Editors for Cancer Biology

We aim to publish conceptually important advances in all areas of cancer biology, including the discovery of new mechanisms responsible for cancer initiation, progression and therapy response. We are also interested in clinical trials or other clinical observations that reveal new and important biological insights. Read the latest research in this subject area.

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All sections

Senior editors

Utpal Banerjee

University of California, Los Angeles, United States

Utpal Banerjee is the Irving and Jean Stone Professor and Chair of the Department of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of California, Los Angeles, with a joint appointment in the Department of Biological Chemistry at the David Geffen School of Medicine. He also serves as Co-Director of the Broad Stem Cell Research Center and as Director of the UCLA Interdepartmental Minor in Biomedical Research. He is a member of UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and is affiliated with the Brain Research Institute and the Neuroscience Graduate Program.

Banerjee’s laboratory has worked on several oncogenic and metabolic signals that are important in development and disease. The lab studies the effects of systemic signals on the maintenance of blood progenitors in Drosophila, and the role of metabolic pathways in the control of proliferation and differentiation in the preimplantation mouse embryo.

Expertise
Developmental Biology
Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine
Cancer Biology

Research focus
haematopoiesis
cancer biology

Experimental organism
D. melanogaster
mouse
Eduardo Franco

McGill University, Canada

Eduardo Franco is Professor and Chairman, Department of Oncology, and Director, Division of Cancer Epidemiology, McGill University, Montreal. He holds BSc (1975) and Licentiate (1976) degrees in biology from Universidade de Campinas, Brazil, and master's (MPH) and doctoral (DrPH) degrees in public health microbiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1981-84). He was a Guest Researcher at the US Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta (1980-81 and 1983-84), and a post-doctoral fellow in cancer epidemiology during 1984 at the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France, at the US National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Bethesda, and at Louisiana State University, in New Orleans. Since 1985, he has conducted epidemiologic research on the causes of cancer and on the means to prevent it or to improve patient survival. He is mostly known for his contributions to our understanding of human papillomavirus infection as the cause of cervical cancer and using this knowledge to prevent this cancer via vaccination and improved screening strategies. He received the Canadian Cancer Research Alliance’s Distinguished Service to Cancer Research Award, Lifetime Achievement Awards from the American Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology and from the International Papillomavirus Society, the Women in US Government’s Leadership Award, the Canadian Cancer Society’s Warwick Prize, the Geoffrey Howe Outstanding Contribution Award from the Canadian Society for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, the University of British Columbia’s Chew Wei Memorial Prize in Cancer Research, and the McLaughlin-Gallie Award from the Royal College of Physicians of Canada. He has mentored 115 graduate students and post-doctoral fellows, and 30 undergraduate trainees. He is Officer of the Order of Canada and Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. Heholds an honorary doctorate from Universidade Fernando Pessoa, Porto, Portugal.

Expertise
Cancer Biology
Epidemiology and Global Health
Human Biology and Medicine

Research focus
cancer epidemiology and prevention
human papillomavirus infection
screening

Experimental organism
human

Competing interests statement
Entire research program funded by the Medical Research Council of Canada (until 1999), Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) (1999-present), National Institutes of Health, Canadian Cancer Society, and Cancer Research Society. He has received salary awards from the Fonds de Recherche Quebec Santé and CIHR. He holds a James McGill Professorship and the Minda de Gunzburg Endowed Chair at McGill University. He serves as Editor-in-Chief for Preventive Medicine and Preventive Medicine Reports and serves on the editorial boards of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, International Journal of Cancer, Papillomavirus Research, and Salud Publica de Mexico. He has served as occasional consultant to companies involved with HPV vaccination (Merck and GSK) and HPV diagnostics (Roche, Abbott, Qiagen, and BD).
Maureen Murphy

The Wistar Institute, United States

Maureen E. Murphy, Ph.D., is a Professor and Program Leader in the Molecular and Cellular Oncogenesis Program of The Wistar Institute. Dr. Murphy joined Wistar in 2011 and became a Program Leader in early 2012. She is also an adjunct professor at Drexel University College of Medicine and The Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Previously, Dr. Murphy was a professor at the Fox Chase Cancer Center. Since 1999, she has received continuous support from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) for her research on the p53 tumor suppressor protein and the HSP70 molecular chaperone.

A noted expert in the role of the p53 gene in cancer, Dr. Murphy’s laboratory focuses on how p53 functions to suppress tumor development. Through her lab’s work, Dr. Murphy is investigating the genetics of cancer health disparities. In efforts to improve precision medicine, her group is performing drug screens on tumor cells containing this variant, with the goal of finding drugs that will kill these cells preferentially. For her work on p53, Dr. Murphy is the recipient of the 2016 Gateway for Cancer Research Leadership in Cancer Advocacy Award. Murphy’s group also studies the stress-induced protein HSP70. With the knowledge that HSP70 is overexpressed in late stage cancers, Dr. Murphy’s group has pioneered the use of inhibitors of HSP70 for cancer therapy, particularly metastatic melanoma. For this effort, in 2014 her group won a Discovery Fast Track award from GlaxoSmithKline for the development of HSP70 inhibitors for cancer therapy.

In addition to her research, Dr. Murphy also plays pivotal administrative roles as Wistar’s Associate Vice President for Faculty Affairs, the Principal Investigator of its Training Grant in Basic Cancer Research, the head of the Junior Faulty Mentoring program, and the Director of its Postdoctoral Training Program. A member of the NCI’s Cancer and Molecular Pathology (CAMP) federal grant review committee, Dr. Murphy has also reviewed grants for the New Jersey Commission for Cancer Research, the Department of Defense, and Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation for Pediatric Cancer Research.

Dr. Murphy earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry at Rutgers University, followed by a doctorate in molecular biology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. In 1994, she began postdoctoral research at Princeton University in the laboratory of Arnold J. Levine, Ph.D., a co-discoverer of p53 and a pioneer in the field of tumor suppressor genes and cancer biology.

Expertise
Cancer Biology

Research focus
p53
ferroptosis
mitochondria
colon cancer
HSP70
polymorphism

Competing interests statement
Maureen Murphy is a member of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). In addition to eLife, she holds editorial positions at Cancer Biology and Therapy (Senior Editor), Cancer Research (Senior Editor), Molecular Cancer Research and Carcinogenesis Integrative Research. She is a member of the NIH NCI Cancer and Molecular Pathology federal grant review committee, and receives federal funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Päivi Ojala

University of Helsinki, Finland
Imperial College London, United Kingdom

Päivi Ojala is the Professor of Cancer Cell Biology at University of Helsinki and Chair of Viral Tumorigenesis at Imperial College London. She has made significant contributions to the Kaposi’s Sarcoma herpesvirus (KSHV) field and has more recently focused also on the role of lymphatic endothelial microenvironment on cancer cell metastasis. She has expertise in organotypic 3D co-culture models, cell-based high-content screens, protein kinase signalling and viral technologies. Her work has led to demonstration of restoration of p53 function by small molecule inhibitors as a therapeutic modality for KSHV-induced lymphomas, identification of host Pim kinases, nucleophosmin, and the p53-p21 axis as novel regulators of viral replication, and shown that KSHV infection reprograms lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs) to a new, more invasive cell type. They have also demonstrated that LEC interaction with melanoma cells leads to increased distant organ metastasis in vivo, which is dependent on MMP14, Notch3 and b1-integrin- Dr. Ojala holds a doctoral degree in Molecular Genetics from the University of Helsinki, and has received postdoctoral training at the Yale School of Medicine, CT, USA.

Expertise
Cancer Biology
Microbiology and Infectious Disease

Research focus
human tumor viruses
virus-host interactions
tumor microenvironment
metastasis

Competing interests statement
Päivi Ojala receives funding from the Academy of Finland, Sigrid Juselius Foundation, Cancer Foundation Finland and University of Helsinki.
Richard M White

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, United States

Richard White, M.D., Ph.D, is a physician-scientist at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Weill Cornell Medical College. He is interested in basic mechanisms underlying metastasis, using the zebrafish as a model system. His work has established numerous techniques for cancer modeling and high-resolution imaging in the fish. Using these tools, the lab is focused on the cross-talk between tumor cells and the microenvironment, and how this interplay influences metastatic success. His work has revealed novel interactions between melanoma cells and adipocytes in the microenvironment, and how neural crest programs play roles in melanoma progression. He has been awarded the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, the Pershing Square Foundation Award, and the Mark Foundation ASPIRE award.

Expertise
Cancer Biology
Human Biology and Medicine

Research focus
metastasis
melanocyte development
neural crest
melanoma
adipocytes
microenvironment
melanocytes

Experimental organism
zebrafish

Competing interests statement
Richard White receives funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Pershing Square Sohn Foundation, the Mark Foundation, the Melanoma Research Alliance, the American Cancer Society and the Harry J. Lloyd Foundation. He receives consulting fees from N-of-One, Inc.

Reviewing editors

Frederic A Bard

Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (A*STAR), Singapore

Expertise
Cell Biology
Cancer Biology

Research focus
Golgi
protein glycosylation
signaling
cancer
matrix degradation
cell migration

Experimental organism
human
mouse
Xuetao Cao

Zhejiang University School of Medicine, China

Expertise
Cancer Biology
Immunology and Inflammation

Research focus
immunology of APCs
TLR signalling and immune regulation
cancer immunotherapy and gene therapy
Vincenzo Cerullo

University of Helsinki, Finland

Expertise
Cancer Biology
Immunology and Inflammation

Research focus
oncoimmunology
cancer immunity
immunotherapy
cancer vaccines
oncolytic viruses
oncolytic vaccines

Experimental organism
human
mouse
Syrian hamster
Seth J Corey

Cleveland Clinic, United States

Expertise
Cancer Biology

Research focus
myeloid malignancies
inherited or acquired bone marrow failure
neutrophils
platelets zebrafish
cancer evolution
proteostasis
Irwin Davidson

Institut de Genetique et de Biologie Moleculaire et Cellulaire, CNRS/INSERM/UDS, France

Expertise
Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
Cancer Biology
Chromosomes and Gene Expression

Research focus
transcription
chromatin
genomics
cancer

Experimental organism
human
mouse
Ralph J DeBerardinis

University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, United States

Expertise
Cancer Biology
Cell Biology
Human Biology and Medicine

Research focus
metabolism
cancer
genetics
medicine
pediatrics
genomics
mitochondria

Experimental organism
human
mouse
Martin Eilers

University of Würzburg, Germany

Expertise
Cancer Biology

Research focus
Myc proteins
Myc function
Targeting N-MYC/AURORA for tumor therapy
Myc and Ubiquitin

Experimental organism
human
Wafik S El-Deiry

Brown University, United States

Expertise
Cancer Biology
Human Biology and Medicine

Research focus
p53 pathway
cell death
medical oncology
drug development
drug discovery

Experimental organism
human
mouse
Joaquin Espinosa

University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, United States

Expertise
Cancer Biology
Cell Biology
Human Biology and Medicine

Research focus
cancer biology
apoptosis
p53
tumor suppressors
trisomy 21
Down syndrome
gene expression
chromatin
Eduardo Eyras

Australian National University, Australia

Expertise
Genetics and Genomics
Cancer Biology

Research focus
RNA biology
cancer
long-read sequencing technologies
machine learning
Lydia W S Finley

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, United States

Expertise
Cell Biology
Cancer Biology
Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine

Research focus
cell metabolism
cancer
stem cells
epigenetics
cell fate
Margaret Frame

University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Expertise
Cancer Biology

Research focus
cancer
cell adhesion networks
nodal tyrosine kinases
Christine M Friedenreich

University of Calgary, Canada

Expertise
Cancer Biology
Human Biology and Medicine
Epidemiology and Global Health

Research focus
cancer epidemiology
cancer etiology
cancer prevention
physical activity
obesity
diet
biologic mechanisms
Erica Golemis

Fox Chase Cancer Center, United States

Expertise
Cancer Biology

Research focus
cancer
molecular therapeutics
signaling networks
targeted therapy
signal transduction
polycystic kidney disease
Michael R Green

University of Massachusetts Medical School, United States

Expertise
Cancer Biology
Chromosomes and Gene Expression
Human Biology and Medicine

Research focus
transcription
pre-mRNA splicing
cancer molecular biology
oncology
genetics
functional genomics

Experimental organism
human
mouse
S. cerevisiae
William C Hahn

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, United States

Expertise
Cancer Biology
Genetics and Genomics
Human Biology and Medicine

Research focus
cancer
transformation
functional genomics
RAS
YAP1

Experimental organism
human
Matthew G. Vander Heiden

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States

Expertise
Cancer Biology
Human Biology and Medicine

Research focus
cancer biology
biochemistry
metabolism
tumor microenvironment
redox biology

Experimental organism
mouse
human
Wenwei Hu

Rutgers University, United States

Expertise
Cancer Biology

Research focus
p53 signaling
tumor suppressors
cancer metabolism
cancer cell biology
signal transduction

Experimental organism
human
mouse
Tony Hunter

Salk Institute for Biological Studies, United States

Expertise
Cancer Biology
Cell Biology

Research focus
cancer
signal transduction
phosphorylation
ubiquitylation
sumoylation

Experimental organism
mouse
yeast
Ashish Lal

National Institutes of Health, United States

Expertise
Cancer Biology
Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
Chromosomes and Gene Expression
Genetics and Genomics

Research focus
RNA biology
lncRNAs
microRNAs
gene regulation
cancer biology
p53

Experimental organism
human
Beate Lichtenberger

Medical University of Vienna, Austria

Expertise
Cancer Biology
Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine

Research focus
Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs)
fibroblast-mediated skin pathologies
skin cancer
stem cell fate decisions

Experimental organism
human
mouse
Yuk Ming Dennis Lo

The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR China

Expertise
Human Biology and Medicine
Genetics and Genomics
Cancer Biology

Research focus
molecular diagnostics
liquid biopsies
noninvasive prenatal testing
epigenetics

Experimental organism
human
Yuting Ma

Suzhou Institute of Systems Medicine, China

Expertise
Cancer Biology
Immunology and Inflammation
Cell Biology

Research focus
tumor immunology
immunotherapy
tumor microenvironment
stress responses
neuroendocrine-immune crosstalk
cell death
Kay F Macleod

University of Chicago, United States

Expertise
Cell Biology
Cancer Biology
Human Biology and Medicine
Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine

Research focus
autophagy
mitochondria
stress responses
tumor progression and metastasis
tumor stem cells
hepatic steatosis and hepatocellular carcinoma
breast cancer
pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma
Ravindra Majeti

Stanford University, United States

Expertise
Cancer Biology
Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine

Research focus
stem cells
hematopoietic stem cells
acute myeloid leukemia
xenotransplantation
pre-leukemia

Experimental organism
human
Jean-Christophe Marine

Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie, Belgium

Expertise
Cancer Biology
Genetics and Genomics

Research focus
mouse genetics
molecular oncology
cancer genomics

Experimental organism
mouse
Grant McArthur

Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Australia

Expertise
Cancer Biology

Research focus
melanoma
Martin McMahon

University of Utah, United States

Expertise
Cancer Biology

Research focus
metastatic melanoma
lung cancer
thyroid cancer

Experimental organism
mouse
human
Duojia Pan

UT Southwestern Medical Center, United States

Expertise
Cancer Biology
Cell Biology
Human Biology and Medicine

Research focus
growth control
tumor suppressors
oncogenes
Hippo signaling
transcription
regeneration

Experimental organism
D. melanogaster
mouse
Lynne-Marie Postovit

University of Alberta, Canada

Expertise
Cancer Biology
Cell Biology
Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine

Research focus
cellular plasticity
tumour microenvironment
hypoxia
stem cells
metastasis
ovarian cancer
breast cancer
Daniela Robles-Espinoza

International Laboratory for Human Genome Research, Mexico

Expertise
Cancer Biology
Genetics and Genomics

Research focus
melanoma
bioinformatics
telomeres
acral lentiginous melanoma
sequencing
Jody Rosenblatt

King's College London, United Kingdom

Expertise
Cell Biology
Human Biology and Medicine
Cancer Biology

Research focus
apoptosis
mitosis
cell extrusion
epithelial
homeostasis
morphogenesis
cancer cell biology
Charles Sawyers

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, United States

Expertise
Cancer Biology
Human Biology and Medicine

Research focus
translational medicine
oncology

Experimental organism
human
Jeffrey Settleman

Pfizer, United States

Expertise
Cancer Biology

Research focus
cancer cell biology
signal transduction
tumor heterogeneity
signaling
epigenetics
Nima Sharifi

Cleveland Clinic, United States

Expertise
Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
Cancer Biology

Research focus
steroid biochemistry
steroid metabolism
prostate cancer
nuclear receptors
hormone therapy resistance
androgens
oncology

Experimental organism
mouse
Xiaobing Shi

Van Andel Institute, United States

Expertise
Chromosomes and Gene Expression
Cancer Biology

Research focus
epigenetics
histone modifications
transcription
methylation
acetylation
YEATS domain
PHD finger
ZZ domain

Experimental organism
mouse
cancer cell lines
Margaret Stanley

University of Cambridge, United Kingdom

Expertise
Cancer Biology
Microbiology and Infectious Disease
Human Biology and Medicine
Epidemiology and Global Health

Research focus
vaccines
cervix cancer
cervix precancer
keratinocyte biology
human papillomavirus
DNA viruses
vaccine immunology

Experimental organism
human
Ivan Topisirovic

Jewish General Hospital, Canada

Expertise
Cancer Biology
Chromosomes and Gene Expression
Cell Biology

Research focus
protein synthesis
mRNA translation
signal transduction
post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression
metabolism
Alfonso Valencia

Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Spain

Expertise
Cancer Biology
Computational and Systems Biology

Research focus
bioinformatics
computational biology
structural bioinformatics
co-evolution
cancer genomics
text mining
Eric J Wagner

University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, United States

Expertise
Chromosomes and Gene Expression
Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
Cancer Biology
Genetics and Genomics

Research focus
RNA biology
transcription
RNA processing
gene expression
Norma Ybarra

Research Institute McGill University Health Center, Canada

Expertise
Cancer Biology
Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine

Research focus
radiation biology
radiotherapy
cancer cell metabolism
cancer therapies
Hao Zhu

University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, United States

Expertise
Cancer Biology
Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine
Human Biology and Medicine

Research focus
mechanisms of tissue repair and organ regeneration
liver cancer
hepatocellular carcinoma
epigenetics
polyploidy

Experimental organism
human
mouse
Wilbert Zwart

Netherlands Cancer Institute, Netherlands

Expertise
Cancer Biology
Human Biology and Medicine

Research focus
breast cancer
prostate cancer
hormonal regulation
epigenetics
transcription factors
genomic profiling

Experimental organism
human