The mission of the Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO) program at the University of Florida Health Cancer Center (UFHCC) is to understand how normal cells undergo complex changes leading to cancer. The scientific objectives of the MOO program are to elucidate the deregulated genetic and epigenetic events that drive tumor initiation and progression and develop new cancer targeting strategies.  The research aims focus on identifying and characterizing genetic and epigenetic alterations, elucidating the role of noncoding RNAs in cancer, studying oncogenic mechanisms of DNA tumor viruses, and translating MOO discovery to novel therapeutic approaches.

Program Members

To request an update, please email ResearchAdmin@cancer.ufl.edu.

Name	myNCBI Link	Research Program	Title	Department	Lab Page	College	Research Interest Topics
Zajac-Maria Kaye, PhD	myNCBI	Cancer Therapeutics & Host Response (CTHR); Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Professor	Anatomy & Cell Biology		Medicine	Angiogenesis; Apoptosis & Cell Death Pathways; Cancer Genetics; Cell Signaling Pathways; DNA Damage & Repair; Drug Design; Endocrine; Epigenetics & Cancer; Epigenetics & Gene Regulation; Gene Therapy
Piyush Jain, PhD	myNCBI	Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Assistant Professor	Chemical Engineering	Lab	Engineering	Cancer Genetics; DNA Damage & Repair; DNA Recombination; DNA Replication; Epigenetics & Cancer; Epigenetics & Gene Regulation; Gene Therapy; Nanotechnology; Noninvasive Imaging/Tomography; RNA Processing; Targeted Cancer Therapy
Jia Chang, DDS	myNCBI	Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Assistant Professor	Periodontology		Dentistry	Bone & Soft Tissue (Sarcoma); Bioinformatics; Post-Transcriptional Gene Regulation; Stem Cell; Biostatistics; Angiogenesis
Ryan Kolb, PhD	myNCBI	Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Assistant Professor	Pathology, Immunology & Laboratory Medicine		Medicine	Targeted Cancer Therapy; Vascular Targeting; Breast; Angiogenesis; Drug Resistance; Immunoregulation & Suppression; Immunotherapy; Kidney
Jason Brant, PhD		Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Research Assistant Professor	Biostatistics		Public Health & Health Professions	Bioinformatics; Epigenetics & Cancer; Epigenetics & Gene Regulation
Kethandapatti Balaji, MD		Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Professor	Urology		Medicine	Genital-Urinary/Prostate; Kidney; Nanotechnology; Surgical Oncology
Zsolt Toth, PhD	myNCBI	Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Assistant Professor	Oral Biology	Lab	Dentistry	Cancer Genetics; Epigenetics & Gene Regulation; Immunoregulation & Suppression; Infection Control; Lymphoma; Post-Transcriptional Gene Regulation; RNA Processing; Tumor Virology/Virus-Host Interactions
Bernadett Papp, PhD	myNCBI	Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Assistant Professor	Oral Biology	Lab	Dentistry	Bioinformatics; Cell Signaling Pathways; Epigenetics & Cancer; Epigenetics & Gene Regulation; Stem Cell; Tumor Virology/Virus-Host interactions
Xin Tang, PhD		Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Assistant Professor	Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering		Engineering	Angiogenesis; Breast; Epigenetics & Cancer; Immunoregulation & Suppression; Immunotherapy; Integrative Medicine; Metastasis; Nanotechnology; Noninvasive Imaging/Tomography; Vascular Targeting
Walter Murfee, PhD		Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Associate Professor	Biomedical Engineering	Lab	Engineering	Angiogenesis; Stem Cell; Targeted Cancer Therapy; Vascular Targeting
Tamer Kahveci, PhD		Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Professor	Computer & Information Science & Engineering	Lab	Engineering	Bioinformatics
Valerie De Crecy Lagard, PhD	myNCBI	Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Professor	Microbiology & Cell Science		Agricultural & Life Sciences	Cell Signaling Pathways
Julie Maupin, PhD	myNCBI	Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Professor	Microbiology & Cell Science		Agricultural & Life Sciences	Microbiology; Cell Signaling Pathways
Charles Baer, PhD		Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Professor	Biology	Lab	Liberal Arts & Sciences	Evolutionary Biology; Population Genetics; Quantitative Genetics
Libin Rong, PhD		Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Associate Professor	Mathematics		Liberal Arts & Sciences	Epidemiology
Alberto Perez, PhD	myNCBI	Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Assistant Professor	Chemistry	Lab	Liberal Arts & Sciences	Bioinformatics; Epigenetics & Gene Regulation
Margaret (Peggy) Wallace, PhD	myNCBI	Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Professor	Molecular Genetics & Microbiology	Lab	Medicine	Bone & Soft Tissue Sarcomas; Breast; Cancer Genetics; DNA Damage & Repair; Epigenetics & Cancer; Genetic Determinants of Cancer; Head & Neck; Hematologic Malignancies/Blood & Marrow Transplant; Skin/Melanoma; Vascular Targeting
Daiqing Liao, PhD	myNCBI	Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Associate Professor	Anatomy & Cell Biology		Medicine	Apoptosis & Cell Death Pathways; Breast; Cancer Genetics; Cell Signaling Pathways; Chemotherapy; Drug Design; Epigenetics & Cancer; Epigenetics & Gene Regulation; Genital-Urinary/Prostate; Immunoregulation & Suppression; Tumor Virology/Virus-Host Interactions
Alexander Ishov, PhD	myNCBI	Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Associate Professor	Anatomy & Cell Biology		Medicine	Breast; Prostate; Cancer Genetics; Chemotherapy; Epigenetics & Cancer
Rene Opavsky, PhD	myNCBI	Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Associate Professor	Anatomy & Cell Biology		Medicine	Epigenetics & Cancer; Epigenetics & Gene Regulation; Hematologic Malignancies/Blood & Marrow Transplant; Leukemia; Lymphoma
Shuang Huang, PhD	myNCBI	Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Professor	Anatomy & Cell Biology		Medicine	Breast; Cell Signaling Pathways; Drug Design; Drug Resistance; Epigenetics & Gene Regulation; Gynecological; Metastasis; MicroRNAs; RNA Processing
Rui Xiao, PhD	myNCBI	Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Associate Professor	Aging & Geriatric Research		Medicine	Transcription Factors; Aging; Cellular Stress Response; Sensory Modulation of Aging; Environmental Factors
Jianrong Lu, PhD	myNCBI	Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Associate Professor	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology		Medicine	Angiogenesis; Apoptosis & Cell Death Pathways; Breast; Cancer Genetics; Cell Signaling Pathways; Epigenetics & Cancer; Epigenetics & Gene Regulation; Genetic Determinants of Cancer; Metastasis; Post-Transcriptional Gene Regulation
Jorg Bungert, PhD	myNCBI	Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Professor	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Lab	Medicine	Epigenetics & Gene Regulation; Hematologic Malignancies/Blood & Marrow Transplant
Michael Kladde, PhD	myNCBI	Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Professor	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Lab	Medicine	Cancer Epigenetics; Colorectal & Breast Cancer; Glioblastoma; Cell Signaling Pathways
Mingyi Xie, PhD	myNCBI	Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Assistant Professor	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Lab	Medicine	Bioinformatics; Cancer Genetics; Cell Signaling Pathways; Epigenetics & Gene Regulation; MicroRNAs; RNA Processing; Tumor Virology/Virus-Host Interactions
Patrick Concannon, PhD		Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Professor	Pathology, Immunology & Laboratory Medicine	Lab	Medicine	Medicine; Breast; Diabetes
Jonathan Licht, MD	myNCBI	Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Professor	Medicine- Hematology & Oncology	Lab	Medicine	DNA Damage & Repair; Epigenetics & Cancer; Epigenetics & Gene Regulation; Genetic Determinants of Cancer; Hematologic Malignancies/Blood & Marrow Transplant; Leukemia; Lymphoma
Gary Wang, MD, PhD		Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Professor	Medicine-Infectious Disease & Global Medicine		Medicine	Bioinformatics; Gene Therapy; Liver
Richard Bennett, PhD		Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Research Assistant Professor	Medicine-Hematology & Oncology		Medicine	Apoptosis & Cell Death Pathways; Cancer Genetics; Cell Signaling Pathways; Epigenetics & Gene Regulation; Hematologic Malignancies/Blood & Marrow Transplant; Immunoregulation & Suppression; Leukemia; Lymphoma; Post-Transcriptional Gene Regulation; RNA Processing; Tumor Virology/Virus-Host Interactions
David Bloom, PhD		Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Professor	Molecular Genetics & Microbiology		Medicine	Epigenetics & Cancer; Oncolytic Viral Vectors; Tumor Virology/Virus-Host Interactions
Rolf Renne, PhD	myNCBI	Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Professor	Molecular Genetics & Microbiology	Lab	Medicine	Noncoding RNAs; Cell Signaling Pathways; Lymphoma; Skin/Melanoma; Tumor Virology/Virus-Host Interactions
Scott Tibbetts, PhD	myNCBI	Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Professor	Molecular Genetics & Microbiology	Lab	Medicine	Virology/Virus-Host Interactions; Noncoding RNAs; Epigenetics & Cancer; Epigenetics & Gene Regulation; Hematologic Malignancies/Blood & Marrow Transplant; Immunotherapy; Infection Control; Leukemia; Lymphoma; MicroRNAs; Stem Cell; Tumor
Lizi Wu, PhD	myNCBI	Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Professor	Molecular Genetics & Microbiology		Medicine	Apoptosis & Cell Death Pathways; Breast; Cancer Genetics; Cell Signaling Pathways; Noncoding RNAs; Drug Design; Epigenetics & Cancer; Gynecological; Leukemia; Tumor Virology/Virus-Host Interactions
Lei Zhou, PhD, BMed		Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Professor	Molecular Genetics & Microbiology		Medicine	Apoptosis & Cell Death Pathways; Bioinformatics; Cancer Genetics; Epigenetics & Cancer; Epigenetics & Gene Regulation; Genetic Determinants of Cancer; Radiation Oncology; Senescence; Genetic Cancer animal models
Olga Guryanova, MD, PhD	myNCBI	Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Assistant Professor	Pharmacology & Therapeutics		Medicine	Cancer Genetics; Cancer Susceptibility; Cell Signaling Pathways; DNA Damage & Repair; Drug Resistance; Epigenetics & Cancer; Hematologic Malignancies/Blood & Marrow Transplant; Leukemia; Stem Cell
Arun Srivastava, PhD, BSc, MSc	myNCBI	Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Professor	Pediatrics	Lab	Medicine	Gene Therapy; AAV Biology; Liver; Stem Cell; Targeted Cancer Therapy; Tumor Virology/Virus-Host Interactions
Sergei Zolotukhin, PhD		Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Professor	Pediatrics	Lab	Medicine	AAV Biology; Cancer Gene Therapy
Lingtao Jin, PhD	myNCBI	Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Assistant Professor	Anatomy & Cell Biology		Medicine	Drug Resistance; Metastasis; Nutrition; Dietary Supplements & Cancer
Nadja Makki, PhD	myNCBI	Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Assistant Professor	Anatomy & Cell Biology	Lab	Medicine	Epigenetics & Gene Regulation
Melike Caglayan, PhD	myNCBI	Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Assistant Professor	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Lab	Medicine	Chemotherapy; DNA Damage & Repair; DNA Replication; Drug Design
Zhijian Qian, PhD		Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Professor	Medicine- Hematology & Oncology		Medicine	Cancer Genetics; Cell Signaling Pathways; Drug Resistance; Epigenetics & Gene Regulation; Hematologic Malignancies/Blood & Marrow Transplant; Stem Cell
Weizhou Zhang, PhD	myNCBI	Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Associate Professor	Pathology, Immunology & Laboratory Medicine		Medicine	Angiogenesis; Breast; Immunoregulation & Suppression; Tumor Immunology & Immunotherapy
Sumita Bhaduri-McIntosh, MD, PhD		Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Chief & Associate Professor	Pediatrics- Infectious Diseases		Medicine	Cancer Genetics; Cell Signaling Pathways; DNA Damage & Repair; DNA Replication; Epigenetics & Cancer; Epigenetics & Gene Regulation; Hematologic Malignancies/Blood & Marrow Transplant; Tumor Virology/Virus-Host Interactions
Kristianna Fredenburg, MD, PhD		Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Assistant Professor	Pathology, Immunology & Laboratory Medicine		Medicine	Head & Neck; microRNAs; cancer disparities
Yehia Daaka, PhD	myNCBI	Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Professor	Anatomy & Cell Biology		Medicine	Androgen receptors; Human pathophysiology receptors
Thomas Schmittgen, PhD		Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Chair & Professor	Pharmaceutics	Lab	Pharmacy	Cancer Genetics; Drug Design; Gastro-Intestinal; Head & Neck; Health Disparities; Liver; MicroRNAs; Nanotechnology
Chenglong Li, PhD		Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Professor	Medicinal Chemistry		Pharmacy	Cell Signaling Pathways; Drug Design; Drug Resistance; Epigenetics & Cancer; Hematologic Malignancies/Blood & Marrow Transplant; Immunotherapy; Neuro-Oncology; Pediatric Oncology; Stem Cell; Targeted Cancer Therapy
Daohong Zhou, PhD		Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Professor	Pharmacodynamics		Pharmacy	Drug Design; Cell Signaling Pathways
Susmita Datta, PhD, MBA, MS		Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Professor	Biostatistics		Public Health & Health Professions	Bioinformatics; RNA processing
George Michailidis, PhD		Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Professor	Informatics Institute		Public Health & Health Professions	Bioinformatics & Biostatistics
Rhonda Bacher, PhD	myNCBI	Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Assistant Professor	Biostatistics		Public Health & Health Professions	Bioinformatics; Biostatistics
Juan Guan, PhD	myNCBI	Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Assistant Professor	Physics		Liberal Arts & Sciences	Cancer Genetics; Cell Signaling Pathways; DNA Damage & Repair; Drug Design; Nanotechnology
Eddy, PhD	myNCBI	Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Assistant Professor	Chemistry		Liberal Arts & Sciences
Zhe Ma, PhD	myNCBI	Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Assistant Professor	Molecular Genetics & Microbiology	Lab	Medicine
Robert McKenna, PhD	myNCBI	Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Professor	Biochemistry & molecular Biology	Lab	Medicine	Targeted Cancer Therapy; Gene Therapy; Oncolytic Viral Vectors
Frederic Kaye, PhD		Cancer Therapeutics & Host Response (CTHR); Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Professor	Medicine- Hematology & Oncology		Medicine	Cancer Genetics; Cell Signaling Pathways; Genetic Determinants of Cancer; Head & Neck; Lung; Thoracic Oncology; Oncolytic Viral Vectors
Meghan Ferrall-Faribanks, PhD	myNCBI	Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Assistant Professor	Biomedical Engineering		Engineering	Breast; Drug Resistance; Gynecological; Health Disparities; Hematologic Malignancies/Blood & Marrow Transplant; Kidney; Leukemia; Metastasis
Sara Falzarano, MD, PhD		Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Clinical Associate Professor	Pathology & Laboratory Medicine		Medicine	Cancer Genetics; Epigenetics & Cancer; Epigenetics & Gene Regulation; Genetic Determinants of Cancer; Genital-Urinary/Prostate; Kidney
Kiley Graim, PhD		Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO)	Assistant Professor	Computer and Information Science and Engineering		Engineering	Bioinformatics; Genetic Determinants of Cancer