vy-p-tran/modeling-iron-pathways-in-the-tumor-microenvironment

Predict regulatory components and model iron pathways in the tumor microenvironment

Cancer is a leading cause of death in the United States, causing approximately 600,000 deaths per year. Therefore, continuous research efforts must take place to understand the underlying mechanisms of cancers in order to find effective cancer treatments. Iron is an essential metal for biological processes. However, iron is also toxic. It has the capacity to engage in redox cycling and free radical formation. Dysregulation of iron has been linked to various diseases such as Alzheimer’s, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and anemia. The important genes in cellular and systemic iron homeostasis in cancer have been identified and investigated in detail, but the majority of studies use a reductionist approach, which may not capture the complexity of the role of iron in cancer. For this project, we would like to use a systems biology approach to model the iron networks in different forms of cancer. We will use a combination of high-throughput data, literature search, and bioinformatics tool to build iron network models.