The main focus of Dr. Brody's laboratory is to find novel therapeutic strategies for pancreatic cancer patients. During his over ten years of training at Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Brody began exploring drug-target interactions. Utilizing diverse molecular biology techniques that include DNA sequencing, gene knockout and silencing assays, and development of a drug metabolism assay, Dr. Brody has published extensively on aspects of chemotherapeutics, namely gemcitabine, 5-fluorouracil and platinum-based agents. Part of this work includes his special interest in targeting cancer cells with defects in the BRCA2/Fanconi Anemia pathway. His work also includes the advancement in the basic DNA detection technique of DNA electrophoresis, by discovering new and better alternatives to tris-based buffers, such as lithium-based buffers, that can separate DNA at a fraction of the time compared to conventionally used conductive media. In regards to mRNA stability, Dr. Brody aided in cloning members of the pp32 gene family over a decade ago. Members of this family, pp32 and APRIL, have been shown previously to be ligands and functionally interact with the RNA binding protein, HuR. Currently, Dr. Brody's work focuses on how HuR biology is involved in pancreatic tumorigenesis as well as cancer cell survival. His laboratory is also interested in how HuR expression levels and protein subcellular localization affects treatment of pancreatic cancer. Recently, the group published work showing that HuR subcellular localization is a valuable predictive marker for the standard of care (i.e., gemcitabine) for this disease. His laboratory's work is now primarily focused on HuR biology as it relates to the clinical management of cancer, including identifying clinically relevant HuR targets. Besides his laboratory work, Dr. Brody was recently named Director of Surgical Research and is Co-director of the Jefferson Pancreas, Biliary and Related Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University. He recently won the national PanCAN-AACR Career Development award and an American Cancer Society, Research Scholar Grant for his work on HuR's role in pancreatic cancer.

Patent Dramatically Improves DNA Analysis