About This Lab
Our laboratory seeks to enhance the treatment of head and neck cancer by improving radiotherapy and chemotherapy regimens for recurrent and metastatic disease. We focus in particular on epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling and the increasing use of EGFR inhibitors for the treatment of head and neck cancer. Our overall goals are to increase the anti-tumor efficacy of EGFR inhibitors in head and neck tumors, and identify mechanisms of resistance to EGFR-based chemotherapy. The 3 main mechanisms that our lab targets to overcome resistance to EGFR inhibitors are 1: cell metabolism (glycolysis/ER stress/autophagy), 2: oxidative stress (NADPH oxidase [NOX] activation) and 3: inflammation (toll-like receptors [TLR], inflammasome and interleukin-6 [IL-6] signaling). Our laboratory is affiliated with the University of Iowa Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Human Toxicology, the Free Radical and Radiation Biology Program and the Biosciences Program.