Research Now: Johnson Lab Focuses on Brain Tumor Development

Lab projects are designed to analyze neural cell surface receptors in quest for drug development.

Robert Johnson, PhD, principal investigator in the Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Diseases and his lab are interested in developing better treatment options for children suffering from the pediatric brain tumor called ependymoma. Previous work by others and Dr. Johnson has determined that overexpression of the cell surface receptor ephrin-B2 (EphB2) in neural stem cells is required for tumor development, however its role in tumor maintenance is unknown. A recent project in the laboratory analyzing the impact of knocking down EphB2 expression using shRNA in mouse tumor cells has been designed to answer this question.  This data is critical to future studies investigating the potential use of this receptor as a target for drug development.
 
Contact: Robert Johnson
Robert.Johnson@NationwideChildrens.org