My laboratory is interested in two major themes. The first is the application of RNA interference (RNAi) and gene therapy technology to block medulloblastoma growth. Medulloblastoma is a brain tumor of children that arises in the cerebellum. Therapy for it includes surgery, Radiation and chemotherapy. All of these treatments have significant side effects. Our goal is to develop gene therapy tools to specifically target tumor cells, while sparing normal tissue. RNAi is a recently developed, powerful tool for knocking down target genes. In collaboration with Dr. Beverly Davidson from the Department of Internal medicine, we are targeting genes involved in medulloblastoma growth using RNAi.

The second project involves the role of epigenetic gene silencing in medulloblastoma. While some genes are abnormally decreased in brain tumors due to genetic mutations, many genes are silenced by epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation and Histone modifications. Our goal is to identify abnormally silenced genes that may be important in halting tumor growth. In collaboration with Dr. Anup Madan from the Department of Neurosurgery, we are using genomic tools to identify and test genes silenced in medulloblastoma.

E-mail: rajeev-vibhakar@uiowa.edu

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