Cancer
Around 25,000 new malignant primary brain tumors were diagnosed in the U.S. in 2020. The most commonly occurring primary malignant brain tumor is glioblastoma, which is the most aggressive type of primary brain tumor. Despite great demand to develop novel drugs for primary brain tumors, most of these efforts have been unsuccessful. At the same time, the cost of clinical trials has increased dramatically, reaching up to $125K per patient. Investigators in the UC Davis Neuroscience Consortium work with both human populations and animal models to understand the mechanisms underlying cancers of the nervous system, as well as to develop new treatments. Research in this area is supported by 15 faculty members from 8 departments and 4 centers.
Faculty studying cancer
| Orwa Aboud, M.D., Ph.D. | Neuro-oncology, Neurology |
| Sanchita Bhatnagar, Ph.D. | Childhood neurodevelopmental disorders; translational epigenetics |
| Orin Bloch, M.D., F.A.A.N.S. | Neurological surgery, neurosurgical oncology, skull base surgery |
| Wenbin Deng, Ph.D. | Molecular mechanisms of neuronal and glial cell death, stem cell biology, and regenerative medicine |
| Julius O. Ebinu, M.D., Ph.D. | Neurological surgery, minimally invasive surgery, spine surgery, neuro-oncology |
| Frederic A. Gorin, M.D, Ph.D. | Neuropharmacology and toxicology |
| Griffith R. Harsh IV, M.D., M.A., M.B.A | Tumors of the brain, pituitary gland and skull base; stereotactic radiosurgery |
| Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. | Epigenetics in stem cells and cancer |
| Da Zhi Liu, Ph.D. | Cancer elements in neurological diseases; traumatic brain injury, ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke |
| Allan Martin, M.D. Ph.D., F.R.C.S.C. | Spine imaging and surgery |
| Kia Shahlaie, M.D., Ph.D. | Deep brain stimulation techniques to improve learning and memory function; traumatic brain injury, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease |
| Jiandi Wan, Ph.D. | Neurovascular coupling |
| Aijun Wang, Ph.D. | Functional data analysis, survival analysis, brain functional connectivity, and deep learning. |
| Min Zhao, M.D., Ph.D. | Bioelectricity / bioelectronics-guided cell migration and growth in wound healing and regeneration. |
| Chengji Zhou, Ph.D. | Morphogenetic signaling in neural development and regeneration |