Ross L. Cagan PhD

Ross L. Cagan, PhD, is Professor of the Department of Developmental and Regenerative Biology and Director of the Center for Personalized Cancer Therapeutics. He is also Senior Editor of Disease Models and Mechanisms and co-founder of Medros Inc.

Dr. Cagan's laboratory focuses on the use of Drosophila to address disease mechanisms and therapeutics, primarily for cancer. Their work helped validate vandetanib as a therapeutic for Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma, combined Drosophila genetics and medicinal chemistry to develop a new generation of lead compounds that emphasize "balanced polypharmacology", and identified novel mechanisms that direct transformed cells into the first steps towards metastasis.

Combining these basic research approaches, Dr. Cagan has established the Center for Personalized Cancer Therapeutics, in which new tools including 'personalized Drosophila avatars' are developed and used to screen for personalized drug cocktails.

Working with co-directors Marshall Posner and Eric Schadt, the CPCT is designed to treat patients with drug combinations that best address the tumor's complexities. For more information, please visit the Cagan Laboratory website.