Developing Transdisciplinary Cancer Teams

Dr. Delaney studies the impact of monoallelic alterations to cell biology. His lab’s focus is the investigation of cellular biology causally driven by copy-number alterations (CNA) in cancer cells. Ovarian cancer is a uniquely applicable and challenging model for systems biology and genetics due to the prevalence of 1,000+ gene-level CNAs (16,000 on average per tumor). While ovarian cancer has amongst the most CNAs of any cancer, these alterations are present in all solid tumors, with the median solid tumor having 39% of its genome altered by CNAs. These alterations are present in tumors without any other means of targeted therapy: no mutations in oncogenes or targetable tumor suppressor losses.

His research discovered allelic losses of autophagy to be important for ovarian cancer oncogenesis via impairment of chromosome homeostasis and developed drug strategies to target this system, which outperformed chemotherapy. Metallothionein proteins, small chelators of heavy metals and zinc ions, are a major new focus of the lab. Overall, the Delaney Lab investigates how copy-number alterations alter the biology of mammalian cells and how those changes lead to oncogenic phenotypes and treatment vulnerabilities.

Dr. Brian Orr is a gynecologic oncologist at Hollings Cancer Center and associate professor at Medical University of South Carolina. He completed residency at the University of South Florida and fellowship training at the University of Pittsburgh. As faculty at University of Pittsburgh, he completed a master's degree in Clinical and Translational Science.

In addition to clinical activities of minimally invasive surgery, chemotherapy, and HIPEC for gynecologic cancer patients, he is active in clinical research. Dr. Orr's research interests are in translational clinical trial development for ovarian, uterine, cervical, and vulvar cancers. His expertise is in immunotherapy and targeted therapies.

Robert L. Grubb, III, M.D., is a professor in the Department of Urology in the College of Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) and a practicing urologic surgeon with MUSC Health. His clinical expertise centers on the diagnosis and surgical management of urologic cancers, with particular emphasis on prostate and kidney malignancies. Dr. Grubb specializes in minimally invasive and oncologic urologic surgery and is committed to delivering patient centered, evidence-based care.

Dr. Grubb received his Bachelor of Arts in History from Davidson College before earning his Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) from the Emory University School of Medicine. He then completed advanced postgraduate training in urology, including a specialized fellowship in minimally invasive surgical techniques, further honing his expertise in cutting-edge approaches to urologic care.

His work reflects a sustained interest in surgical innovation, clinical outcomes, and the application of evolving techniques in urologic oncology.

The Warfel Lab uses live cell imaging, biochemistry and molecular biology to study the effects of hypoxia on prostate cancer progression.