Resident Faculty Research

At Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, scientific research goes beyond traditional microscopes and beakers. Our research members – whether basic scientists, bioinformatics specialists, statisticians, clinical specialists, population scientists, or others – have unique expertise in various translational aspects of cancer research. They work collaboratively to translate the latest innovations in cancer research into tomorrow’s treatments for cancer patients.
 

Basic Research


Libutti Laboratory
Current research in the Libutti Laboratory focuses on developing novel cancer therapies through an understanding of the tumor microenvironment by studying the interaction between tumor cells and the components of the tumor microenvironment. Dr. Libutti's work also focuses on a better understanding of the tumor suppressor genes MEN1 and FILIP1L. 
 

White Laboratory
Current research of the White Laboratory at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey has focused on translational research modulating the apoptosis pathway for cancer therapy and on the role of autophagy and cellular metabolism in cancer progression and treatment.
 

Cao Laboratory
Research in the Cao Lab focuses on epigenetic regulation of cancer immunity.


Chan Laboratory
Dr. Chan’s lab is interested in understanding the role of p53 in cancer, and focuses on cancer genomics, cancer evolution and resistance to therapy, and gene regulation.


Chiou Laboratory
The goal of our lab is to fundamentally understand how cancer progresses within the unique microenvironment it creates. Specifically, we are interested in the hypoxic feature in tumor and how it enforces a selective pressure to generate the fittest or most aggressive clones.


Cole Laboratory
Dr. Cole's laboratory and translational research focuses on improving the quality of life for cancer patients and survivors by reducing the long term, deleterious impact of cancer therapy on organ function. By better understanding how cancer treatment causes persistent alterations in normal organ function, the team hopes to develop strategies to protect against these side effects of curative cancer therapy.


De Laboratory
The cancer genome informatics group, headed by Dr. Subhajyoti De, develops and applies novel genomics methods and computational toolsets to understand the hallmarks of cancer, and use that knowledge for better diagnosis, stratification, and treatment of this disease.


Feng Laboratory
The Feng Laboratory studies the role of p53 in regulating cellular metabolism and how this contributes to tumor suppression. We are also interested in identifying new regulators and regulation mechanisms for p53 and its signaling pathway, and studying how mutant p53 can be targeted for cancer therapy. We also examine the mechanism of metabolic reprogramming in cancer and how metabolic changes in cancer can be targeted for therapy.


Foran Laboratory
One of the goals of Dr. Foran's laboratory research is to develop a set of algorithms and software tools which facilitate automated imaging, analysis, and archiving of tumor tissue microarrays. In doing so, Dr. Foran's laboratory is currently working to determine the relationship between tumor image analysis-derived information and molecular status/clinical outcome in a way that will permit researchers to systematically carry out large-scale comparative analyses of human cancers.
 

Ganesan Laboratory
The Ganesan Laboratory investigates the role of DNA repair defects in cancer, with a focus on how disruption of BRCA1-dependent DNA repair pathways affects normal DNA repair choice, and leads to both genomic instability and epigenetic instability.


Gulhati Laboratory

The Gulhati lab is focused on basic and translational research in pancreatic cancer, a highly aggressive and lethal malignancy that will soon be the second leading cause of cancer death and remains remarkably resistant to all forms of therapy.


Guo Laboratory
Research in the Guo Lab focuses on the field of cancer metabolism, with an emphasis on how autophagy is involved in modulating cancer metabolism to maintain Kras-driven lung tumor growth and metastasis.
 

Haffty Laboratory
Research in the Haffty laboratory at Rutgers Cancer Institute focuses on translational investigation of combining radiation therapies with novel drugs targeting breast cancer and other cancers.


Herranz Laboratory
The Herranz Lab aims to discover and define how oncogenic and tumor suppressor enhancers impact tumorigenesis in hematological and solid tumors, and to dissect the interplay between cancer cell-specific metabolic rewiring and epigenetics in T-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (T-ALL).


Hinrichs Laboratory
Christian S. Hinrichs, MD, joins Rutgers Cancer Institute as Chief of the Section of Cancer Immunotherapy and Co-Director of the Duncan and Nancy MacMillan Cancer Immunology and Metabolism Center of Excellence. Dr. Hinrichs conducts basic research and clinical research to develop T-cell therapies for HPV-associated cancers and other epithelial malignancies.


Hu Laboratory
The research interest of Dr. Hu's laboratory is to understand the alteration of important cancer-related signaling pathways in tumorigenesis, including the p53 and LIF signaling.


Lattime Laboratory
The focus of the Lattime Lab lies in the interrogation of the tumor-host immune interaction both systemic and in the tumor microenvironmemnt and, based on preclinical models, the development and testing of novel immunotherapeutic modalities in early phase clinical trials.


Madireddy Laboratory
Research in our lab largely focuses on elucidating the molecular mechanisms that underlie the pathogenesis of cancer-predisposition syndromes and hematological malignancies. In particular, we are exploring the contribution of defective replication, transcription and repair to genomic instability in disorders like Fanconi anemia and Adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma.


Montagna Laboratory
Research in the Montagna Laboratory aims to understand the mechanisms by which genomic instability promotes tumor initiation and progression. Using advanced molecular cytogenetic approaches and single cell genomics methodologies applied to human and murine in culture and in vivo models we investigate the roles of large copy number alterations and papilloma virus insertional mutagenesis to tumor initiation and progression.


Payne Laboratory
Payne lab is currently working on two major projects: identification of novel stress response pathways which impact immune cell function, and Characterization of mitochondrial stress response pathways that drive tumor cell evasion of antitumor immunity.


Shen Laboratory
Current research of the Shen Laboratory focuses the mechanisms by which genomic instability is provoked during tumorigenesis. Using a BRCA2 interacting protein BCCIP and its associated protein network as the platform, we investigate the roles of mammalian homologous recombination (HR) in error-less DNA repair, replication fidelity, and precise mitotic cell division.


Xia Laboratory
Research in the Bing Xia Laboratory is focused on the roles of DNA damage, oxidative stress and autophagy in cancer development. Much of our research program originated from our discovery of the PALB2 tumor suppressor, which functionally links BRCA1 and BRCA2, the two major breast cancer suppressor proteins in the DNA damage response. 


Zheng Laboratory
The Zheng Laboratory is interested in the mechanisms of nutrient signaling that control growth and metabolism, their contributions to cancer and diseases such as diabetes and hepatic steatosis, and development of novel therapeutic strategies.


Center for Systems and Computational Biology (CSCB)
The research at the Center for Systems and Computational Biology focuses on cancer genomics and translational medicine, particularly developing novel quantitative and experimental approaches to discover disease-driving aberrations, understand cancer pathogenesis, improve diagnosis, and design effective clinical trials and precise treatment strategies for patients under active care.
 

Population Science Research


Bandera Research Program
Dr. Elisa V. Bandera is an epidemiologist at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and her research and training program focuses on the role of nutritional, hormonal, and other lifestyle factors play on cancer prevention and survival. She is also interested in early determinants of breast cancer risk.


Devine Research Program
The Devine Research Program focuses on the psychosocial aspects of pediatric, adolescent, and young adult cancer survivorship, including patient and family adaptation to illness, adherence to medical recommendations and survivorship care, and health promotion for survivors. 


Fong Research Program
Dr. Fong’s research program aims to understand the influence of physical activity and health behaviors on psychosocial outcomes among cancer survivors using innovative, remote-delivered interventions guided by dissemination and implementation science.


Heckman Research Program
Dr. Heckman's research program primarily focuses on developing, evaluating and disseminating innovative interventions to improve cancer risk and risk-reduction behaviors, with an emphasis on skin cancer prevention and tobacco use and cessation.
 

Iyer Research Program
Dr. Iyer is a cancer epidemiologist studying how neighborhood environments influence prostate cancer outcomes and care patterns in diverse populations. Using occupational and registry-based cohorts, Dr. Iyer neighborhood socioeconomic and built environment features to participant addresses over time to determine how these features influence prostate cancer progression and care patterns.


Kinney Research Program
Dr. Anita Kinney has been an actively funded investigator in the area of cancer prevention and control for over 25 years with a focus on behavioral, ethical, social, and care delivery genetics research. 


Kohler Research Program
Dr. Kohler’s research is primarily focused on analyzing social, behavioral, and structural determinants of cancer disparities among vulnerable populations. Specifically, she is interested in developing and evaluating interventions to improve breast and cervical cancer control in racial/ethnic minorities and socio-economically vulnerable populations.


Manne Research Program
Dr. Manne has held continuous National Institute of Health (NIH) funding for 31 years, and has a long-standing research interest in how relationships influence cancer adaptation, as well as testing ways to improve psychosocial and behavioral outcomes for cancer survivors.
 

Qin Research Program
Dr. Qin is an epidemiologist with research interests in multilevel modifiable risk factors that influence cancer health disparities, especially breast and ovarian cancers. 


Ra Research Program
Dr. Ra is a behavioral scientist whose primary focus is researching smoking cessation interventions incorporating strategies to improve sleep using mHealth technologies in underserved populations.


Stroup Research Program
Dr. Stroup’s expertise in cancer surveillance research and descriptive epidemiology has led to research that not only advances methods to assess the burden of disease in large geographically-defined populations, but has led to a growing disparities research portfolio to identify special populations that might be at greater risk for cancer or are underserved.

 

Wang Research Program
Dr. Wang is a cancer epidemiologist with medical training. Her research centers on identifying modifiable diet, lifestyle, medical, and reproductive factors that influence the etiology and progression of major female cancer and disentangling the underlying biological mechanisms by incorporating pathological biomarkers and multi-omics data (particularly microbiome and metabolome).


Zeinomar Research Program
Dr. Zeinomar is a cancer epidemiologist interested in understanding the role of genetics, the environment, lifestyle factors, and their interplay on breast cancer etiology and prognosis.