Lu Le Email & Phone Number

Dr. Le received his Ph.D. degree in Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, and a medical degree (M.D.) from the Medical Scientist Training Program at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He completed an Internship in Internal Medicine at UCLA/St. Mary Medical Center, residency training in Dermatology and a postdoctoral research fellowship in Cancer Biology from University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. He is board certified by the American Board of Dermatology. He is currently professor and chairman of the Department of Dermatology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, and holds the Kenneth E. Greer, M.D. Endowed Professorship in Dermatology.As a principal investigator in cancer biology, his laboratory investigates how initiating genetic and tumor microenvironmental events interplay to regulate tumorigenesis. His research group focuses on: (1) identifying the cells of origin of tumorigenesis (how do certain type of cancers originate and develop from adult stem/progenitor cells?); and (2) elucidating the roles of tumor microenvironment in cancer development (how do neighboring non-cancerous cells dictate cancer development and progression?). His laboratory dissects these cellular and molecular mechanisms of tumorigenesis from the developmental perspective. They utilize Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1), a common tumor predisposition human genetic disorder, as a model to address these two fundamental questions in cancer biology as well as elucidating peripheral nervous system development and regeneration. A major contribution of Dr. Le’s laboratory is the generation and utilization of novel neurofibromatosis models to decipher mechanisms that initiate Schwann cell tumor development and drive their malignant transformation. His laboratory has identified the cells of origin for different types of neurofibroma, defined developmental window-of-opportunity within Schwann cell lineage for neurofibroma development and delineated vital cancer pathways for its malignant transformation. These studies have addressed fundamental, unanswered questions in the neurofibromatosis field and could lead directly to potentially effective therapies for NF1 patients.

Listed skills include Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, Medical Education, Cancer, and 14 others.