Annie A. Huang

Biography

Dr. Annie Huang is Senior Neuro-Oncologist with the Paediatric Brain Tumour Program at The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, where she also holds appointments as Senior Scientist in Cell Biology, and Principal Investigator at the Arthur and Sonia Labatt Brain Tumour Research Centre. She is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Paediatrics, Lab Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada. After completing her MD and a PhD in medical and molecular genetics in 1995, Dr. Huang pursued clinical training in paediatrics and paediatric hematology-oncology followed by a post-doctoral research fellowship. Dr. Huang’s research program integrates her clinical interest in malignant brain tumours of infancy with laboratory investigations focused on the biology of rare paediatric brain tumours and mechanisms of brain tumour metastasis. Her past and recent laboratory work has specifically aimed to elucidate the pathogenesis of CNS-PNETs and Rhabdoid brain tumours (ATRTs) - two highly lethal brain tumours for which molecular mechanisms of disease remains poorly defined. As a post-doctoral fellow, she initiated an international collaborative network for rare embryonal brain tumours which has grown into one of the largest global, collaborative network and bio-repository for these rare diseases. Work conducted by this global research network has led to discovery of new disease entities and molecular sub-types of known diseases. In addition to advancing recognition and diagnosis of rare brain tumours, work from this consortium has enabled the discovery of novel disease mechanisms as well as better understanding of CNS-PNETs and ATRTs biology that is informing design of more specific treatment approaches to these rare diseases.  

Research Interest

Molecular pathogenesis of malignant paediatric brain tumours Role of Myc proteins in medulloblastoma PNET pathogenesis