Projects

Our program includes 3 projects, 3 cores (administrative core, biospecimen and data analysis) and 2 programs (Career Enhancement and Developmental Research)

Figure 3: Collaborations for Translation
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Project 1 aims to identify and exploit genomic vulnerabilities in LMS targeting the dependency on the non-homologous end joining DNA repair pathway and the associated enzyme DNA-activated protein kinase (DNA-PK). Project 2 focuses on studying the genetic epidemiology of LMS defining the risk for cancer in families with cancer predisposition syndromes such as Li-Fraumeni Syndrome, as well as the general population by evaluating the largest ever cohort of LMS patients. The objectives of Project 3 are to collect and analyze serial liquid biopsy samples from blood samples of more than 200 patients with metastatic LMS enrolled in a randomized prospective clinical trial for circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) to monitor clinical outcomes and to characterize and validate recurrent patterns of tumor heterogeneity and tumor evolution including the emergence of resistance.