James G. Herman MD

James G. Herman is currently an associate director of the Hematology/Oncology Fellowship program at the University of Pittsburgh. His research program explores changes in DNA methylation in cancer and we were the first to demonstrate that tumor suppressor genes are silenced by promoter region methylation. We have characterized changes in methylation associated with the development and progression of cancer, including the demonstration of changes in DNA methylation in premalignant lesions.

Current research is aimed at utilizing these findings to improve the management of patients through the development of prognostic, predictive, and early detection epigenetic biomarkers, and in studies of epigenetic therapy. They has developed new methods for study of DNA methylation (methylation specific PCR, in Situ MSP, ERMA, and more recently nanotechnology based detection methods, included MS-QFRET and MOB, DREAMing). These sensitive methods have been used for the early detection of cancer and for developing predictive biomarkers. He is a member of TCGA (The Cancer Genome Atlas) and have characterized genome wide epigenetic changes in cancer in multiple forms of cancer.