Laurie Laboratory
Laurie Laboratory
Nikia A. Laurie, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Cancer Biology and Epigenomics Program, Department of Pediatrics, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. She is also a Member of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Chicago, Illinois.
Research Interests
Our lab is interested in defining the sequential genetic changes occurring in cancer, and using that information to target therapy. Our focus has previously involved elucidating the secondary genetic changes contributing to retinoblastoma progression, in particular inactivation of the p53 pathway (Laurie, Donovan et al. 2006; Laurie, Schin-Shih et al. 2007). This genetic mutation occurs shortly after the initiating genetic lesion, which is inactivation of the RB1 gene. Now that the genetic lesions disrupting the Rb and p53 pathways in retinoblastoma have been identified, one of the most important questions to be addressed is how pathways are disrupted as retinoblastoma invades the intraocular tissues, which is an important precursor to metastasis. Since metastasis is the cause of death for a number of cancers, exploring the molecular, cellular, and genetic changes associated with tumor invasion is important for improving therapy. Defining these changes is particularly valuable for the purposes of identifying novel targets for chemotherapeutic interventions to prevent or slow the progression to metastatic cancers.