Scientific and Clinical Research

From Health Lab: Study defines key driver of aggressive ovarian cancer

Story originally posted on Michigan Medicine Health Lab, written by Nicole Fawcett.

Study defines key driver of aggressive ovarian cancer

Researchers created a mouse model to understand how the gene CDK12 drives high-grade serous tubo-ovarian carcinoma and identify potential treatment approaches

A study explains the genetic underpinnings of a rare and aggressive form of ovarian cancer – and offers a potential pathway for new treatments.

High-grade serous carcinoma, the most common type of ovarian cancer, usually begins in the fallopian tube, before spreading to the ovaries and other pelvic organs

The Path to Discovery

Jennifer Brazil, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pathology at Michigan Medicine began her own research laboratory in 2018. She continued to research the mechanisms by which polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN) and epithelial glycans can be targeted to alter neutrophil transepithelial migration and neutrophil function under conditions of intestinal inflammation and repair.

DiFeo Lab Recognized with Outstanding Journal Article Award

The Molecular and Cancer Therapeutics journal recently awarded Dr. Analisa DiFeo, professor, with their annual Outstanding Journal Article Award for 2025 for her article “Small Molecule Mediated Stabilization of PP2A Modulates the Homologous Recombination Pathway and Potentiates DNA Damage Induced Cell Death.”

Dr. Abhijit Parolia - A Rising Scholar

On Thursday, March 20th the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute presented its Rising Scholars Lecture with pathology’s Dr. Abhijit Parolia, assistant professor of experimental pathology, entitled NSD2 is a requisite subunit of the AR/FOXA1 neo-enhanceosome in promoting prostate tumorigenesis.

Researchers find common immune system mechanism between pregnancy, cancer

To understand why some cancers successfully circumvent the immune system to grow unchecked, researchers turned to pregnancy. “In pregnancy, the immune system does not reject the growing fetus, so we know there must be mechanisms active in the placenta. In cancer, it’s the same thing: the growing tumor is not rejected by the immune system. It means the cancer cells have developed strategies to suppress immune rejection, same as in pregnancy,” said Weiping Zou, M.D., Ph.D., professor of experimental pathology.

Engineering Hope

There are times in many people’s lives that can be called defining moments. Moments when their lives suddenly take a turn, and the entire trajectory of their lives change. This was true for Matthew Iyer, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Surgery and Pathology.

AP-funded Grant Leads to Human Pathology Cover Story

The Division of Anatomic Pathology in the Michigan Medicine Department of Pathology offers grant funding for faculty and trainees to pursue research interests related to anatomic pathology that may not otherwise be funded. One of these internal AP grant-funded projects, led by first-author Eman Abdulfatah, MD and senior-author Rohit Mehra, MD, resulted in a recent cover story in Human Pathology entitled “Extragonadal germ cell tumors: A clinicopathologic study with emphasis on molecular features, clinical outcomes and associated secondary malignancies.”

Large Study Identifies Biomarkers for Rare Kidney Tumors

With 20 subtypes of Renal Cell Carcinoma (RCC) listed by the World Health Organization in 2022, determining the specific type of RCC and the correct treatment protocol for patients can be daunting. Only seven of the 20 subtypes had been defined by specific molecular changes and the 20% of RCCs that are classified as non-clear cell RCCs (non-ccRCC), were primarily identified only by histopathologic features.

What is in your gut?

Dr. Gabriel Nuñez, the Paul de Kruif Professor of Pathology, and his laboratory colleagues recently published breakthrough research results in the journal Science , describing how his team identified new key roles of the gut’s microbiota in the development of colitis.

Breakthrough in Defining pre-cancerous potential of Persistent Rhombic Lip (PeRL)

Medulloblastomas are one of the most common types of childhood brain cancer. Thanks to Dr. Sriram Venneti, MD, PhD and his colleagues, there has been a recent breakthrough in group-3 and group-4 medulloblastomas, a tumor that appears during fetal development of the cerebellum.