Jose M Silva, PhD

Unprecedented amount of information has been gathered regarding cancer genomes. However, our ability to identify functions that are critical only for cancer cells is still limited. We have successfully pioneered the integration of the state-of-the-art genomics, functional studies and system biology methods to generate functional maps. This integrative analysis pinpoints key regulatory hubs that when perturbed compromise cancer cell viability. My research is an ambitious and systematic program that start from the identification of the regulatory networks of cancer cells, it continues with in depth molecular characterization of the hubs involved in their homeostasis and it finishes with the translation of our discoveries to the clinic. Our research has generated 15 peer-review publications in the last three years (primary research and collaborations) including high profile journals such as Cell, Nature, Cancer Cell and Genes & Dev. Furthermore, our comprehensive studies have initiated one clinical trial (NCT02066532) and another one is on the way. The specific interest of my group is normal mammary development, breast tumorigenesis and therapeutics. For the near future, we will expand our findings of RSF1, BIN3 and miR-424/503 as novel breast cancer genes (Cell-2014, Genes & Dev.-2014, MCB-2014, Cancer Cell-under review) as well as the evaluation of STAT3 and HDAC6 inhibition as novel targeted therapies (Genes & Dev-2015 and Cancer Res.-under review). In the farther future, we will follow up our recent studies identifying novel targets for triple negative breast cancers and investigating mechanistically the intersection of aging and cancer.