research
Dermatology Research Projects and Centers
Paul Nghiem Laboratory
The Nghiem Laboratory, headed by Dr. Paul Nghiem, studies cell cycle control in normal and cancer cells with an ultimate goal of discovering new approaches to prevent and treat cancer. The focus is a protein kinase called ATR that is required for the replication checkpoint -- the means by which a cell ensures it does not undergo mitosis before completely replicating its DNA. Our prior work has demonstrated that loss of tumor suppressors such as p53 markedly sensitizes cells to death by inhibition of ATR function. For more information about this laboratory and the research being produced, please visit the website.
National Registry for Ichthyosis and Related Disorders
Headed by principal investigator Dr. Philip Fleckman, the National Registry for Ichthyosis and Related Disorders was created with the support of the National Institutes for Health to encourage research into the diagnosis and treatment of the ichthyoses and related disorders. We have approached this goal by having people that are affected by these conditions enroll in the Registry as well as by sharing information about ongoing research projects with those who ask to be notified.
Persons with the following diagnoses are enrolled:
- Inherited Ichthyosis
- Erythrokeratodermas
- Darier disease
- Hailey-Hailey disease
- Palmar-Plantar Keratodermas
- Pachyonychia Congenita
- Extensive Epidermal Nevi
For more information, please visit the Registry website.
Andy Chien Research
Dr. Chien's research is centered on the study of signal transduction in melanoma and other cancer models. His recent work has focused on the role of both canonical Wnt/beta-catenin signaling in melanoma as well as the role of beta-catenin-independent Wnt signaling. His main interests center on regulation of these pathways in cancerous versus non-cancerous conditions, as well as the role of these pathways in regulating tumor initiating capacity in cancer cells.
More recently, his group has started studying how these signal transduction pathways are impacted during cancer therapy and the development of resistance.The goal of these studies is to develop strategies for pathway-based diagnostics and therapeutic targeting in melanoma and other cancers where conventional chemotherapeutic approaches have been ineffective.Dr. Chien has ongoing collaborations with clinical investigators at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance who treat metastatic melanoma patients in the context of clinical trials.