Ganesan Laboratory – The Ganesan laboratory uses interdisciplinary approaches to understand how melanocyte homeostasis is maintained in the skin.  Our work seeks to answer several fundamental questions:

1) what prevents vitiligo skin from repigmenting?; 2) what induces moles to form and then to stop growing?; 3) why do melanomas continue growing while moles stop growing?; 4) what pathways are the best to target to prevent melanomas from progressing beyond the skin?; 5) how is pigmentation induced in the skin and how is pigment production regulated?

Our group addresses these questions using an interdisciplinary approach that involves advanced mathematics, bioinformatics, bioengineering, molecular and cellular biology, and genomics.  Our work extends from the cellular level, to transgenic mouse models, to translational studies in human tissues and clinical trials.  Several of the drugs and targets identified from our work are now slowly making their way from the bench to the bedside.   Our laboratory consists of members from different fields and disciplines at different levels of training (undergraduates, medical students, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, clinical fellows) that work as a team to meet objectives.  Previous lab members have gone on to secure both academic positions at UCI and elsewhere as well as positions in industry.

See below for a video on how RhoJ inhibitors research!

Current lab members – https://sites.uci.edu/ganesanlaboratory/lab-members/

Contact: please email Dr. Ganesan at aganesan@hs.uci.edu if you have inquiries or questions.

Location – The Ganesan lab is located at the UCI Cancer Research Institute (CRI) located in the safest city in Orange County, Irvine. The CRI and our lab are housed on the second floor of Sprague Hall, a multidisciplinary building that houses investigators interested in genetics, epigenetics, and cancer.