The research interests of Vlahou's group include:
1) |
Identification and validation of urinary biomarkers for aggressive bladder cancer. We target the identification of biomarkers to be used in bladder cancer surveillance. Our team employs comprehensive protein enrichment strategies to analyze urinary proteins in association to bladder cancer recurrence and/or progression. We are currently involved in large scale validation studies for the definition of context of use of selected urinary proteins. |
2) |
Development of molecular models underlying disease progression. Within our extended network of partners we perform integration of multi-source data via systems biology approaches targeting the development of molecular models for disease progression and prediction of biology-driven markers and therapeutic targets. This approach is currently being applied in the context of bladder cancer (BCMolMed), Chronic Kidney Disease progression (iMODE-CKD) as well as Cardiovascular disease development (SysVasc project). |
3) |
Functional analysis of selected proteins in disease progression. Selected findings from urine as well as newly collected tissue proteomics data are investigated for their functional relevance to bladder cancer in cell line and animal models for the disease. We are currently specifically investigating the role of profilin 1 in tumor cell motility and invasiveness. |
4) |
Application of imaging mass spectrometry for peptide/protein profiling of histological sections. We recently expanded our approaches to also include MALDI mass spectrometry imaging for the in situ investigation of proteomics alterations in relation to disease. |