The broad goal of our research is to delineate the molecular basis of human disease to identify novel treatment approaches.

One major focus of our studies is the characterization of the RIT1 oncoprotein, which is a key regulator of signal transduction pathways that control normal cell growth and differentiation. Using whole-exome sequence analysis on a subgroup of 'oncogene-negative' tumors allowed our recent identification of somatic RIT1 mutations in ~2.5% of lung adenocarcinoma cases. Importantly, RIT1 mutations were found to be mutually exclusive with all previously known driver mutations, and expression of mutant RIT1 induces cellular transformation. We are interested in further investigating the functional role of RIT1 in lung adenocarcinoma with the long-term goal of creating novel avenues for therapeutic intervention.