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BMB PhD Program Faculty

Vito Rebecca

Cancer metastasis, therapy resistance, health disparities 

Assistant Professor

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Bloomberg School of Public Health

Vito Rebecca

Research Overview

The Rebecca laboratory focuses on understanding genetic and non-genetic mechanisms of therapy resistance and metastasis leveraged by cancer cells, using acral lentiginous melanoma as a paradigm. Their particular focus is on stem cell-like tumor cell subpopulations of melanoma cells that “hijack” developmental signaling cassettes to drive transient metastatic and drug resistant cell states. Their studies encompass quantitative tools, genetic editing, molecular biology, in vivo patient-derived xenograft therapy trials and bioinformatic analyses to arrive at a comprehensive understanding of actionable vulnerabilities for stem cell-like subpopulations of cancer cells.

 

 

Selected Publications