Lead team of scientists dedicated to the development, validation, and implementation of tissue-based diagnostic assays to support patient selection in clinical studies across all phases. Responsibilities include direct interaction with external testing labs and companion diagnostic assay vendors supporting clinical studies.

Discovery, development and validation of biomarker assays for use in clinical trials and potential diagnostic settings, with an emphasis on tissue-based modalities such as IHC, ISH, and FISH. Development and use of quantitative image analysis algorithms for the evaluation of tissue staining and morphology in pre-clinical in vivo models and clinical samples. Duties include establishment and management of CRO relationships, and coordination of collaborations with internal R&D and clinical operations.

Discovery, development and validation of biomarker assays for use in clinical trials and potential diagnostic settings, with an emphasis on tissue-based modalities such as IHC, ISH, and FISH. Duties include establishment and management of CRO relationships, and coordination of internal collaborations with internal R&D and clinical operations.

Discovery and development of therapeutic interventions in chronic liver disease and primary liver cancer. Biomarker discovery. Investigation of the cell biological basis of liver progenitor cell maintenance, recruitment, proliferation, and differentiation.Huntzicker, E. G., Hotzel, K., Choy, L., Che, L., Ross, J., Pau, G., Sharma, N., Siebel, C. W., Chen, X., and French, D. M. Differential effects of targeting Notch receptors in a mouse model of liver cancer. Hepatology 2015 Mar; 61, 942-952.

Sang L, Miller JJ, Corbit KC, Giles RH, Brauer MJ, Otto EA, Baye LM, Wen X, Scales SJ, Kwong M, Huntzicker EG, Sfakianos MK, Sandoval W, Bazan JF, Kulkarni P, Garcia-Gonzalo FR, Seol AD, O'Toole JF, Held S, Reutter HM, Lane WS, Rafiq MA, Noor A, Ansar M, Devi AR, Sheffield VC, Slusarski DC, Vincent JB, Doherty DA, Hildebrandt F, Reiter JF, Jackson PK. Mapping the NPHP-JBTS-MKS Protein Network Reveals Ciliopathy Disease Genes and Pathways. Cell, 2011 May; 145(4): 513-28.

Investigated the biochemical mechanisms controlling tumor latency in basal cell carcinoma of the skin. Identified proteasome-dependent destruction of the Gli1 transcription factor as a prominent means of limiting the signaling strength of the Hedgehog signaling pathway in the skin.Huntzicker EG and Oro AE. Controlling hair morphogenesis through polyubiquitination. (Review). Journal of Investigative Dermatology, 2008 May; 128: 1081-1087.Huntzicker EG, Estay IS, Zhen H, Lokteva LA, Jackson PK, Oro AE. Dual degradation signals control Gli protein stability and tumor formation. Genes and Development. 2006 Feb 1;20(3):276-81.Yucel, G., Van Arnam, J., Means, P. C., Huntzicker, E., Altindag, B., Lara, M. F., Yuan, J., Kuo, C., and Oro, A. E. Partial proteasome inhibitors induce hair follicle growth by stabilizing beta-catenin. Stem Cells 2014 Jan; 32, 85-92.

Biomarker discovery and validation.

Winter H, Hu HM, Poehlein CH, Huntzicker E, Osterholzer JJ, Bashy J, Lashley D, Lowe B, Yamada J, Alvord G, Urba WJ, Fox BA.Tumour-induced polarization of tumour vaccine-draining lymph node T cells to a type 1 cytokine profile predicts inherent strong immunogenicity of the tumour and correlates with therapeutic efficacy in adoptive transfer studies. Immunology. 2003 Mar;108(3):409-19.Fox BA, Drury M, Hu HM, Cao Z, Huntzicker EG, Qie W, Urba WJ. Lipofection indirectly increases expression of endogenous major histocompatibility complex class I molecules on tumor cells.Cancer Gene Therapy. 1998 Sep-Oct;5(5):307-12.