Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men, and new drugs have improved treatments and patient survival. Unfortunately, the disease often learns to resist these therapies. A special group of proteins called pioneer transcription factors help prostate cancer cells survive and adapt to these drug therapies. Additional difficulty with these proteins is that they are very hard to target with drugs. Excitingly, recent research, including our own, suggests we can block pioneer transcription factors effects by interfering with other proteins they depend on. Our project will uncover how these pioneer transcription factors work with their partners to drive drug resistance. Using cutting-edge techniques, including genome-wide and proteome-wide analyses and single-molecule imaging in live cells, we aim to reveal new weak points in cancer's defenses. This knowledge could lead to smarter, more effective treatments and bring hope to patients facing therapy-resistant prostate cancer.

2026

2030