Rongxin Fang, PhD

Cells must communicate with each other to maintain homeostasis and respond to external stimuli. This communication typically occurs through chemical signals or via direct physical contact. Dr. Fang plans to develop genomic tools to understand how different types of cells communicate with each other in the healthy brain and how communication goes awry in brain tumors. His goal is to determine whether and to what extent it is possible to manipulate specific genes or pathways underlying cell-cell communication to reverse disease progression in brain cancer patients.