CSHL investigators have been at the forefront of developing and using genetic tools in cell culture and animal models to explore cancer biology. These efforts include the developing genetically well-defined animal models of cancer, engineering precise alterations in mouse chromosomes to characterize both known and new cancer genes and using RNA interference tools to establish stable, heritable, and reversible gene silencing to drive numerous functional explorations of cancer biology. These models are being used to identify novel cancer genes, evaluate the role of novel genes and pathways in cancer progression, understand how these pathways are affected by cancer therapy and explore the mechanisms that lead to resistance to chemotherapy. CSHL researchers have identified several molecular interactions and key regulators of apoptosis, cellular senescence and other complex pathways involved in cancer. Some of these interactions and regulators are prime targets for the development of novel cancer therapies.

Yuri Lazebnik - Cancer; apoptosis; caspases
Scott Lowe - Modulation of apoptosis, chemosensitivity,senescence by cancer genes
Senthil Muthuswamy- Understanding cancer initiation using three-dimensional epithelial structures
Alea A. Mills - Functional genomics, tumorigenesis, development
Raffaella Sordella - Molecular therapeutics; signal transduction
Yi Zhong - Neurophysiology; Drosophila; learning and memory; neurofibromatosis; signal transduction