Carcinogenesis and Chemoprevention Program

Program Leader: Chung S. Yang, Ph.D.

Overall Goals: to further our understanding of the carcinogenic process and to devise new agents and approaches for cancer prevention.

• To elucidate the molecular mechanisms of carcinogenesis. This includes molecular alterations that lead to cancer formation; environmental and genetic factors that impact carcinogenesis; and cellular and molecular mechanisms that modulate cancer development.
• To study the efficacy and mechanisms of inhibition of carcinogenesis by dietary and synthetic compounds, individually and to combination.
• To translate the knowledge gained from these studies into clinical and population-based trials for prevention of human cancer.

The program promotes a multidisciplinary approach encompassing biochemistry, molecular biology, nutrition, pathology, pharmacology, animal surgery and clinical oncology. Members have identified important new models of cancer causation, new molecular targets and demonstrated the chemopreventive activity of several natural products.