Damon Runyon Researchers

Dr. Qu is using Small Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC), a highly metastatic and lethal subtype of lung cancer, as a model to gain a better understanding of brain metastasis. Brain metastases are the most common type of intracranial tumors; they cause morbidity and mortality in a large number of cancer patients worldwide. The lack of preclinical models for brain metastasis has hampered our ability to better understand how primary tumors spread to the brain and grow there. She will first develop in vivo transplant and ex vivo human "mini brain" cancer models to study SCLC metastatic growth in the brain microenvironment. Using these models, she will determine the molecular and cellular mechanisms of metastatic SCLC growth in the brain. This research will suggest new targets for inhibiting growth of SCLC and other cancers at distal metastatic sites in the brain, paving the way for novel treatment approaches for cancer patients.