Breast Oncology Research

About Our Program

The Breast Oncology program (Drs. Steven Come, Lowell Schnipper, Nadine Tung, Gerburg Wulf, Ralph Scully) is a key member of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (DF/HCC) Breast Cancer SPORE. 

Breast Oncology Laboratories

The Breast Oncology Program is involved in state-of-the-art clinical, basic and translational research activities. Dr. Come is involved in clinical trials in breast cancer, with a specific interest in endocrine therapy. Dr. Tung is interested in hereditary susceptibility genes, which cause breast and ovarian cancer. Learn more about our labs:

  • Wulf Lab: Led by Dr. Gerburg Wulf, this lab studies signal transduction in breast cancer, specifically the role of aberrant prolyl isomerization. Prolyl isomerization catalyzed by Pin1 is a post-phosphorylational regulatory mechanism that is important for signal transduction downstream from oncogenic Ras and Her2/Neu. Dr. Wulf's pre-clinical work has translated into a phase I study exploring the combination of Herceptin and Rad001 in metastatic Her2-positive breast cancer.
  • Scully Lab: Led by Dr. Ralph Scully, this lab has as a major focus understanding how several tumor suppressor genes (BRCA1, BRCA2, the Bloom's Syndrome gene (BLM), Fanconi Anemia genes (FA) and histone H2AX) control sister chromatid recombination and how to relate this to their tumor suppressor functions. These studies may someday be applied for prevention and therapy of human cancers that carry BRCA1/2 mutations, such as breast cancer.

Division of Hematology

The Division of Hematology, part of the Department of Medicine, offers world-class patient care, research programs, and education and training opportunities.