goggins is the principal investigator of a phase I/II clinical trial evaluating the Parp inhibitor, olaparib along with irinotecan and cisplatin for patients with pancreatic cancer.

Research in the Ewald laboratory starts from a simple question: Which cells in a breast tumor are the most dangerous to the patient and most responsible for metastatic disease? To answer this question, we developed novel 3-D culture assays to allow real-time analysis of invasion. Our data reveal that K14+ cancer cells play a central role in metastatic disease and suggest that the development of clinical strategies targeting these cells will provide novel breast cancer treatments.

The Johns Hopkins Head and Neck Cancer Tissue Bank enrolls patients and collects research specimens from Head and Neck Tumor patients, both cancerous and benign, with particular focus on Head and Neck Squamous Cell Cancer patients. It provides specimens to researchers both within the institution and outside.

Established in 2004, the MRB Molecular Imaging Service Center and Cancer Functional Imaging Core provides comprehensive molecular and functional imaging infrastructure to support the imaging research needs of the Johns Hopkins University faculty. Approximately 55-65 different Principal Investigators use the center annually. The MRB Molecular Imaging Service Center is located behind the barrier within the transgenic animal facility in the basement of MRB. The MRB location houses a 9.4T MRI/S scanner for magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy, an Olympus multiphoton microscope with in vivo imaging capability, a PET-CT scanner, a PET-SPECT scanner, and a SPECT-CT scanner for nuclear imaging, multiple optical imaging scanners including an IVIS Spectrum, and a LI COR near infrared scanner, and an ultrasound scanner. A brand new satellite facility in CRB2-LB03 opens in 2019 to house a simultaneous 7T PET-MR scanner, as well as additional imaging equipment, to meet the growing molecular and functional imaging research needs of investigators. To image with us, MRB Animal Facility training and Imaging Center Orientation are required to obtain access to the MRB Animal Facility and to the MRB Molecular Imaging Center (Suite B14). The MRB Animal Facility training group meets at 9:30 am on Thursdays at the Turner fountain/MRB elevator lobby. The Imaging Center orientation group meets at 1 pm on Thursdays at the Turner fountain, and orientation takes approximately 30 min. Please keep in mind that obtaining access to both facilities requires time, so please plan in advance.

Johns Hopkins is a member of the Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) in Cervical Cancer. With a $11.5 million grant from the National Cancer Institute, we are conducting lab, translational and clinical studies to prevent and treat cervical cancers. Previous studies have identified connections between immune system genes and HPV16. Current projects include the development of next-generation HPV vaccines to control HPV-associated precursor lesions and invasive cancer. Our dedicated researchers are working to extend the techniques used in HPV vaccine development to the creation of vaccines targeting other cancers with defined tumor antigens.

Researchers in the Ami Shah Lab study scleroderma and Raynaud’s phenomenon. We examine the relationship between cancer and scleroderma, with a focus on how and if cancer causes scleroderma to develop in some patients. We are currently conducting clinical research to study ways to detect cardiopulmonary complications in patients with scleroderma, biological and imaging markers of Raynaud’s phenomenon, and drugs that improve aspects of scleroderma.

The Amit Pahwa Lab conducts research on a variety of topics within internal medicine. Our most recent studies have explored misanalysis of urinalysis results, urinary fractional excretion indices in the evaluation of acute kidney injury and nocturnal enuresis as a risk factor for falls in older women. We also investigate cancer diagnostics and treatments. In this area, our recent research has included studying cutaneous shave biopsies for diagnosing primary colonic adenocarcinoma as well as growth inhibition and apoptosis in human brain tumor cell lines using selenium.