Research Summary

I am an Associate Professor and Physician Scientist in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of California-San Francisco (UCSF), where I specialize in the treatment and investigation of adult and pediatric brain tumors. Eighty percent of my time is protected for laboratory research, and I am also therefore a Principle Investigator in the UCSF Department of Neurological Surgery Brain Tumor Center. My research examines how developmental signaling pathways function in cancer with the overall objectives of shedding light on the fundamental mechanisms of developmental biology, and identifying novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets to improve patient outcomes. To accomplish those goals, my laboratory makes use of biochemistry, molecular biology, cell biology, mouse genetics, genomics, bioinformatics and pharmacology. Our work has identified novel activators and effectors of oncogenic Hedgehog signaling in medulloblastoma, and revealed a FOXM1/WNT signaling axis that underlies meningioma proliferation. Each of these discoveries serves as the foundation for clinical trials of molecular therapy in medulloblastoma and meningioma patients that are currently under development.

Research Funding

  • August 1, 2021 - July 31, 2026 - Understanding druggable drivers of meningioma tumorigenesis , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01CA262311
  • July 1, 2021 - April 30, 2026 - Mechanisms of Hedgehog signaling in glioblastoma , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01CA251221
  • July 1, 2017 - June 30, 2022 - Understanding How Ciliary Hedgehog Signaling Causes Medulloblastoma , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: K08CA212279

Education

University of California-Berkeley, B.A. (Honors), 08/00-05/04, Molecular Cell Biology
University of California-Berkeley B.A. (Honors) 08/00 05/04 Cognitive Science
University of Chicago-Chicago M.D. 05/05 06/12 Medicine
University of Chicago-Chicago Ph.D. 07/07 05/10 Pathology
Kaiser Permanente-Santa Clara, Intern, 07/12-06/13, Internal Medicine
University of California-San Francisco, Resident, 07/13-06/17, Radiation Oncology
University of California-San Francisco, Postdoctoral Fellow, 01/15-06/17, Cancer Biology

Honors & Awards

  • 2009
    FASEB Travel Award, FASEB Gastrointestinal Tract XIII Meeting
  • 2009
    DDW Poster of Distinction, Digestive Disease Week Annual Meeting
  • 2009
    Outstanding Graduate Student Oral Presentation, University of Chicago
  • 2010
    Takeda Travel Award, Experimental Biology Annual Meeting
  • 2011
    Naomi Ragins Goldsmith Career Development Award, University of Chicago
  • 2012
    Outstanding Performance in Radiation and Cellular Oncology, University of Chicago
  • 2013
    Teaching Award in Recognition of Excellent Medical Student Education, Kaiser Permanente
  • 2015
    Clinical & Translational Science Institute Resident Research Travel Program Award, UCSF
  • 2016
    Career Award for Medical Scientists Semifinalist, Burroughs Wellcome Fund
  • 2016
    Radiological Society of North America Roentgen Resident/Fellow Research Award, UCSF
  • 2016
    Biology Abstract Travel Award, American Society for Radiation Oncology Annual Meeting
  • 2016
    Poster Walk Award, Association of Residents in Radiation Oncology
  • 2016
    Top Young Investigator Awardee, ASCO Scientific Career Development Retreat
  • 2017
    Young Oncologist Travel Grant Recipient, American Radium Society Annual Meeting
  • 2017
    Poster of Distinction, American Radium Society Annual Meeting
  • 2017
    Biology Abstract Travel Award, American Society for Radiation Oncology Annual Meeting

Selected Publications

  1. Choudhury A, Cady MA, Lucas CG, Najem H, Phillips JJ, Palikuqi B, Zakimi N, Joseph T, Birrueta JO, Chen WC, Bush NAO, Hervey-Jumper SL, Klein OD, Toedebusch CM, Horbinski CM, Magill ST, Bhaduri A, Perry A, Dickinson PJ, Heimberger AB, Ashworth A, Crouch EE, Raleigh DR. NOTCH3 drives meningioma tumorigenesis and resistance to radiotherapy. bioRxiv. 2023 Jul 11.  View on PubMed
  2. Wang JZ, Patil V, Liu J, Dogan H, Tabatabai G, Yefet LS, Behling F, Hoffman E, Bunda S, Yakubov R, Kaloti R, Brandner S, Gao A, Cohen-Gadol A, Barnholtz-Sloan J, Skardelly M, Tatagiba M, Raleigh DR, Sahm F, Boutros PC, Aldape K, International Consortium on Meningiomas (ICOM), Nassiri F, Zadeh G. Correction: Increased mRNA expression of CDKN2A is a transcriptomic marker of clinically aggressive meningiomas. Acta Neuropathol. 2023 Jul; 146(1):171-172.  View on PubMed
  3. Nandoliya KR, Sadagopan NS, Thirunavu V, Houskamp EJ, Karras CL, Chaliparambil RK, Sriram N, Jamshidi P, Raleigh DR, Lukas RV, Magill ST. Post-Surgical Prognosis of Patients with Pineoblastoma: A Systematic Review and Individual Patient Data Analysis with Trends over Time. Cancers (Basel). 2023 Jun 27; 15(13).  View on PubMed
  4. Lucas CH, Mirchia K, Seo K, Najem H, Chen W, Zakimi N, Choudhury A, Liu SJ, Phillips J, Magill S, Horbinski C, Solomon D, Perry A, Vasudevan H, Heimberger A, Raleigh D. Spatial genomic, biochemical, and cellular mechanisms drive meningioma heterogeneity and evolution. Res Sq. 2023 May 15.  View on PubMed
  5. Krishna S, Choudhury A, Keough MB, Seo K, Ni L, Kakaizada S, Lee A, Aabedi A, Popova G, Lipkin B, Cao C, Nava Gonzales C, Sudharshan R, Egladyous A, Almeida N, Zhang Y, Molinaro AM, Venkatesh HS, Daniel AGS, Shamardani K, Hyer J, Chang EF, Findlay A, Phillips JJ, Nagarajan S, Raleigh DR, Brang D, Monje M, Hervey-Jumper SL. Glioblastoma remodelling of human neural circuits decreases survival. Nature. 2023 May; 617(7961):599-607.  View on PubMed
  6. Wang JZ, Patil V, Liu J, Dogan H, Tabatabai G, Yefet LS, Behling F, Hoffman E, Bunda S, Yakubov R, Kaloti R, Brandner S, Gao A, Cohen-Gadol A, Barnholtz-Sloan J, Skardelly M, Tatagiba M, Raleigh DR, Sahm F, Boutros PC, Aldape K, International Consortium on Meningiomas (ICOM), Nassiri F, Zadeh G. Increased mRNA expression of CDKN2A is a transcriptomic marker of clinically aggressive meningiomas. Acta Neuropathol. 2023 07; 146(1):145-162.  View on PubMed
  7. Raleigh D, Chen W, Choudhury A, Youngblood M, Polley MY, Lucas CH, Mirchia K, Maas S, Suwala A, Won M, Bayley J, Harmanci A, Harmanci A, Klisch T, Nguyen M, Vasudevan H, McCortney K, Yu T, Bhave V, Lam TC, Pu J, Leung G, Chang J, Perlow H, Palmer J, Haberler C, Berghoff A, Preusser M, Nicolaides T, Mawrin C, Agnihotri S, Resnick A, Rood B, Chew J, Young J, Boreta L, Braunstein S, Schulte J, Butowski N, Santagata S, Spetzler D, Bush NAO, Villanueva-Meyer J, Chandler J, Solomon D, Rogers C, Pugh S, Mehta M, Sneed P, Berger M, Horbinski C, McDermott M, Perry A, Bi W, Patel A, Sahm F, Magill S. Targeted gene expression profiling predicts meningioma outcomes and radiotherapy responses. Res Sq. 2023 Mar 20.  View on PubMed
  8. Choudhury A, Chen WC, Lucas CG, Bayley JC, Harmanci AS, Maas SLN, Santagata S, Klisch T, Perry A, Bi WL, Sahm F, Patel AJ, Magill ST, Raleigh DR. Hypermitotic meningiomas harbor DNA methylation subgroups with distinct biological and clinical features. Neuro Oncol. 2023 03 14; 25(3):520-530.  View on PubMed
  9. Eaton C, Avalos L, Liu SJ, Casey-Clyde T, Bisignano P, Lucas CH, Stevenson E, Choudhury A, Vasudevan H, Magill S, Krogan N, Villanueva-Meyer J, Swaney D, Raleigh D. MerlinS13 phosphorylation controls meningioma Wnt signaling and magnetic resonance imaging features. Res Sq. 2023 Mar 14.  View on PubMed
  10. Khan AB, English CW, Chen WC, Athukuri P, Bayley JC, Brandt VL, Shetty A, Hadley CC, Choudhury A, Lu HC, Harmanci AO, Harmanci AS, Magill ST, Raleigh DR, Klisch TJ, Patel AJ. Even heterozygous loss of CDKN2A/B greatly accelerates recurrence in aggressive meningioma. Acta Neuropathol. 2023 04; 145(4):501-503.  View on PubMed
  11. Tang V, Lu R, Mirchia K, Van Ziffle J, Devine P, Lee J, Phillips JJ, Perry A, Raleigh DR, Lucas CG, Solomon DA. Loss of p16 expression is a sensitive marker of CDKN2A homozygous deletion in malignant meningiomas. Acta Neuropathol. 2023 04; 145(4):497-500.  View on PubMed
  12. Lee D, Gimple RC, Wu X, Prager BC, Qiu Z, Wu Q, Daggubati V, Mariappan A, Gopalakrishnan J, Sarkisian MR, Raleigh DR, Rich JN. Superenhancer activation of KLHDC8A drives glioma ciliation and hedgehog signaling. J Clin Invest. 2023 01 17; 133(2).  View on PubMed
  13. Susko MS, Raleigh DR. Radiotherapy for Meningioma. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2023; 1416:95-106.  View on PubMed
  14. Wang L, Jung J, Babikir H, Shamardani K, Jain S, Feng X, Gupta N, Rosi S, Chang S, Raleigh D, Solomon D, Phillips JJ, Diaz AA. A single-cell atlas of glioblastoma evolution under therapy reveals cell-intrinsic and cell-extrinsic therapeutic targets. Nat Cancer. 2022 12; 3(12):1534-1552.  View on PubMed
  15. Vasudevan HN, Susko MS, Ma L, Nakamura JL, Raleigh DR, Boreta L, Fogh S, Theodosopoulos PV, McDermott MW, Tsai KK, Sneed PK, Braunstein SE. Mutational Status and Clinical Outcomes Following Systemic Therapy with or without Focal Radiation for Resected Melanoma Brain Metastases. World Neurosurg. 2023 Feb; 170:e514-e519.  View on PubMed
  16. Chen WC, Perlow HK, Choudhury A, Nguyen MP, Mirchia K, Youngblood MW, Lucas CG, Palmer JD, Magill ST, Raleigh DR. Radiotherapy for meningiomas. J Neurooncol. 2022 Nov; 160(2):505-515.  View on PubMed
  17. Nguyen MP, Seo K, Eaton CD, Lucas CG, Chen WC, Choudhury A, Young JS, Raleigh DR. A case (report) for mechanistic validation of meningioma molecular therapies. Neurooncol Adv. 2022 Jan-Dec; 4(1):vdac162.  View on PubMed
  18. Maier AD, Meddis A, Mirian C, Haslund-Vinding J, Bartek J, Krog SM, Nguyen TUP, Areškeviciute A, Melchior LC, Heegaard S, Kristensen BW, Munch TN, Fugleholm K, Ziebell M, Raleigh DR, Poulsen FR, Gerds TA, Litman T, Scheie D, Mathiesen T. Gene expression analysis during progression of malignant meningioma compared to benign meningioma. J Neurosurg. 2023 05 01; 138(5):1302-1312.  View on PubMed
  19. Peng KL, Vasudevan HN, Lockney DT, Baum R, Hendrickson RC, Raleigh DR, Schmitt AM. Miat and interacting protein Metadherin maintain a stem-like niche to promote medulloblastoma tumorigenesis and treatment resistance. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2022 09 13; 119(37):e2203738119.  View on PubMed
  20. Lucas CG, Sloan EA, Gupta R, Wu J, Pratt D, Vasudevan HN, Ravindranathan A, Barreto J, Williams EA, Shai A, Whipple NS, Bruggers CS, Maher O, Nabors B, Rodriguez M, Samuel D, Brown M, Carmichael J, Lu R, Mirchia K, Sullivan DV, Pekmezci M, Tihan T, Bollen AW, Perry A, Banerjee A, Mueller S, Gupta N, Hervey-Jumper SL, Oberheim Bush NA, Daras M, Taylor JW, Butowski NA, de Groot J, Clarke JL, Raleigh DR, Costello JF, Phillips JJ, Reddy AT, Chang SM, Berger MS, Solomon DA. Multiplatform molecular analyses refine classification of gliomas arising in patients with neurofibromatosis type 1. Acta Neuropathol. 2022 Oct; 144(4):747-765.  View on PubMed

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