Damon Runyon Researchers

Meet Our Scientists
Zulekha A. Qadeer, PhD

Dr. Qadeer investigates the mechanisms underlying medulloblastoma (MB), the most common form of malignant brain tumors in children. Group 3 MB is a particularly aggressive subgroup, for which there are few actionable targets for therapies. Dr. Qadeer aims to understand how the genes and pathways regulated by the proteins MYC and TGFb mediate the transformation of neural precursor cells to malignant group 3 MB tumors. This work may also help elucidate tumor heterogeneity and resistance to current alkylating chemotherapies. The overall goal of this research is to identify more effective therapies to treat patients by targeting the mutations that drive tumor formation.

Project title: "Targeting TGFb pathway dependencies in Group 3 Medulloblastoma" 
Institution: University of California, San Francisco
Award Program: Sohn Fellow
Sponsor(s) / Mentor(s): William A. Weiss, MD, PhD
Cancer Type: Pediatric, Brain
Research Area: Invasion and Metastasis