Principal Investigator

Danny N. Dhanasekaran, PhD
Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation Endowed Chair in Cancer Research
Professor, Department of Cell Biology
Director, MTCRO-COBRE & Center for Basic Cancer Research Deputy Director
for Basic Cancer Research, OU Health Stephenson Cancer Center
Contact Information:
University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
Biomedical Research Center, Suite # 1417
975 N.E. 10th Street
Oklahoma City, OK 73104
P:
405-271-6850
F: 405-271-2141
E:
danny-dhanasekaran@ouhsc.edu
About
The PI is Danny N. Dhanasekaran, Ph.D., Professor of Cell Biology, Samuel
Roberts Noble Foundation Chair in Cancer Research, Director of the Center
for Basic Cancer Research, and Deputy Director for Basic Research at the
Stephenson Cancer Center at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences
Center, Oklahoma City. Dr. Dhanasekaran has a long track record of cancer
research, which is well funded by NCI. Before moving to OUHSC in 2009,
Dr. Dhanasekaran was on the faculty of the Fels Institute for Cancer Research
and Molecular Biology at the Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, for 17 years. His major research focus has been to define
oncogenic signaling pathways involved in cancer cell proliferation and
metastasis. He has made major contributions in describing the role the
gep oncogenes, defined by the activated mutants of the alpha subunits
of G12 and G13, in the regulation of cell proliferation, transformation
and metastasis.
Currently, Dr. Dhanasekaran conducts collaborative and translational research
with colleagues at OUHSC and other universities across the United States
and abroad. He is the founding editor and the editor in chief of
Journal on Molecular Signaling. In addition, he serves on the editorial boards of
Faculty 1000
and
Genes & Cancer. He has also served as review series editor for
Oncogene. Dr. Dhanasekaran has served on several peer-review committees of the
National Institutes of Health American Heart Association, Komen Foundation,
and the Department of Defense.
As a member of the Board of Scientific Counselors of the NCI, he reviewed
intramural programs at Oral and Pharyngeal Cancer Branch, National Institute
of Dental and Craniofacial Research Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. Dhanasekaran
served as a full member of the Tumor Cell Biology study section at NIH
and he is a frequent ad-hoc member of the Tumor Cell Biology study section
of the NIH and the Breast and Prostate Cancer Programs of the Congressionally
Directed Medical Research Programs of the Department of Defense. In addition,
he has been serving on the review panels of many international funding
organizations for biomedical research, including those of South Korea,
China, Singapore, and Netherlands.
At present, as the Deputy Director of Basic Research at Stephenson Cancer
Center, Dr. Dhanasekaran is involved in strengthening the research infrastructure
of the Stephenson Cancer Center. To date, the PI has mentored 19 postdoctoral
fellows, five fellows, six graduate students, and more than 25 undergraduate
summer interns. Three of his graduate students have become independent
investigators in three different biomedical research institutions. Five
of his postdoctoral fellows have joined the faculties at academic institutions
and eight others have become directors and program leaders in various
pharmaceutical companies.