Faculty Research

Dr. Katherine Matthay is one of the world's leading researchers in new treatments for neuroblastoma and directs COG national cooperative trials that study this disease. She and her colleagues recently demonstrated in a national study that the outcome of neuroblastoma can be significantly improved by the use of an innovative treatment program that includes chemotherapy, bone marrow transplantation, and the vitamin A derivative, 13-cis-retinoic acid. Dr. Matthay has also established a Phase I consortium, supported by the NCI, of children's cancer hospitals that she directs to test new tumor-targeted therapies in refractory neuroblastoma, the New Approaches to Neuroblastoma Therapy Consortium (NANT). Matthay is testing new treatments for neuroblastoma, including targeted radiation therapy with 131I-MIBG, and novel chemotherapeutic, biologic, and immunologic approaches. Her neuroblastoma expertise attracts patients both nationally and internationally to UCSF. The NANT consortium draws on several laboratory investigators at the UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center to develop and test new therapies. Dr. Michael Bishop (winner of the Nobel prize) and investigators in his laboratory first established the role of the MYCN oncogene in neuroblastoma. Dr. William Weiss at UCSF has developed the first transgenic mouse model of neuroblastoma, which has led to new understanding of the molecular biology and pathogenesis of this disease, as well as provided a model for testing new therapies. Dr. Haas-Kogan in radiation oncology also collaborates in the studies of the use of intra-operative radiotherapy in children with neuroblastoma, as well as developing new molecular-based treatments in her laboratory.

Anu Banerjee is a neuro-oncologist with the UCSF Brain Tumor Research Center which incorporates the clinical expertise of a variety of faculty members, including neuro-oncologist Dr. Michael Prados, pediatric neurosurgeons, Dr. Mitchel Berger and Dr. Nalin Gupta, and radiation oncologists Dr. William Wara and Dr. Daphne Haas-Kogan. UCSF is world-renowned for developing new treatments and for performing research studies on brain tumor specimens and is a member of the NIH-funded Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium. This consortium is working together to design and implement new treatments in childhood brain tumors, including new drug delivery strategies and the use of novel, biologically targeted agents for pediatric brain tumors. Numerous investigators in the Brain Tumor Research Center conduct active laboratory research programs to study molecular causes of tumor development and progression, which will lead to new more specific therapy.

Dr. Benjamin Braun is investigating myeloid malignanices which are caused by abnormal proliferation, differentiation and survival of hematopoietic progenitors. Which of these processes is aberrant, and to what degree, determines the properties of each disease. Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is characterized by rapid proliferation of immature blast cells, myeloproliferative disorders (MPDs) involve a more indolent accumulation of mature myeloid cells, and myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) involve aberrant and inefficient differentiation and reduced blood cell counts.

See More >>

Dr. Robert Goldsby has studied the relationship of DNA replication errors to carcinogenesis by creating mice with defective DNA polymerase proofreading. These mice exhibit a high incidence of cancer. This work, recently published in Nature Medicine and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, strengthens the concept that the increased rate of endogenous mutations can cause cancer. After participating in the Advanced Training in Clinical Research Certificate Program at UCSF, he has initiated several clinical projects related to pediatric sarcomas and late effects of childhood cancer. He is working with Dr. Richard O’Donnell and others to establish a comprehensive and interdisciplinary Bone Tumor Program at UCSF. He will be assuming the responsibilities as the institutional principal investigator for the national Children’s Cancer Survivorship Study.

See More >>

Marion Koerper is the Director of the Hemophilia Treatment Center which participates in numerous industry-sponsored clinical trials of factor concentrate products used to treat patients with hemophilia. Current and recent clinical trials have included safety and efficacy trials, trials of factor products treating patients undergoing surgery, and comparison trials of patients using prophylactic vs episodic treatment regimens.

See More >>

Dr. Mignon Loh is using sophisticated molecular biology techniques to detect rare surviving leukemia cells in children who are in remission. This important work may allow doctors to predict which children will relapse so that different treatments can be given.

William Mentzer is the principal investigator for the UCSF branch of the Northern California Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center, one of the 10 NIH funded national comprehensive Sickle Cell Centers in the country that provide research into Sickle Cell Anemia. Dr. Mentzer also heads a variety of national collaborative studies that currently address problems of low bone density in thalassemia, treatment of hepatitis C, and new approaches to the management of painful crises in sickle cell anemia.

See More >>

Dr. Kevin Shannon is the Auerback Distinguished Professor of Molecular Oncology and Leader of the Program in Hematopoietic Malignancies in the UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Shannon has held leadership positions in the American Society of Hematology, Children’s Cancer Group, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of America, and the American Cancer Society. He is the Co-Chair of the Steering Committee of the National Cancer Institute’s Mouse Models of Human Cancer Consortium. Among Dr. Shannon’s honors and awards are two Navy Commendation Medals, the Nycomed Research Award of the International Society for Pediatric Oncology, and the American Academy of Pediatrics Award for Excellence in Research.

See More >>