Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) accounts for about 90% of ovarian cancers and represents the leading cause of gynecological cancer-related deaths. Recent studies show that EOC is a heterogeneous disease. High grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC) is the most common subtype that represents 70% of all EOC. The standard of care for women with HGSOC is the combination of platinum and taxane. However, the survival rates of these patients remain low due to the development of chemotherapeutic resistance and tumor recurrence. Therefore, new therapeutic options, such as targeted therapy, are required to improve the survival for EOC patients. Multiple epigenetic factors have high rates of amplification or overexpression in HGSOC patients. Subsets of HGSOC that are driven by impaired activity of epigenetic machinery are often characterized by poor prognosis. Thus, there is a great need for developing personalized therapeutic interventions that will target HGSOCs based on individual epigenetic landscape.

My research interest is focused on understanding the role of epigenetics in promoting tumorigenesis and chemoresistance in ovarian cancer. I am specifically interested in developing novel therapeutic strategies based on epigenetics that can potentially improve current standard-of-care therapies for ovarian cancer.

• Ovarian cancer
• Cancer epigenetics
• Epigenetic therapies
• Translational research