Welcome
The overarching mission of the OHSU Department of Cell, Developmental & Cancer Biology is to advance the understanding of problems relevant to human health and disease. To accomplish this mission, research groups in the department have historically focused on questions regarding cell structure, organelles, life cycle, differentiation, and regulated communication between cells and extracellular signals and cues. An ultimate application of knowledge gained from these studies has been to understand important cell physiologic processes that effect human biology. These issues directly link to problems of interest to developmental biologists, including molecular and cellular mechanisms regulating tissue morphogenesis, tissue polarity and patterning. Read full welcome message here.
Featured stories and photos
Aaron Grossberg, Teresa Zimmers, and Liem Quang Le-Lau hosted a Brenden-Colson Center for Pancreatic Care Pancreatic Cancer Thrivership Community Conference on November 8 with speakers and presenters from the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute, including Brittany Counts and Sara Ota of CDCB, and Pancreatic Cancer Action Network's Portland Affiliate. We hosted 45 family members, caregivers, and survivors for lectures, lunch, lab tours, and an interactive panel. It was wonderful to be in community with people facing this tough disease, particularly when Pancreatic Cancer Awareness month shines a light on the people, families, and caregivers affected.
Dr. Missy Wong has been appointment as the Knight Cancer Institute's associate director of basic science. She steps into this role formerly held by Dr. Lisa Coussens who was named a co-deputy director in the KCI. After conducting a national search for this position, the search committee selected Dr. Wong from a strong slate of internal and external candidates. Missy has been at OHSU and a member of the Knight Cancer Institute for over 20 years. She currently serves as vice chair for the Department of Cell, Developmental and Cancer Biology in the OHSU School of Medicine, and has served as co-leader of the Cancer Biology Program for three competitive renewals of the KCI P30 grant from the National Cancer Institute, with three different co-leaders. Missy’s accomplishments as a scientist are well-recognized, particularly her laboratory’s research on the physiologic impact of cell fusion hybrids between circulating bone marrow-derived and intestinal tumor epithelial cells in advancing tumorigenesis.
Her history of collaborative team science and mentoring are notable, and her commitment to Community Outreach and Engagement (COE) and DEI add to our confidence in her success in this next chapter of her scientific leadership. In this new role, she will collaborate with Dr. Coussens, as well as Dr. Eneida Nemecek, associate director of clinical research, and Dr. Shelley Tworoger, associate director of population science, to guide the development of innovative policies and programs to further discovery-based science across all four research programs.
Knight Cancer Institute receives record $2 billion commitment
Phil and Penny Knight announced on August 14, 2025, a record-breaking $2 billion gift to the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute to transform the future of cancer care and set a new standard globally. The Knights have a long history of supporting Dr. Druker and the Knight Cancer Institute’s efforts to end cancer as we know it.
With the magnitude of this generous gift and what we set out to do, the Knight Cancer Institute will become self-governed within OHSU. To accomplish this, the Knight Cancer Group will be created to lead the Knight Cancer Institute and manage OHSU’s cancer services. It will have its own board of directors, and Dr. Druker will be the inaugural president of this new organization.
We will Give Cancer Hell and raise the bar for what cancer care looks like across the world.
Manuscript invitation: Cancers
Dr. Sanjay Malhotra with members of the Malhotra lab, Drs. Dhanir Tailor (Research Assistant Professor) and Annah Rolig (Scientific Writer), are guest editors for a special issue of Cancers titled From Molecular Insights to Cancer Treatments: Progress in Translational Science. CDCB faculty are invited to submit manuscripts by March 31, 2026.
CDCB News
Recent accolades and funding
Congratulations to Dr. Sanjay Malhotra who received the SHOC Foundation's 2026 Pilot Research Award for his project "Uncovering GBP-1's Role in Ovarian Cancer Resistance and Immune Suppression".
Congratulations to Dr. Julia Maxson who received an R Accelerated Award for her project "MYST acetyltransferases as a targetable dependency in JMML" from Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation.
Dr. Brittany Counts, postdoc in the Zimmers lab, was selected for the 2026 class of the AstraZeneca Partners of Choice Mentorship Program. Congratulations!
Rachel Huynh, graduate student in the Moran lab, received the Young Investigator Travel Award for Outstanding Poster Presentation (sponsored by Biolegend) at the 64th Midwinter Conference of Immunologists for her poster titled "Androgen receptor signaling mediates CD8 T cell migration and immunity." Congratulations!
Recent publications
Dr. Amy Moran and her lab recently published "Elevated Tumor-Associated Androgen Receptor Activity Correlates with Poor Immune Infiltration and Immunotherapy Response across Cancer Types" in Cancer Research Communications.
Dr. Molly Thomas, with OHSU colleague Dr. Noah Hornick, had a co-senior author review paper titled "When checkpoint inhibitors break barriers: Mechanisms and challenges of irAEs of the skin, gastrointestinal tract, and lung" published in Clinical Cancer Research.
Dr. Reuben Hoffmann, postdoc in the Schedin lab, published a first author paper titled "S-nitrosylated COX-2 is a microenvironment-regulated breast cancer cell biomarker of mesenchymal phenotypes" in Experimental Cell Research. This was based on work he did during his fellowship in the ICSB T32 training program.
Dr. Arianna Sattler, recent PhD graduate co-mentored by Drs. Teresa Zimmers and Ece Eksi, has had a manuscript "Sympathetic nerve–fibroblast crosstalk drives nerve injury, fibroblast activation, and matrix remodeling in pancreatic cancer" accepted for publication in JCI Insight.
View all CDCB news and recognitions.
CDCB Travel Guide
Submit your upcoming travel to the department chair for approval: CDCB Travel Approval Form
Approval is required before booking travel charged to institutional funds, including: startup, foundation, and internal grants. Without approval, travelers will be responsible for all travel costs and ineligible for reimbursement.
Timeline to submit travel approval requests:
- Domestic: At least 45 days in advance
- International: At least 120 days in advance
Separate submissions should be filed for each leg of combined trips when attending consecutive events.
Please allow up to 3 weeks for processing travel fund requests. If you have any questions about a request you've submitted, please message Parker Mattson.
Important travel resources:
- Basic Sciences Travel Policy
- Basic Sciences Travel Best Practices
- Before Booking Travel Guidelines
- International Travel Guide
- File Off Campus Authorization for international travel at least 90 days in advance
- Recruitment Candidate Travel Guidelines
Knight Cancer Institute Trainee Travel Grants
Travel awards are available for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows conducting cancer-focused research with Knight-affiliated faculty. Up to $1500 in funding will be awarded to selected trainees who will present their research at a national meeting but may not have sufficient funds available.
Graduate student travel awards are supported by a generous gift from the Frohnmayer Hicks Sciarretta Cancer Research Scholars Program. Postdoctoral travel awards are supported by the Knight Cancer Research Training and Education Coordination Office.
The 2026 deadline for applications are:
- January 15, 2026
- April 15, 2026
- July 15, 2026
- October 15, 2026
For more information, visit the Knight Cancer Institute Trainee Travel Grants SharePoint Site or email us at KnightEDU@ohsu.edu
CDCB labs recruiting
Careers with an emphasis on preclinical and translational science
CDCB welcomes
CDCB is pleased to welcome Jevon Cutler, Ph.D., who will have a secondary appointment in CDCB along with his primary appointment in Pediatrics in the Division of Hematology and Oncology. Working in the disease setting of leukemia, Cr. Cutler's lab aims to better understand therapeutic strategies and drug resistance involving epigenetic-modifying small molecules. Through these efforts we strive to both improve upon these strategies and understand the mechanisms of chromatin-bound protein complex regulation that drive disease. Welcome, Dr. Cutler!
CDCB is excited to welcome Angelina Vaseva, Ph.D. who has joined OHSU as an Assistant Professor with a primary appointment in the Department of Pediatrics and a joint appointment with us in the Department of Cell, Developmental & Cancer Biology. Dr. Vaseva's research program will focus on targeting oncogenic RAS in pediatric cancers. Welcome, Dr. Vaseva!