Professor Joseph Costello, University of California, San Francisco

The Costello lab investigates the role of genetic and epigenetic alterations in the development of sporadic cancers, with a focus on brain cancer ‐ specifically glioblastoma multiform (GBM). Deletion and aberrant methylation are prevalent in tumorigenesis, yet the interaction of these gene inactivation mechanisms on a genome‐wide scale is entirely unknown. By integrating the genomic and epigenomic approaches, we assess the interaction of genome copy number changes and aberrant gene methylation in tumors. Humboldt CIRM Scholar: Spencer Falor‐Ward (’10; Host research mentor: Allan Balmain, UCSF The Balmain labs' main research interests have been the elucidation of the molecular mechanisms of multistage carcinogenesis, with particular emphasis on mouse models of chemically induced skin tumor development.