Dr. Gabriel Muhire Gihana Receives the Damon Runyon Fellowship

The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation awards competitive fellowships to selected researchers and physician scientists. In November 2020, Gabriel Muhire Gihana was selected to receive the Damon Runyon Fellowship, which will support his postdoctoral research for four years. In addition, in December 2020, Gabriel was named a fellow of the Mark Foundation for Cancer Research. Gabriel joined the Danuser laboratory in March 2020.

Gabriel is investigating how cellular morphology modulates oncogenic signaling in Ras-driven cancer. Ras is a highly conserved GTPase and one of the genes that are prevalently modified in human cancers. Oncogenic Ras induces changes in the cell surface morphology, but it is currently unknown if and how the Ras-induced morphological changes affect Ras signaling in cancer cells. Gabriel is using cell biology, molecular biology, and volumetric imaging methods to study the effect of cellular morphology on Ras signaling and tumorigenesis in vitro and in vivo. Through his research, Gabriel hopes to gain novel insights into how Ras-driven morphological motifs contribute to cancer cell growth, and such insights could contribute to the development of novel and effective therapies against Ras-driven cancers.   

EurekAlert! News Feature Article from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).