2012 Mentored Investigator Grant Recipient — Bin Guan, PhD

Project Summary

Ovarian clear cell carcinoma is a type of highly aggressive cancer that is frequently associated with endometriosis. Even detected at earlier stages and tumor mass was removed completely by surgery, its prognosis is still poor due to chemoresistance and the presence of early micrometastasis. To identify genetic markers for this deadly disease, deep sequencing of ovarian clear cell carcinoma genome has led to the identification of inactivating mutations in the ARID1A gene in about half of ovarian clear cell carcinomas. Tumor suppressor genes act as brakes in normal cells, however, when they are inactivated by mutations, it can lead to un-controlled tumor growth. Dr. Guan will study the biological functions of tumor suppressor ARID1A and its mechanism in tumor development. Furthermore, he is developing new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches by targeting ARID1A related pathways to combat this devastating disease.

Bio

Dr. Bin Guan is currently a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Pathology at Johns Hopkins University. After obtaining his B.S. from Fudan University in Shanghai, China, he completed his Ph.D. at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. In 2008, Dr. Guan joined Drs. Tian-Li Wang and Ie-Ming Shih in the Johns Hopkins University and began to focus on the identification and characterization of novel genomic alterations in ovarian cancer. He is also a recipient of the OSB1 Award from the HERA Women’s Cancer Foundation in 2010.