Posted on | CategoriesCancer / Neurosurgery | PI: Howard Colman, MD, PhD , Adam L. Cohen, MD & Sheri L. Holmen, PhD

The Role of IDH Mutation in Human Brain Tumors

Sheri Holmen, PhD, was the first to show that IDH mutations, on the appropriate genetic background, resulted in glioma initiation and growth. This discovery provided the basis of a pre-clinical model for testing the contribution of other molecular alterations to the pathogenesis of, and the effects of various treatments on, these tumors. Howard Colman, MD, PhD, and colleagues subsequently demonstrated that increased DNA alterations were associated with higher-grade gliomas and worse prognoses. Continue reading → The Role of IDH Mutation in Human Brain Tumors

Research Statement

Sheri Holmen, PhD, is a Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) investigator and Co-Director of the Melanoma Disease Oriented Research Team (MDOT). She is a Professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Utah School of Medicine, as well as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Oncological Sciences.

Dr. Holmen’s Lab aims to define critical targets in cancer cells that can become the focus for therapeutic intervention. Current efforts utilize a genetic approach to address this question in tumors that are generally refractory to conventional therapies, including metastatic melanoma and glioblastoma. Identified targets are being further validated using pharmacological inhibitors of clinical importance such that laboratory findings can be quickly translated to the clinic.

Holmen Lab