Zita Sibenaller, PhD, Senior Research Scientist under the direction of Timothy Ryken, MD, Associate Professor of Neurosurgery and Radiation Oncology, coordinates the efforts of Molecular Neurosurgery Laboratory and Central Nervous System Tissue Bank in the Department of Neurosurgery.

Relationships are established with multiple collaborative groups including Greg Foltz, MD, Vincent Traynelis, MD, and Matthew Howard, MD, of the Department of Neurosurgery and members of Radiation Oncology, Radiation Biology, the Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center, Neuroradiology and numerous investigators and core facilities in the basic science departments of the College of Medicine.

The laboratory and tissue bank function in closely related interdepartmental projects in clinical and preclinical studies with the Glioma Research Laboratory (Traynelis and Sahu) and the Neurogenetics laboratory (Foltz) in addition to providing support for other investigators.

Specific aims of the research efforts include:

• Molecular genetic analysis of primary and secondary central nervous system neoplasia.
• Development of integrated bioinformatics data for translational studies related to central nervous system neoplasia including clinical, pathological, radiographic and genetic data sets.
• Study of the central nervous system precursor (stem cells) and their role in developmental neurobiology and neoplastic transformation.
• Maintenance of a central repository for human central nervous system tumor tissue for development of translational research projects and collaborative efforts.

The goal of these combined efforts is to provide a foundation for focused individual resident and student projects and support for translational studies aimed at understanding the process of neoplastic transformation in the central nervous system. Both human and animal models are incorporated. The Central Nervous System Tissue Bank was initiated with support from the Carver Foundation and is maintained as a resource by the Department of Neurosurgery