Monika Davare, PhD

Alumni News

• The Davare laboratory’s research goals are directed towards overcoming the therapeutic bottleneck in rare but aggressive pediatric and adult cancers. Oncogenomics-driven big data approaches effectively identify lead drug targets for cancer, but bottlenecks arise from a lack or slower pace of functionally testing, vetting and optimizing leads for therapeutic development. Using complementary in vitro and in vivo experimental model systems coupled with patient-derived genomic data, we have successfully identified driving kinase pathways and validated small-molecule inhibitor therapies for targeting distinct genomic subsets of glioblastoma, sarcoma, medulloblastoma and non-small cell lung cancer. We have active cross-institutional collaborations with clinical oncologists to facilitate transfer of our bench discoveries into clinical trials and as needed, validate clinical findings back at the bench. Dr. Davare combines her expertise in areas of regulation of kinases, kinase-driven pathways, cell surface receptors, and ion channels with her molecular pharmacology knowledge base to provide leadership to this research program.