Cancer Cell Biology Research Program

PROJECT 002– SIGNAL TRANSDUCTION AND CHEMICAL BIOLOGY RESEARCH PROGRAM
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
The Signal Transduction and Chemical Biology Research Program (ST) pursues fundamental cancer research
to understand patient- and cancer-specific rewiring of signaling networks and the cell cycle, and how
stem/progenitor cell plasticity and heterogeneity contribute to tumorigenesis. This information is used to identify
new targets that could be the focus of future drug discovery efforts. Accordingly, an overarching goal of ST is to
develop novel and/or test small molecule leads against important drivers of cancer initiation and progression and
aid the optimization of `leads' to drugs so that ST discoveries can be translated to the clinic as new cancer
interventions. The major role of ST leadership is to ensure communication between clinical investigators,
population-based researchers and basic scientists to ensure that potentially translatable findings are explored.
ST leadership and Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC) sponsor meetings and retreats to ensure that
communication of the basic science discoveries is robust. Program goals will be accomplished by: 1) performing
cutting-edge research in single cell biology, stem cells and signaling networks, to identify key targets that confer
selective dependencies in human cancers; 2) promoting cutting edge research in chemical biology and
development of new cancer therapeutics; and 3) stimulating interactions among the Program membership to
accelerate discovery, mentor junior faculty, foster collaborations with clinical programs, promote technologies
such as scRNA-seq, super-resolution microscopy, mass cytometry and PROTACS, and work closely with VICC
Shared Resources to develop new instrumentation for cancer discovery. There are 44 program members from
13 departments and four schools with $11M in total peer-reviewed funding and NCI making up 39% ($4.3M).
Out of 372 publications, 15% are intra-programmatic and 34% are inter-programmatic. Members also have 115
collaborative publications with investigators at other NCI-designated cancer centers.

Grant Number: 4P30CA068485-30
NIH Institute/Center: NIH
Principal Investigator: Jin Chen