Tumor Screening

PATHOLOGY

Protein Expression

Cancer research at Wood Hudson has progressed since research began here in 1981. Technological advancements have enabled the laboratories at Wood Hudson to share research discoveries, decode complex information, and disseminate information to the scientific community in astonishing ways. There are many scientific instruments that make these advancements possible, but perhaps some of the most useful instruments are the:

Biomarker Identification

Genetics

Cancer Research Training

James P. Schaeper, Ph.D. is one of Wood Hudson Cancer Research Laboratory's Senior Staff Scientists. He researches cancer in the Wood Hudson Genetics Laboratory, and he is also the Director of the eminently successful Undergraduate Research Education Program (UREP). Dr. Schaeper has mentored approximately 24 students.

Dr. Schaeper mentors students all year long, but he is an integral part of the summer portion of the Undergraduate Research Education Program at Wood Hudson. This program first familiarizes students with scientific research as it pertains to cancer. Following these studies students are then trained in proper lab protocol, instrumentation, and technique. Dr. Schaeper mentors students by stressing the scientific method, and he teaches them how to understand material from scientific journals. Once this introductory period has been successfully accomplished students begin helping Dr. Schaeper with his research objectives.

Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States. Dr. Schaeper currently researches the inherited DNA mutations that can lead to increased susceptibility to colorectal cancer. Cancer is more curable if caught early, and therefore the indentification of these inherited DNA mutations could be a potential tool for screening people at risk for cancer development.

Protein Analysis

Molecular Biology

Cancer Research Training

Wood Hudson's current Molecular Biologist is Dr. Stefan Siwko. Molecular biology is the study of biology at the molecular level with the goal of understanding the interactions between different systems operating within a cell. At Wood Hudson our Molecular Biology program focuses on deciphering the cellular function of proteins that cause cancer. Dr. Siwko has mentored approximately eight students in the Undergraduate Research Education Program.

The goal of the Molecular Biology Laboratory at Wood Hudson Cancer Research Laboratory is to further the findings of the Pathobiology Laboratory through unraveling the biological functions of proteins that are altered in human cancers. Cancer is a complicated process that affects many proteins in a cell. Identifying which proteins are altered in tumors as compared with normal tissue is an important step, but not all of these changed proteins are vital for tumor development and spread. In the Molecular Biology Laboratory, we study proteins by increasing or decreasing their expression in cancer cells grown under controlled conditions, and look for changes in cell growth, resistance to drugs, invasiveness, and other biological processes important in tumor progression. In this way, we better understand the significance of the proteins determined to be altered in human cancers, and can home in on those proteins that are most promising as targets for therapeutic development.