Research

The Povedano Selfa laboratory interest lies in studying cancers driven by elusive and yet to be discoverd druggable targets. One example and focus of the Povedano Selfa lab is small cell lung cancer (SCLC), an aggressive form of lung cancer with limited therapeutic options. SCLC is driven by loss of function mutations in the tumor suppressor, TP53 and RB1. Unlike other forms of lung cancer in which actionable mutations such as EGFR or KRAS have been identified, there are no available strategies to target tumor suppressor loss in SCLC. As a consequence, outcomes have not improved for SCLC over the past 40 years. Our laboratory uses high-throughput phenotypic small molecule screening and genome-wide CRISPR screening to identify new chemically-tractable vulnerabilities for SCLC.

Using murine cancer cell lines derived from a genetically engineered mouse model  of SCLC as well as a broad panel of patient-derived cancer cell lines, we have identified small molecules with selective toxicity against SCLC.