Tumor Evolution Under Therapy

Treatment changes the cellular ecology of a brain tumor. We study paired and longitudinal specimens to determine how malignant clones, cellular states, and nonmalignant cells change from diagnosis through recurrence.

Our work in glioblastoma has shown that recurrence can be driven by broad cellular-state transitions and remodeling of the immune microenvironment, rather than by selection of a single recurrent mutation. We integrate single-nucleus RNA and chromatin profiling, DNA sequencing, spatial assays, proteomics, imaging, and clinical annotation to identify mechanisms that are both biologically grounded and clinically testable.

Current directions include longitudinal glioblastoma evolution, treatment-associated immune remodeling, sarcomatous and hypermutated progression, and optimization of targeted therapy timing in IDH-mutant glioma.