Charles Keller, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Cellular & Structural Biology,
Investigator, Greehey Children's Cancer Research Institute
M.D., Baylor College of Medicine
Office: 210-562-9062
Email: kellerc2@uthscsa.edu
Greehey Children's Cancer Research Institute
Keywords
rhabdomyosarcoma, medulloblastoma, genetically engineered mice, satellite cell, muscle stem cell, receptor tyrosine kinase, preclinical therapeutics, small animal imaging
Research Summary
My research activities focus on developing target molecular therapies for advanced childhood cancers. With research training in genetically-engineered mouse models in the laboratory of 2007 Nobel laureate Mario Capecchi, I have developed and study mouse models of the childhood muscle cancer rhabdomyosarcoma and the brain tumor medulloblastoma. Using conditional genetics to temporally and spatially restrict Pax3:Fkhr oncogene expression to subsets of embryonic and postnatal muscle cell precursors, it is hoped that rhabdomyosarcomas can be understood in terms of their cell of origin while at the same time unraveling the step-by-step process of rhabdomyosarcoma formation, angiogenesis, and metastasis.
In addition to my research, I am also Director of the GCCRI Small Animal Imaging Facility, which provides service and conducts research into anatomical and molecular imaging methods for mouse models of human disease and muscle stem cell biology.