Brain tumors are the most common solid malignancy of childhood, yet we understand little of the risk factors that contribute to their development. My lab utilizes Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) as an experimental platform to investigate how environmental exposures affect neurodevelopment relevant to pediatric brain tumor formation. We also study how these exposures affect neurodevelopment relative to cognition and learning in NF1. Using this approach, we have identified maternal exposure to an obesogenic Western-style diet as a risk factor for glioma formation and growth.

Current avenues of investigation include 1) the mechanism by which obesogenic diet affects Nf1-OPG formation, 2) how obesogenic diet affects oligodendroglial lineage development and learning, and 3) how other mutations in the RAS-MAPK pathway affect neural stem cells compared to Nf1, relevant to sporadic gliomagenesis.

• Lab Website

My primary focus is on caring for children with NF1 who develop brain tumors, but I also care for many children with sporadic gliomas and other brain tumors that affect the pediatric populations (medulloblastoma, ependymoma, etc).

• Information for Patients

I have a wide variety of projects related to NF1 and sporadic brain tumors that students are welcome to participate in. These include both basic science projects as well as clinical research projects. Basic science projects may include a variety of wet-lab techniques, such as immunohistochemistry, microscopy, PCR, Western blotting and ELISA. Clinical projects often involve case reports and retrospective reviews in a wide array of topics, ranging from drug toxicity to factors affecting tumor incidence.

Please be aware that you will need appropriate regulatory approval for clinical projects, so don't wait until the last minute!