Molecular Targets and Developmental Therapeutics

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

The Molecular Targets and Developmental Therapeutics (MTDT) Program is a comprehensive translational research program with the major mission of new drug and target discovery carried through to early clinical testing of novel therapeutic modalities for cancer. Program members have expertise ranging from discovery of new therapeutic targets and agents, drug design and synthesis, validation of the effective targets, and clinical trial design and execution - the full continuum from bench to bedside. Our goals are to continue to produce high quality, mechanistically-based, translational research ultimately leading to the development of more effective anti-cancer therapies.

The MTDT Program is organized as a drug development "pipeline" with expertise in 1) drug and target discovery, 2) the performance of innovative early Phase clinical research, and 3) disease-specific Phase II and III clinical research. The program is focused on three primary areas of research: the development of novel anticancer agents (antisense oligonucleotides and therapeutic genes), anti-angiogenesis, and tumor vaccine therapy. In addition, MTDT members maintain significant research in the areas of drug resistance and signal transduction modulation, and an increasing emphasis on drug discovery.

Specific aims of the program include:

Aim 1 - To identify candidate molecular targets and compounds.
Aim 2 - To validate targets and compounds in both pre-clinical and clinical settings.
Aim 3 - To develop technologies to enhance the progress of each of the candidate modelcules.
Aim 4 - Design and execute cancer clinical trials with translational emphasis.