**Contents**



## **About the Editors**

**Michael Kahn**, Ph.D., is professor and chair of the Department of Molecular Medicine at the Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope. Prof. Kahn's research program is focused on the integration of basic science with translational medicine. His lab utilizes a forward chemical genomic strategy to identify and validate novel pharmacologic tools to study complex signaling pathways in development and disease. Utilizing a proprietary chemical library, his lab identified the first specific CBP/β-catenin antagonist ICG-001, which has been fundamental in studies involving both normal somatic stem cell and cancer stem cell biology. From a translational perspective, these studies led to the development of the second-generation CBP/β-catenin antagonist, Wnt modulating drug, PRI-724. These efforts resulted in clinical trials of PRI-724 in colon and pancreatic cancer, leukemia and liver fibrosis. His lab is currently continuing basic research investigations concerning differential Kat3 coactivator usage (i.e., CBP versus p300) in somatic stem cell biology and cancer, regenerative medicine, and aging. Another area of interest to his lab is the endogenous mechanisms that control the differential usage of these coactivators and the role that the N-termini play as a nexus for the integration of a number of additional signaling pathways (e.g., STAT1/2, nuclear receptor family, RAR/RXR, Vit D) with the Wnt signaling cascade. Prof. Kahn is also applying the forward chemical genomic strategy to additional critical signaling cascades with the broader goal of developing novel small-molecule therapeutics.

**Keane Lai**, M.D., is principal investigator in the Department of Molecular Medicine at the Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope. Dr. Lai's lab was the first to demonstrate the functional significance of the obscure gene midnolin in liver cancer. In addition to focusing on characterization of the role of midnolin in liver pathobiology, Dr. Lai's lab studies the role of Wnt/β-catenin signaling in the liver and pancreas.
