2007 Individual Investigator Award Recipient — Tian-Li Wang, PhD

Project Summary

The biological functions of cells inside human body depend on the intricate networking of signaling pathways. Aberration of those signaling pathways has been linked to many diseases, including cancer. Dr. Wang’s research has focused on studying one of the pathways, called the “Notch signaling pathway” which has been known to play a critical role in cancer development. Recently, he identified Notch3 gene amplification (or increase in gene copy number) and over-expression of the gene product in ovarian cancer cells and showed that these changes lead ovarian cells to grow beyond control. In his project, Dr. Wang plans to study why Notch3 goes awry in normal ovaries and to further understand how aberrant Notch3 signaling contributes to ovarian cancer. His results should help advance understanding of the biology of ovarian cancer and pave the molecular ground toward a possible therapy that targets Notch3.

Bio

Dr. Tian-Li Wang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institution in Baltimore, Maryland.