Labs

Rood Laboratory

About the Lab

The Rood Laboratory is working to apply the tools of cutting-edge proteomics to discover the functional biology of childhood brain tumors. Findings indicate that disease-specific proteins detected in brain tumor cells and cerebrospinal fluid can provide biological insight into the disease. These novel tumor-specific proteins can be essential for tumor cell survival and thus have the potential to be drug targets. In addition, given that they are abnormal and thus foreign to the body, they can be used as targets for T cell immunotherapy development. Lastly, because they are only created by an individual’s tumor cells, they can serve as biomarkers — measurable indicators of the presence or biological characteristics of the disease. Our lab is also investigating the role of DNA microsatellite repeats in predisposing an individual to develop a brain tumor.