Marcus Peter, PhD
Professor, Medicine, Hematology Oncology Division; Feinberg School of Medicine
Research Program
- Translational Research in Malignancy (TRIM)
Link
Cancer-Focused Research
Dr. Peter has been working in the apoptosis and death receptor field for 19 years. His initial work in 1995 described the first multiprotein complex in apoptosis, the CD95 death-inducing signaling complex (DISC). This was followed by the cloning of the key component of the DISC, caspase-8 in 1996 together with Vishva Dixit's group. Over the years Dr. Peter's group has described the apoptosis signaling pathway of CD95 in detail. After his relocation to the US in 1999 he turned to novel nonapoptotic activities of CD95 which his group recently reported to be highly relevant for cancer cells. The Peter lab discovered that the miRNA family let-7 families is a major regulator of tumor progression. Subsequently the group demonstrated that miR-200 is a marker and a powerful regulator of the epithelial-mesenchymal-transition (EMT). Most recently, the Peter Lab reported a novel way to kill cancer cells based on targeting critical survival genes by RNAi active toxic RNAs they call DISE (for death induced by survival gene elimination). The goals of the current research conducted in Dr. Peter's lab are: 1. To study the tumorigenic activities and signaling pathways of the death receptor CD95/Fas and 2. To study the role of miRNAs in tumor progression. 3. To develop DISE into novel form of cancer therapy.