Aaron Diaz, PhD

Dr. Diaz is interested in developing targeted therapeutics for the treatment of glioma. His laboratory applies molecular and computational approaches to identify therapeutic targets and pathways involved in cancer progression.

To date, some of the most effective cancer therapies are those that hone in on molecular defects associated with specific driver genes. However, in highly diverse tumors (like gliomas), clinical trials of promising targeted therapeutics often produce mixed results. This is at least partially due to the challenge that different parts of the tumor may react differently to treatment. To address this pressing challenge, Dr. Diaz’s research combines high-throughput single-cell sequencing with state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms to produce quantitative models of tumor heterogeneity, and interactions with the tumor microenvironment. The long-term goal of these studies is to help to guide the design of clinical trials with targeted agents, and improve the management of gliomas through precision therapies.