Our faculty actively participates in clinical and basic sciences research. Clinical research is focused on Urological Oncology, BPH and minimally invasive surgical procedures. Basic laboratory research is focused on prostate cancer and Benign Prostate Hyperplasia (BPH).
Urology Research Laboratory
Andrew N. Makarovskiy, M.D.
Research Assistant Professor, Principal Investigator T: 617-636-6382
The Urology Research Laboratory is studying prostate stem cell lineage and how the resident adult prostate tissue stem cells become involved in malignant prostate tissue growth. The long-term goals are to develop new molecular tools and therapeutic approaches to target and eliminate tumor initiating stem cells in the prostate, while sparing normal tissues. Current research is focused on understanding normal prostatic stem cell lineage. This is knowledge that will translate into a better understanding of the role stem cells play in the development of prostate cancer.
The second research direction is focused on the characterization of cellular and molecular mechanisms that allow proliferation of multinucleated polyploid giant tumor cells. Such cells frequently arise in tumors following radiation and/or chemotherapy with Taxanes, which are the common treatment for prostate cancer. By comparing the gene expression profile of the drug sensitive and resistant cells, we seek to identify new molecular targets for drug development and/or modifications of current therapy regimens to preclude tumor survival.
