Investigators

Summary

Dr. Camacho’s main research interests focus on modeling the physical interactions responsible for molecular recognition, and in the development of new technologies for structural prediction, their substrates, and supramolecular assemblies. Any progress in these fundamental problems is bound to bring about a better understanding of how proteins work cooperatively in a cell, promoting breakthroughs in every aspect of the biological sciences. Dr. Camacho has multiple patents in cancer and cancer-related…

Summary

My laboratory investigates the intercellular communications between stroma, tumor cells and immune cells within the tumor microenvironment. I am particularly focused on gaining a better understanding of how factors, secreted by stromal and tumor cells, modulate the immunosuppressive activities of tumor-associated myeloid cells, driving resistance to immunotherapies. Using mouse models of ovarian cancer and clinical samples, my long-term goal is to identify novel therapeutical approaches to enhance anti-tumor…

Summary

Dr. Cauley's primary research interest is the epidemiology of osteoporosis, osteoporosis treatment and the consequences of osteoporosis in both men and women. She also has a major interest in breast cancer and served on the American Society of Clinical Oncology Writing Group about the use of bisphosphonates in women with breast cancer. Her other research has focused on women's health and aging, falls, the interaction between endogenous and exogenous hormones, risk factors, inflammation, and disease outcomes. She examines the physiological changes that occur across the menopausal…

Summary

I direct the Genomics Analysis Core, a Health Science shared resource and co-direct the Cancer Bioinformatics Services (CBS) for UPMC Hillman Cancer Center. The GAC and CBS’s aims are to 1) provide genomics data analysis, 2) support team science projects such as consortia projects with computational infrastructure for analysis, storage and sharing of large genomics datasets, 3) assist with University of Pittsburgh initiatives for genomics education. GAC and CBS are an interdisciplinary collaboration between my team, the Department of Biomedical Informatics faculty with…

Summary

The Chang-Moore Laboratory at the Hillman Cancer Center, led by Patrick Moore and Yuan Chang, has focused on human tumor viruses. We identified Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV/HHV8) and established its link to Kaposi sarcoma, a common AIDS-related cancer in the U.S. and parts of Africa. We sequenced the KSHV genome, developed serologic assays, assessed its prevalence, and characterized key viral oncoproteins. Recently, we discovered Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCV), and established its causal role in ~80% of MCC.  We characterized the early T antigen oncoproteins…

Summary

Dr. Chen’s research concentrates on developing machine learning methods, especially deep learning models (DLMs) (e.g. Deep Neural Networks, Boltzmann Machine, and topic modeling), to study cancer cell signaling systems, disease mechanisms and cancer pharmacogenomics. Dr. Chen uses the concise representations learned from the DLM with the causal inference to guide the identification of molecular signatures/biomarkers and predicts the clinical outcomes including drug sensitivity and patient survival. Based on Dr. Chen’s strong research background in bioinformatics, biomedical…

Summary

Due to genomic and epigenetic instability of cancer cells, inter-patient and intra-patient heterogeneity in tumors creates formidable challenges in identifying optimal treatments. To address the challenges, I aim to establish comprehensive high-throughput multi-omics single-cell analysis including genome, epigenome, transcriptome, proteome, functional, and morphological methods. With large amounts of data collected from high-throughput single-cell multi-omics analysis, machine learning techniques can predict patient prognosis and suggest treatments for precision medicine. The integrated…

Summary

Dr. Yu-Chiao (Chris) Chiu’s laboratory focuses on systematically modeling genomics and pharmacogenomics to gain a deeper understanding of cancer biology and improve cancer therapy. His team actively develops and applies deep learning methods and large language models to decode complex molecular data and accelerate translational cancer research. Dr. Chiu was honored with the 2022 Hillman Early-Career Fellowship for Innovative Cancer Research and received the Rising Star Award from the IEEE-EMBS International Conference on Biomedical and Health Informatics in 2024. His research has been…

Summary

I am a radiation oncologist whose clinical interest is in advancing care for patients with central nervous system tumors. My laboratory research is specifically on targeting a glucose transporter as a radiosensitizer for brain tumors.

Summary

My long-term goal is to develop a program of research focused on preventing tobacco-related cancer mortalities. I have a diverse background in computer science, social network analysis, online social media, and cancer prevention. The focus of my research has been leveraging innovative technologies to study tobacco control. My recent projects include exploring the presence of tobacco companies on social media and analyzing their behavior and strategies in marketing; studying the diffusion of anti-vaccination topics online; interventions for electronic cigarette use by adolescents; modeling new…

Summary

The Cillo Lab focuses on understanding how immune cells make cell fate decisions, how intercellular communication influences these cell fate decisions, and the ways in which cell-cell interactions shape community dynamics in the tumor microenvironment. To address these questions, we are utilizing high-dimensional systems based approaches including spectral flow cytomtery, single-cell RNAseq and spatial transcriptomics in the context of patients with solid tumors such as head and neck cancer, sarcoma, and melanoma among others. Defining the contributions of individual immune populations and…

Summary

Dr. Clark investigates liver metastasis, focusing on the molecular mechanisms of metastatic dormancy and recurrence. Her lab uses a 3D ex vivo hepatic microphysiological system to study metastatic progression, identify biomarkers, and uncover therapeutic targets for preventing recurrence. Ongoing research efforts are exploring extracellular vesicle-mediated crosstalk in the metastatic…

Summary

I am a physician scientist focused on improving outcomes in ovarian cancer through studying and targeting the ovarian stromal tumor microenvironment. I study how a progenitor stromal cell, the mesenchymal stem/stromal cell, promotes cancer initiation, growth, metastasis and therapy resistance.

Summary

In her research, Dr. Conklin is applying a translational perspective to the investigation of subjective, physiological, and behavioral reactivity to drug-related cues in adult smokers, and on identifying the types of cues and other environmental contexts that have the greatest impact on smoking maintenance and cessation. She has served as the Principal Investigator for five federally funded grants, including a current project that examines tDCS brain stimulation + an Approach / Avoidance Task to reduce the impact of personalized smoking cues on smoking behavior and relapse. The long-term goal…

Summary

Dr. Conley’s research interests are in the field of molecular genetics. She has a fully equipped molecular genomics laboratory located within the School of Nursing, and her lab is involved with several research projects. Her current research focuses on genomic and epigenomic studies of patient outcomes after traumatic brain injury, stroke, and therapeutic interventions for cancer, as well as genomic studies of age-related macular…

Summary

I study the structure and function of macromolecular complexes, such as virus capsids, using cryo-electron microscopy (cryoEM) to detail protein folds and interfaces. The resolution achieved by cryoEM depends on the sample, and we routinely aim for 3-5 Ångstroms but in some cases can reach below 2 Å resolution. Systems currently being studied include herpesviruses and dsDNA bacteriophages such as HK97, lambda, D3, T5 and others. These tailed phages have important structural similarities with each other and with animal viruses such as herpesvirus, indicating a long…

Summary

Dr. Cooper is Distinguished Professor, UPMC Endowed Chair, and Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Biomedical Informatics, with a secondary appointment in the Intelligent Systems Program.  His research focuses on the development and application of methods for probabilistic modeling, machine learning, Bayesian statistics, and artificial intelligence to help advance biomedical research and clinical care. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers on these and related topics. His current projects include causal discovery from observational and experimental biomedical and…