Surgical Oncology Research

Division of Surgical Oncology Research


The surgeons and investigators in the Division of Surgical Oncology are all engaged in research aimed at improving treatments for surgical oncology patients.

Richard Cummings, PhD 
Research Focus: Glycobiology and functional glycomics (the study of the structure, biology, evolution, and function of glycans — chemically linked chains of sugars, or carbohydrates)

Per-Olof Hasselgren, MD, PhD 
Research Focus: The mechanisms regulating the catabolic response to sepsis and injury in skeletal muscle; Sepsis and injury (and a number of other conditions as well, including cancer, AIDS, uremia, and starvation) are associated with muscle wasting

Lijun Sun, PhD
Research Focus: Drug discovery and translational research; molecular inhibition of metastasis to improve cancer therapies; molecular inhibition of inflammation in diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and other conditions

Barbara Wegiel, PhD
Research Focus: How the heme degradation pathway regulates innate inflammatory responses during organ injury and carcinogenesis

Michale Yaffe, MD, PhD
Research Focus: Cell signaling; targeted cancer therapy; protein-protein interactions and modular protein domains in signal transduction; protein-kinase signaling pathways involved in cell cycle control; DNA damage and inflammation