Research Information
Research Interests
Dr. Abbas is well trained in multidisciplinary research, has broad research experience in cancer biology with a solid background in genomics and bioinformatics. Dr. Abbas has expertise in the areas of epigenetics and global transcriptional regulation and utilizing them to unfold the complexities of tumor physiopathology.
Dr. Abbas' initial training was in the area of reproductive immunology, specifically to understand the immunological paradox - a successful pregnancy - and associated pathologies. This immunology background translates to an understanding of the tumor immune microenvironment and mechanisms of immune evasion employed by tumor cells. Dr. Abbas' current research is focused on 1) the identification of genomic and transcriptomic signatures of metastatic small cell lung cancer (SCLC) using next-generation sequencing approaches to find novel therapeutic targets as well as biomarkers for SCLC, and 2) understanding the mechanisms that SCLC utilizes to escape immune surveillance and to design effective immunotherapeutic approaches to treat this highly metastatic tumor.