https://medicine.ouhsc.edu/academic-departments Parent Page: Academic Departments id: 21483 Active Page: Oncology Science id:27744
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Department of Oncology Science

The Department of Oncology Science seeks to provide a research home to trainees, young investigators, and national/international leaders working in the areas of cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and cure. We intend to achieve this through programs of excellence in research, education, outreach, and cost-effective patient care. The Department of Oncology Science is committed to facilitating interdisciplinary, collaborative, and innovative team-science to make OU Health Sciences Center a world-leader in translational cancer research.

Research Themes

The department is focused on several key areas of cancer research.

  • Signaling basis of cancer cell growth, cell death, and senescence
  • Mechanisms of chemo- and radiotherapy resistance
  • Metabolic alterations in cancer cells supporting survival under various abiotic stresses, including hypoxia, low pH, and nutrient deprivation
  • Metabolic vulnerabilities of various cancer types
  • Cancer-induced systemic organ failure, including cachexia
  • Tumor immunology, immunotherapies, and immunometabolism
  • Epigenetic and transcriptomic alterations and intratumoral heterogeneity
  • Cancer health disparity research

Department of Oncology Seminar Series

The Department of Oncology Seminar Series is focused on current and emerging areas of cancer research. The seminars are organized with the goal of educating faculty, postdocs, students, and other trainees about the latest advancements in the field and facilitating interdisciplinary collaborations. 

Follow us on X and Instagram for upcoming seminar presentation announcements!

 @OncologyScience

 @ouoncologyscience

 

News and Events

The Department of Oncology Science Welcomes Dr. Sree Deepthi Muthukrishnan to the Faculty!

The Department of Oncology Science Welcomes Dr. Sree Deepthi Muthukrishnan to the Faculty!


Published: Thursday, August 3, 2023

Dr. Pankaj Singh, PhD, and the Department of Oncology Science is pleased to announce that Dr. Sree Deepthi Muthukrishnan has joined the department as an Assistant Professor. Dr. Muthukrishnan has come to the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center after completing her postdoctoral work at the Semel Institute of Neuroscience, University of California, Los Angeles. 

Dr. Muthukrishnan’s major research interest is understanding the molecular, epigenetic and microenvironmental determinants of cancer stem cell plasticity, therapeutic resistance and immunosuppression in pediatric and adult brain tumors with a focus on glioblastoma (GBM). During her postdoctoral work, she has contributed to the understanding of the cellular states, molecular and epigenetic changes that occur in response to standard treatments of GBM (Cancer Research Communications, 2022; Antioxidants and Redox Signaling, 2023), and identified a key role for P300 histone acetyltransferase in mediating phenotypic plasticity and therapeutic resistance in GBM (Nature Communications, 2022). She has also developed methods to isolate and characterize tumor and vascular cells from patient tumors and delineated the functions of novel vascular-derived factors in promoting tumor growth and migration in GBM (Cell Reports, 2022).

In her laboratory, Dr. Muthukrishnan aims to develop pre-clinical models and methods to study the tumor-vascular-immune interactions in mediating immunosuppression, and the epigenetic mechanisms underlying tumor evolution and phenotypic plasticity. Her current projects include a) delineating the functions of histone acetyltransferases in GBM biology, specifically focused on their contribution to stemness, phenotypic plasticity and adaptive resistance b) understanding the interplay of DNA repair and cellular metabolism to identify specific therapeutic vulnerabilities in GBM and c) determining the mechanisms underlying vascular-microglia cross-talk in promoting local and systemic immunosuppression to improve immunotherapy for GBM.

Funding Opportunities