Professor
University of Michigan
Research in the Dlugosz lab is centered on defining the functions of deregulated signaling pathways in skin biology and cancer, with a major emphasis on basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC). Using genetically-engineered mouse models developed in his laboratory, Dr. Dlugosz and his team helped establish a central role for deregulated Hedgehog signaling in BCC initiation, expansion, and maintenance; defined critical interactions between Hedgehog and other signaling pathways in tumorigenesis; and elucidated the importance of cell of origin, timing of oncogene activation, and magnitude of Hedgehog signaling as key determinants of basaloid skin tumor phenotype. In more recent studies, he and his team have been investigating the molecular basis of virally-induced MCC. They have recently generated the first mouse model of this deadly cancer, and are advancing this model and derivative MCC cell lines to preclinical studies aimed at improving outcomes for MCC patients.
Dr. Dlugosz in the Poth Professor of Cutaneous Oncology, Associate Director for Basic Science Research in the Rogel Cancer Center, and Associate Chair for Research and Professor in the Department of Dermatology at the University of Michgan.
