Brain Cells Growing Bad: A Conversation with David Rowitch
The deadliest brain cancers, called gliomas, remain somewhat mysterious to researchers, which may be why they are difficult to treat. Recently, a molecule called olig has emerged as a prime suspect from the lab of physician-researcher David Rowitch, MD, and his longtime collaborator, Charles D. Stiles, PhD, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. In the brain, olig helps keep cells immature and capable of regenerating themselves indefinitely. Rowitch, a neonatologist, came to UCSF primarily to learn more about developmental diseases that arise in the brains of young children, and to find better ways to treat these disorders cerebral palsy, for instance. But the way cells go awry during brain development is similar to the way cells go awry in brain cancer, Rowitch and other researchers are finding out.
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David H. Rowitch MD, PhD
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