Ohio State’s Human Cancer Genetics Program was already world renowned when Carlo Croce, MD, was recruited in 2004 to assume leadership from program founder Albert de la Chapelle, MD, PhD, who wanted to devote more time to research. Since then, these two internationally acclaimed geneticists and their colleagues have worked to guide the program to even greater heights in the study of genetics, which may hold the keys to curing cancer and other diseases. This program is aligned with the Medical Center’s Department
of Molecular Virology, Immunology and Medical Genetics (MVIMG), which has been chaired by Croce since he arrived at Ohio State. Researchers in MVIMG study molecular genetics of human disease and disease-causing organisms. Their expertise ranges from basic biophysical analysis to clinical translation in molecular genetics of cancer, immunology and immunogenetics, and bacterial and viral pathogenesis.
Genetics highlights of 2007
- MVIMG has 33 tenure track faculty and 11 research track faculty. More than 65 percent of faculty garner independent research funds, over 70 percent of which are R01 grants from
the National Institutes of Health.
- Faculty were awarded more than $10.7 million in research funds; 84 percent of Department faculty salaries are covered by research awards.
- Carlo Croce, MD, Kay Huebner, PhD, and Albert de la Chapelle, MD, PhD, further identified microRNAs as causative for solid and hematopoietic tumors.
- Richard Fishel, PhD, discovered additional DNA repair-based cellular mechanisms for defense against retroviral infection.
- Tim Huang, PhD, and Ramana Davuluri, PhD, continued devising combined bioinformatics methods for systemsbiology analysis.