Translational Research

“The aim of this program at Yale is to bring scientists and clinicians together in one room, so that we can do our best in real time to figure out what’s driving each tumor, and to choose the right drug or clinical trial” - Dr. Herbst.

We have been able to translate various complementary cutting-edge genomic technologies, which were once solely research tools, to our clinical programs to analyze individual cancers. We can now gain comprehensive understanding of the molecular make-up of a cancer to pinpoint specific vulnerabilities and leverage these weak spots for precision treatments in our Recurrent Brain Tumor Treatment Program.

Harnessing the knowledge of the analysis and tools generated in our lab, we were fortunate to contribute via personalized medicine to the healthy recovery of a child (http://www.yalescientific.org/2014/04/a-personalized-treatment-for-cancer-unlocking-the-potential-for-a-cure/)

Besides personal medicine, we investigate tumor biology and translate this knowledge to design better diagnostics and targeted chemotherapies. Our earlier identification of an unusual correlation between anatomic location and underlying mutations in meningiomas providing a unique advantage to clinicians for treatment options. The primary meningioma cultures can now be used to test and design novel chemotherapeutics based on the molecular nature of their mutations.

This avenue is not restricted to tumors and our work has also helped in the understanding the biology underlying some orphan neurodevelopmental disorders diseases and hopefully will contribute towards developing a treatment (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/07/21/one-of-a-kind-2)

The ultimate goal of the research in our lab is to help develop better or novel therapies. To aid in personalized medicine, we also routinely culture primary tumors and have over 300 tumor cultures of various types in our collection. This provides a unique tool to perform mutation-driven drug screens and test efficacy of potential treatment regimen thus aiding in therapeutic decisions for personalized care for brain tumors. We have also used the tumor cultures to perform large scale high-throughput drug screens to identify novel drugs that target the underlying mutations.