2025 Seed Grant
Gilbert J. Rahme, Ph.D.
Stony Brook University
Gliomas are a kind of brain tumor that are hard to treat and often come back after treatment. Many gliomas start because of changes in a gene called IDH. These changes don’t directly affect the DNA sequence itself, but they change how the DNA works. These “epigenetic” changes can mess up the natural boundaries in our DNA, which normally help control which genes are turned on or off. When these boundaries are lost, certain genes that help tumors grow can become too active.
In our research, we’re looking at a piece of DNA called an enhancer. An enhancer acts like a power switch for certain genes. We’re studying how this enhancer works in brain cells called oligodendrocyte progenitor cells, which might be where gliomas with IDH changes begin. We want to understand how this enhancer gets turned on and how it helps these brain tumors grow. By learning how this process happens, we hope to find new ways to treat or slow down these tumors. This research could also help us learn more about other brain related disorders, including developmental diseases that involve changes in the same DNA regions.
