Functional Characterization of STAT3 inhibitors in head and neck cancer models

Description of projects available to graduate students:
Our laboratory is currently conducting studies to functionally characterize the effects of a panel of STAT3 inhibitors in head and neck cancer cells with the aim of identifying clinically efficacious STAT3 inhibitors for future clinical studies in cancer patients.

Techniques graduate student will learn:
Experiments involve analysis of these inhibitors on STAT3 promoter activity and STAT3 target gene expression (at the RNA and protein level) in head and neck cancer cell cultures. Rotation students can expect to gain experience with a variety of systems including cell culture, drug treatment, MTT assay, cell death assay, Western blotting and preclinical animal studies.