Darin Dolezal, MD/PhD

I am involved in numerous research projects that focus on 1.) better understanding how tumor cells circulate/ metastasize, and 2.) utilizing molecular approaches to develop minimally invasive cancer diagnostics. My goal is to have a career in academic pathology that combines clinical service in cytopathology with applied and basic research in molecular cytopathology.

The goal of one ongoing research project, which is supported by an intradepartmental Chair’s Challenge grant, is to detect driver and resistance mutations in pleural fluid-derived circulating tumor DNA from patients with lung adenocarcinoma. The aim of this project is to use an error-suppressed multiplex deep sequencing platform, originally designed to detect low abundance tumor-specific mutations in plasma, to detect mutations with high sensitivity in the supernatants of malignant pleural effusions.