Sunit Das

Biography

Division of Neurosurgery St. Michael's Hospital 30 Bond St. Toronto Ontario M5B 1W8 Phone: 416-864-5548 Fax: 416-864-5596 Email: sunit.das@utoronto.ca Research location: St. Michael's Hospital/Research Institute Primary Research Area: Cancer Secondary Research Area: Brain & Neuroscience Research Statement: Our lab is interested in the mechanisms that underlie the stem cell identity and direct cell fate in the normal brain and in glioblastoma.        Division of Neurosurgery St. Michael's Hospital 30 Bond St. Toronto Ontario M5B 1W8 Phone: 416-864-5548 Fax: 416-864-5596 Email: sunit.das@utoronto.ca Research location: St. Michael's Hospital/Research Institute Primary Research Area: Cancer Secondary Research Area: Brain & Neuroscience Research Statement: Our lab is interested in the mechanisms that underlie the stem cell identity and direct cell fate in the normal brain and in glioblastoma.       

Research Interest

We are interested in the role of long non-coding RNAs (lincs) in the control of cell fate in physiology and disease. In collaboration with Dr Phil Marsden, we have identified a novel linc, LIVE1, that mediates vascular maturation during normal blood vessel formation and coordinates angiogenesis in glioblastoma. Our current studies have focused on clarifying the mechanism by which LIVE1 acts, and in determining the role of linc-mediated angiogenesis in glioma biology.  Interestingly, we have found that LIVE1 is also highly expressed in metastatic but not primary melanoma and breast cancer. These findings, while preliminary, are very exciting and will instigate work in our lab to determine if LIVE1 has a role in metastatic progression in melanoma and breast cancer.