Stefanie Galban
University of Michigan, MI·Medicine & Clinical Research
Diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) is a brain tumor in children. It comes back in every patient after radiotherapy, the standard treatment, and survival is only 8–11 months.
- Fields
Medicine & Clinical Research
Pharmacology
Genetics
- Topics
diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma
pediatric brain tumor
cancer stem cells
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Apr 2028
What they work on
- Determine how ALDH1A3 and ALDH2, enzymes marking cancer stem cells, are controlled by the H3 K27M histone mutation and by IL1β from microglia, using isogenic DIPG models in vitro and in vivo.
- Test whether ALDH-positive cancer stem cells cause radiotherapy resistance by changing ALDH levels, and profile the therapy-induced stem cell niche and immune evasion with single-cell RNA sequencing and CyTOF.
- Evaluate in preclinical studies whether blocking ALDH with disulfiram and PI3K/mTOR signaling with GDC-0084 improves radiotherapy outcomes and prevents DIPG progression.
More about the research
More than 250 clinical trials have failed to change this. This project tests the idea that a small group of treatment-resistant cancer stem cells (CSCs), cells that can regrow a tumor, drives both resistance and relapse. If so, these cells would be logical drug targets.
Why it matters
DIPG kills essentially every child diagnosed, and 200–400 new cases occur each year. By testing whether ALDH-positive cancer stem cells drive relapse after radiotherapy, this work could provide druggable targets and a rationale for drug combinations, such as disulfiram or GDC-0084 added to radiotherapy, that may prolong patients' lives.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Dolores Hambardzumyan
University of Pennsylvania, PA·Microbiology & Immunology
Map how glioblastoma subtype and location shape monocyte and neutrophil infiltration, using single-cell RNA sequencing, spatial multiomics and multiplex flow cytometry in mice carrying human tumor-driving mutations.
Tohru Yamada
University of Illinois Chicago, IL·Pharmacology
Determine the pharmacological activity of AmiR20-p28, an antisense RNA against the cancer-promoting microRNA miR20a joined to the cell-penetrating peptide p28, in cell and mouse models of pediatric glioblastoma and diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma.
Peter Lewis
University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI·Biochemistry
Define how residual PRC2 activity, the leftover gene-silencing capacity remaining after inhibition, promotes growth of pediatric glioma cells carrying the H3 K27M oncohistone or the EZHIP protein, using genetic and genomic approaches.
The school
University of Michigan: 124 labs on PI Pages, $2.1B a year on research, 963 research doctorates a year.
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