Robert Hoffman, PhD 

Research Overview

Our research program centers on cancer with the ultimate goal of developing a general cure.

Research Topics

Current Project Titles

• Tumor killing bacteria
• Pluripotent hair follicle stem cells for nerve regeneration
• Imaging the cellular and subcellular steps of metastasis in vivo
• Methionine-depletion cancer therapy
• Imaging cell cycle progression in vivo for chemotherapy drug targeting
• Developing visual cellular targets for cancer therapy
• Circulating tumor cells as targets for chemotherapy
• Development of fluorescence-guided surgery
• Orthotopic mouse models of human patient tumors:
  • Schmitt, C.A., Fridman, J.S., Yang, M., Baranov, E., Hoffman, R.M. and Lowe, S.W. Dissecting p53 tumor suppressor functions in vivo. Cancer Cell 1, 289-298, 2002. (view cover)
  • Soda, Y., Marumoto, T., Friedmann-Morvinski, D., Soda, M., Liu, F., Michiue, H., Pastorino, S., Yang, M., Hoffman, R.M., Kesari, S., Verma, I.M. Transdifferentiation of glioblastoma cells into vascular endothelial cells. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 108, 4274-4280, 2011. (view cover)
• The role of exosomes and micro-RNA in cancer metastasis
• Identification and characterization of cancer stem cells
• Genetic exchange between cancer cells and between cancer cells and stroma
• Role of macrophages in tumor growth
• Color-coded imaging of the tumor micro-environment and its role in tumor progression and metastasis