A primary focus of Dr. Lee Goodglick’s research is identifying molecular protein profiles of tumor initiation and progression. As the co-director of the UCLA Early Detection Research Network (EDRN), a flagship consortium launched by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), Goodglick’s team has developed a research program focused on identifying viable strategies for detecting cancer. A key mission of the program is to evaluate molecular signatures of tumor development and progression at the protein and gene level.

A main area of interest is protoemics, with his team utilizing high-throughput technologies which include high-density tissue microarrays (TMAs) as well as mass spectrometry. TMAs (chips with hundreds or thousands of individual tissue spots representing hundreds of different patients) produce samples that can be mined for protein express levels, activation status, localization and other parameters. Using these technologies, his lab has identified key molecular circuits critical for tumor progression. These molecular circuits have interesting translational applications as well, including successfully defining protein profiles that are diagnostic for subsets of cancers and/or prognostic for outcomes. In addition, Goodglick’s analyses have revealed a number of previously unappreciated molecular targets for therapeutic attack, and his team is currently translating these findings to the clinic.

In addition, Goodglick’s lab is also studying the molecular circuitry of cancer using genomics. Utilizing lung cancer as a representative example, his team has compiled one of the largest sets of human lung cancer gene expression data in the world. In collaboration with Dr. Steve Horvath of UCLA’s Department of Biostatistics and Human Genetics, Goodglick has constructed a unique portfolio of mining tools to more effectively and efficiently analyze such data. This approach has proved to be more powerful and effective than traditional analytical approaches and has yielded important findings regarding meaningful genomic circuits of lung cancer progression and outcome.

A second primary focus of Goodglick’s research is to understand the function of a family that modulates cellular interaction with the environment and, in a pathological setting, contributes to tumor progressive. His team is currently focusing molecular shuttles, and the mechanism of tumor progression as modulated by a family of 4-transmembrane proteins. Through a productive collaboration with Drs. Jonathan Braun and Madhuri Wadehra, his team has identified a GAS3 family member, called Epithelial Membrane Protein-2 (EMP2), that modulates the expression of specific proteins (such as integrins) on the cell surface. Integrins are important sensors of the extracellular environment and are critical for adhesion and migration. The collaborative group is defining the molecular and biochemical importance of EMP2 and related family members in a number of physiological processes as well as in certain pathologies (such as specific cancers).