Chang Lab

Dr. Chang is a principal investigator at the Center for Childhood Cancer, Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and a professor in the Department of Pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. He also serves as a member of the Translational Therapeutics Program at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center—James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, where his research focuses on studying tumor-suppressor genes and how their loss leads to uncontrolled growth or formation of cancers and developing novel medical therapies for neurofibromatosis (NF)-associated tumors and bone and soft-tissue sarcomas.

One of the major focuses of the Chang Lab is on NF (including NF1 and NF2-related and non-NF2-related schwannomatosis), a group of genetic diseases that predispose individuals to the development of multiple nervous-system tumors and other debilitating manifestations. Due to limited treatment options, these NF-associated tumors caused significant morbidity and mortality. To develop a medical therapy for NF-associated tumors, the Chang Lab has studied the NF2 tumor-suppressor gene expression and function during development and tumorigenesis, generated cell culture and animal models for NF2-associated schwannoma and meningioma and identified novel targeted drugs or drug combinations that potently suppress tumor growth. Several targeted compounds that his lab identified have advanced into clinical trials.

In addition, his lab has identified several plant-derived protein translation inhibitors that potently suppress the growth of schwannoma, meningioma and NF1-related and sporadic malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor (MPNST). Importantly, these translation inhibitors also suppress the growth of multiple types of sarcomas commonly seen in pediatric patients, such as osteosarcoma. As drug combinations have been the standard-of-care for many diseases including cancer, his lab has conducted high-throughput screening of an oncology compound library and identified several targeted drugs that synergized with these protein translation inhibitors to kill sarcoma cells. The ultimate goal of his research is to identify more efficacious drugs and drug combinations with less toxicity to treat NF-associated tumors and sarcomas, ultimately leading to substantial improvement of clinical care and long-term treatment outcomes for afflicted patients.

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